Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: biography, interesting facts, creativity. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - biography, information, personal life Films featuring the composer’s music

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on April 25 (May 7), 1840 in the city of Votkinsk in large family engineer. Music was often played in Tchaikovsky's house. His parents were fond of playing the piano and organ.

In the biography of Tchaikovsky, it is important to note that at the age of five he already knew how to play the piano, and three years later he played the notes perfectly. In 1849, the Tchaikovsky family moved to Alapaevsk and then to St. Petersburg.

Education

Tchaikovsky received his initial education at home. Then Peter studied at a boarding school for two years, after which he studied at the St. Petersburg Law School. Tchaikovsky's creativity during this period was manifested in optional music classes. The death of his mother in 1862 greatly affected the vulnerable child. After graduating from college in 1859, Peter began serving in the Department of Justice.

In my free time I often visited Opera theatre, especially strong impression he was influenced by productions of operas by Mozart and Glinka.

Having shown a penchant for composing music, Tchaikovsky became a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Further studies in the life of Pyotr Ilyich with the excellent teachers N. Zaremba and A. Rubinstein greatly helped the formation musical personality. After graduating from the conservatory, composer Tchaikovsky was invited by Nikolai Rubinstein (the teacher’s brother) to the Moscow Conservatory as a professor.

Creative and personal life

Many of Tchaikovsky's concertos were written while working at the conservatory. The opera Ondine (1869) was not staged; the author destroyed it. Only a small part of it was later presented as Tchaikovsky's ballet " Swan Lake».

It is worth briefly noting that in 1877, in order to get rid of gossip about his gay, Tchaikovsky decided to marry conservatory student Antonina Milyukova. Having no feelings for his wife, a few weeks later he left her forever. Since then, the couple lived separately; they were never able to divorce due to various circumstances.

In 1878 he left the conservatory and went abroad. At the same time, Tchaikovsky communicates closely with Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy fan of his music. She corresponds with him, supports him financially and morally.

During the two-year period of residence in Italy and Switzerland, new magnificent works Tchaikovsky – opera “Eugene Onegin”, Fourth Symphony.

In May 1878, Tchaikovsky made a contribution to the children's musical literature- writes a collection of plays for children called “Children's Album”.

After financial assistance from Nadezhda von Meck, the composer travels a lot. From 1881 to 1888 he wrote many works. In particular, waltzes, symphonies, overtures, suites.

Finally, a calm creative period was established in the biography of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, at which time the author himself was able to conduct concerts.

Death and legacy

Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg on October 25 (November 6), 1893 from cholera. He was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Streets, conservatories in Moscow and Kyiv, as well as others are named after the great composer musical institutions(institutes, colleges, schools) in many cities former USSR. Monuments were erected in his honor, a theater was named after him and concert hall, symphony orchestra and international music competition.

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Young Tchaikovsky

Great Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky born in the distant times of the heyday of romanticism: April 25, 1840, in Votkinsk, in the Vyatka province Russian Empire. Nowadays he is best known as a composer, but his roles also include conductor, music journalist and teacher.

The greatest composer in the history of music did not compose so much, only eighty works, including three operas and seven symphonies (six numbered and one named), the famous ballets “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty”, which themselves themselves are an extremely valuable contribution to world culture.

But let's go back to the beginning of our story.

Ilya Tchaikovsky, the father of Pyotr Ilyich, became known as an outstanding Russian engineer, but Pyotr Fedorovich, the grandfather of the future composer, was not always Tchaikovsky. Initially, his last name was Chaika, and he was born in the village of Nikolaevka, in the Poltava region. Received medical education and then served as a medical officer.

Peter's parents loved music very much. His mother played the piano and the home mechanical organ, the orchestrion. They often heard the melodic songs of factory workers and peasants. Subsequently, governess Fanny Dürbach wrote the following lines to Peter: “I especially loved the quiet, soft evenings at the end of summer... from the balcony we listened to tender and sad songs, only they alone broke the silence of these wonderful nights. You must remember them, none of you went to bed then. If you remember these melodies, put them to music. You will charm those who cannot hear them in your country.”

Peter grew up as a smart, intelligent boy. At the age of six, he spoke fluently and wrote not only in his native Russian, but also in German and French. However, the gifted child was also very sickly. At school, he missed classes for six months in a row due to ill health.

When the future composer was about nine years old, his family moved to Alapaevsk. He later described this event in his book “12 Travels in the Middle Urals.”

Peter's parents felt awkward because of their humble origins, and therefore sent their son to the Imperial School of Law. It was located near the street that now bears the name of Tchaikovsky.

Peter spent two years very far from his home and from people close to him. Most of all, the young man was worried about separation from his mother, to whom he was strongly attached. It is interesting that even then he was very ironic about the newly-minted family coat of arms and in every possible way emphasized his plebeian origin. Perhaps this was the result of early democratic views.

1852. The family reunites in St. Petersburg, and Pyotr Ilyich enters college. He soon gains a reputation as a fairly good pianist, prone to improvisation. And at the age of sixteen he began studying with Luigi Piccioli and most dedicate your time to music. Then Rudolf Kündinger becomes the young man's mentor.

Having completed his studies at the school, which happened in 1859, Tchaikovsky received the rank of titular adviser, after which he began to work in the Ministry of Justice.

In 1862, he became one of the first students of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the composition class. He was taught the theory by Nikolai Ivanovich Zaremba, who did not publish any of his works during his lifetime. However, he was the first in Russia to teach music theory in Russian. This teacher spoke in an unusually lively and imaginative manner, and often dressed his musical theoretical statements in a religious garb. Then he ridiculed this feature of his in his work “Raika”.

But orchestration was taught to the young Tchaikovsky by Anton Grigorievich Rubinshein, now famous both as a teacher and as a pianist. Tchaikovsky became his most famous student, but in himself he is considered a great man with inexhaustible reserves of energy that allowed him to engage in such diverse activities.

It was Anton Grigorievich Rubinshein who once insisted that Pyotr Ilyich quit his service and begin to study music entirely.

This idyll lasted until 1865, until Peter graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory with a large silver medal. At that time he wrote a cantata based on Schiller's ode "To Joy". Among Tchaikovsky's other works written in student years, we can highlight the overture to Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm” and the dances of the hay girls, which he later included in the opera “The Voevoda”.

Growing reputation and worldwide fame

Tchaikovsky during his teaching years at the Moscow Conservatory

In January 1866, Nikolai Grigorievich Rubinstein, director of the newly founded Moscow Conservatory and brother of Tchaikovsky’s teacher, invited him to Moscow, where Peter received a position as a professor of classes free composition, harmony, theory, orchestration.

In 1868, Pyotr Ilyich first acted as a music critic. Then he met the members of "". Although they differed in their views on music, they maintained friendly relations.

At this time, Tchaikovsky developed an interest in program music. Program music is a genre in which the concept piece of music conveyed in the accompanying treatise. invites Peter to write a fantasy overture, and he begins to work on “Romeo and Juliet,” which later brought him worldwide fame, and with which the composer’s fame began to grow like a snowball. In addition, Stasov suggested to him the idea of ​​​​a symphonic fantasy “The Tempest”.

Around this time he met opera singer Desiro Artaud. They were in love with each other and even planned to get married, but for some reason she married a Spanish singer.

Tchaikovsky and his wife Antonina Milyukova, 1877

The seventies of the nineteenth century in the work of Pyotr Tchaikovsky became a time of search. He became fascinated by the past of Russia, its history, culture, life and fate of the Russian people. Then he wrote the operas “The Oprichnik”, “The Blacksmith Vakula”, “The Snow Maiden”, the ballet “Swan Lake” and many other, no less interesting, works.

By 1877, various indecent rumors began to circulate about his personal life, and in order to put an end to the gossip, he decided to marry Antonina Milyukova, a former student at the conservatory. She was eight years younger than him, but rumors about his homosexuality, as it turned out, did not arise out of nowhere, and after just a few weeks their marriage broke up. The marriage broke up, but they were unable to get a divorce, and they continued to live in a separate marriage.

Having received a certain freedom, he left the Moscow Conservatory the following year and went abroad. This trip was sponsored by Nadezhda von Meck, the widow of a railway magnate, with whom Peter had never personally met (more precisely, he met once, but both were silent out of embarrassment), but maintained an active correspondence. Their strange relationship ended in 1891 when von Meck suddenly stopped sending both letters and money. He dedicated his Fourth Symphony to her.

In 1881, he realized that it was time to do something about the debts. And he wrote a letter to the emperor in which he asked to lend him three thousand rubles so that the debt would be deducted from Tchaikovsky’s subsequent productions. He explained why he needed such large sum, and the sovereign not only lent it to him, but gave it as a benefit.

Perhaps this was one of the reasons that in the mid-eighties Tchaikovsky began to work actively again, he was elected director of the Moscow branch of the RMO, and his works became widely known abroad. In 1885, he stopped active travel in Europe and Russia and settled in a landowner's house near Klin. From that time on, he began active propaganda of Russian music.

It should be noted that throughout his life Tchaikovsky loved everything Russian, was proud of the fact that he was born in Russia and did not tolerate hints of his Polish roots.

Once, while still a boy, Peter was looking at a map of Europe, and suddenly began to cover the territory of Russia with kisses and seemingly spit on all other countries!

At the end of his life, Tchaikovsky worked increasingly as a conductor

last years of life

At the end of his life, he worked increasingly not as a composer, but as a conductor. In 1889, he made a tour of Germany and Switzerland, in which he met Johannes Brahms and

One of the most sentimental and lyrical composers, covered with worldwide fame. The main patrimony in Russia is named after him, raising Russian musicians– Moscow State Conservatory. As well as a prestigious international competition of academic performers, the largest event on a global scale. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is an outstanding Russian composer who devoted himself entirely to the world of inspiration and created such brilliant creations that they are the most popular in the world today. performed works. Charming melodicism, brilliant mastery of compositional technique, as well as the ability to see the light and harmonious in any tragedy make Pyotr Ilyich the greatest creative personality not only in domestic, but throughout world musical culture.

Read a short biography of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.

Brief biography of Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich was born in the Russian outback - the village of Votkinsk near a small plant on May 7, 1840 in the family of a mining engineer. From birth, the boy absorbed the primordial spirit of the Russian intelligentsia. His childhood was spent on his native estate in the shadow of rural nature, among picturesque sights and sounds. folk songs. All these impressions early years later they took shape in an extraordinary love for the Motherland, its history and culture, its so creative people.

They tried to give the best education to the children in this large and friendly family. The governess Fanny Durbach was always with them, who, by the way, retained many memories of little Petrusha. Since childhood, he was the most impressionable, sensitive, vulnerable, talented child with the finest nervous organization. The nanny called him “the porcelain boy.” Such a fragile, neurasthenic mental structure, such a keen perception of life and sensitivity remained with him throughout his life.

The house was filled with music, the parents of the future composer loved to play music themselves, they organized musical evenings, there was a mechanical organ(orchestra). His beloved mother instilled in him a love for practicing the piano, and since the age of 5 he has been practicing quite regularly. Music studies captivated him completely, but, fearing for Petya’s unstable psyche, his parents sent him to study at the Imperial School of Law in St. Petersburg, believing that music was harmful to him.

Tchaikovsky’s biography says that after graduation, in 1859, Pyotr Ilyich worked briefly as a titular adviser in the Ministry of Justice, continuing to study music as an elective, attending musical evenings and opera performances. By that time, he was already considered a good pianist and improviser. Thanks to his service, he went abroad for the first time, going on a three-month tour with engineer Pisarev as a translator. Later, trips to Europe for touring performances or for recreation would become the most important part for him. creative activity. The very opportunity to visit Europe, to join its cultural monuments excited him.

In 1862, he finally decided to connect his life with music. More precisely, for himself he defined it as service to Music. He enters the newly opened St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studies composition. There he meets Anton Rubinstein, who had a significant influence on his life. So, soon after Tchaikovsky graduated from the conservatory (with a large silver medal, the highest award), Rubinstein invited him to Moscow - now to teach the basics of composition, harmony, music theory and orchestration.

It is worth noting that the Moscow Conservatory at that time (in 1866) had also just begun to exist. In fact, at that time there was no national school teaching performing or composing skills. There were scattered translations of Western textbooks, separate classes of teachers who did not become concert musicians, but passed on their skills to students on the principle of “do as I do.”

Tchaikovsky not only gave lectures, he wrote many educational programs and manuals himself, and translated some from foreign sources. There are recordings of lectures by his student, an outstanding Russian composer. Sergei Taneyev , from which one can judge the depth of knowledge, the ability to thoughtfully analyze music from the point of view of its structure, form, elements. This is a titanic methodological work that cannot be overestimated.

Thanks to the efforts of Pyotr Ilyich, the training of Russian musicians and especially composers acquired a system, a method, and integrity. For a long time This part of his biography was omitted; it was considered an insignificant episode. The reason for this own statements Tchaikovsky says that his teaching work burdens him and that his students are stupid and ignorant. But all these words do not reflect the truth at all - the appearance of Tchaikovsky as a teacher in the then national musical culture predetermined for centuries (!) the emergence of the Russian school of composition and unique, original, brilliant composers. This is a milestone in Russian music pedagogy.

It is noteworthy that Tchaikovsky made such a serious contribution to teaching and criticism, almost without reducing his time on own compositions. This characterizes him as a man of monstrous efficiency, a workaholic who threw every minute of his earthly stay on the altar of Music.

Becoming a composer

His creative path was not strewn with roses. In the very beginning, he was often harshly criticized for his desire to please the listener. Then, when he had already visited Europe often and tried to combine the best of Western culture with traditional Russian features, it was difficult for him to meet the unanimity of the audience. His genius was truly appreciated only at the end.

Tchaikovsky's early compositions date back to 1854. These were small plays - “Anastasia Waltz” and the romance “My genius, my angel, my friend...”. His student works from the conservatory period already reveal him as a master. One of the works is a programmatic work for the drama by N.A. Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm". Pyotr Ilyich was subsequently connected with the famous playwright not only by tender friendship, but also creative projects. So in 1873, music was written for the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”; later he wrote an opera on the same theme Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

This time (late 60s and early 70s) was a creative search for him, most directed towards folk art. Around the same time, his collection “50 Russian folk songs for piano 4 hands” was published. The fairy-tale-mythical plot inherent in folklore was embodied in the opera “Ondine”. Its first production was a certain success, but by the end of the season it was withdrawn from theatrical repertoire. The composer destroyed the manuscript. Only some musical fragments were later transferred to “The Snow Maiden”. From them we can judge that by that time Pyotr Ilyich mastered the technique of coloristic writing.

Over the years of work at the conservatory, he wrote many works; the most significant ones include 4 symphonies, 5 operas, and the ballet that brought him world fame. Swan Lake», concert for piano and orchestra, 3 string quartets.

Gradually he came to the realization that he should devote more time to composing music. The exhausting work at the conservatory required a lot of time and effort. And in 1878, Tchaikovsky conducted his last classes, but until the end of his life he maintained correspondence with many students who later became venerable performers. In his letters, he always remained their teacher and censor, giving recommendations.

In 1877, the composer began work on “ Evgeniy Onegin" Absorbed in his writing, he somehow too hastily marries Antonina Milyukova. The marriage fell apart within just a few weeks. Everything about Tchaikovsky's young wife irritated her. A living together with her became a serious test for him. The mental anguish of this period led to a nervous breakdown and affected the music. Coincidentally, “Eugene Onegin” and the 4th Symphony, written at that moment, became the peaks of his work.

In 1878, he went abroad to recover from the events that had taken place. Then Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck, a philanthropist and admirer of Pyotr Ilyich’s work, began to help him. For 14 long years they corresponded, but never met. However, her moral and material aid allowed Pyotr Ilyich to engage in creativity relatively freely, he could not look back at publishers or theater management.

Since the 1880s he has toured the world extensively. He brings personal acquaintance with such pillars of European and Russian culture as Leo Tolstoy, Edvard Grieg, Antonin Dvorak and many others. All his strong impressionability absorbed the richness and diversity of the world like a sponge. He is one of the lucky few who managed to win recognition from the public, critics, and colleagues during his lifetime.

According to Tchaikovsky’s biography, in recent years he was inexplicably drawn to his homeland; the composer wanted to live away from noisy cities, where anyone on the street could recognize him. He admitted that he was endlessly tired of the bustle around him. Therefore, he chose small holiday villages near Moscow, where he rented an estate. Last house, in which he lived in Klin, near Moscow, became a house-museum and memorial reserve named after the composer.

He died unexpectedly in 1893. Doctors diagnosed cholera, which developed in just a few days. Shortly before this, he was served a glass of unboiled water in one of the restaurants. Although there were other versions regarding Tchaikovsky's death, no evidence was provided.

Interesting facts about Tchaikovsky

• For a long time the life story of this greatest composer, who made a significant contribution to world culture, was surrounded by myths and legends. The gallant 19th century did not allow the mention of facts even in the slightest degree compromising such outstanding person. Later, this tradition was picked up by Soviet ideology, which introduced new features into the image of the composer that met the tasks of building a new society. Beginning of XXI century brought fashion for discussing the most personal and intimate, and turned the Artist’s inner world into a large walkable area.

• In his early youth, Pyotr Ilyich was in love with the Belgian singer Desiree Artaud, he even planned to propose to her. But she suddenly left and married someone else. Tchaikovsky suffered incredibly and dedicated the romance “To Forget So Soon” to her. In Igor Talankin's 1970 film Tchaikovsky, this episode is shown expressively. IN leading role the brilliant Innokenty Smoktunovsky, and in the role of Desiree - Maya Plisetskaya in an unusual role.
• From Tchaikovsky's biography we know that in 1893 the composer was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge.
• Court hearings regarding the naming rights are currently underway. Ballet " sleeping Beauty" involuntarily became the subject of a heated dispute with the Walt Disney Company over the emblem. Also awaiting a verdict is the film company's patent application for the name "Princess Aurora", which is also the main character works by Tchaikovsky. It is noteworthy that Disney used the music of Pyotr Ilyich when creating the 1959 cartoon of the same name.
• For most of his life, Tchaikovsky was subject to depression. From the age of 14 about his early departed mother, whose loss he mourned for a long time. He was also a hypochondriac. Most of all he was afraid of going deaf. Beethoven.

• "Inspiration is a guest who does not willingly visit the lazy." He was guided by this principle throughout his life.
• In 1877, wealthy businesswoman Nadezhda von Meck supported violinist Joseph Kotek, who was a former student and friend of Tchaikovsky and was recommended to her by pianist Nikolai Rubinstein. She was impressed by the composer Tchaikovsky, and asked Rubinstein in detail about him. It was Kotek, however, who convinced her to write to him, after which she introduced herself as an “ardent admirer.” Thus their relationship became established as an epistolary friendship: between 1877 and 1890, they exchanged more than 1,200 letters, and she was the one who supported him after critics tore apart his Fifth Symphony. She encouraged him to persevere in his compositions. They simply met in person one day, by chance, in August 1879.

Characteristic features of Tchaikovsky's music

There is often an opinion among musicologists that Tchaikovsky is a great opera, symphony, and ballet composer, but chamber or instrumental music his are rather weak and not so interesting. They also note his “non-piano thinking”, which prevents him from creating small expressive means something truly grandiose. This erroneous opinion. What are “6 Pieces for Piano” worth? It’s a whole performance for the performer – a performance by one actor, where he can show all his wonderful feeling and musicality.

His melody is characterized by incredible intonation subtlety. He's like Bach Intonation is encoded in music. Their subtle modulations and play are his individual composer trait.

Criticism of Tchaikovsky

The composer's writing activity is considered fleeting. However, despite the short period that Pyotr Ilyich devoted literary experience, his articles in the magazines “Russian Vedomosti” and the newspaper “Modern Chronicle” were of utmost importance in cultural life Russia, as they helped shape the opinion and vision of music for the broad masses.

His own high moral and aesthetic ideals, to which he consciously strove throughout his life, forced him to reflect on the role of art in the life of society and man. He felt an urgent need to share such thoughts with his compatriots. In many ways, his views then regarding music determined the views of his contemporaries.

The last publications written by Pyotr Ilyich on a business trip to Bavaria were reports on Wagner’s concerts in 1876. By the end of it, Tchaikovsky had already become a symbol of Russian history, the Russian intelligentsia, the Russian spirit.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840 in the village of Votkinsk, located on the territory of modern Udmurtia. His father was Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, an engineer descended from the Cossack family of Chaeks, famous in Ukraine. The mother of the future famous composer was Alexandra Andreevna Assier, who studied at the School for Women's Orphans shortly before her father's death. Alexandra Andreevna was trained in literature, geography, arithmetic, rhetoric and foreign languages.

The family ended up in the Urals because Ilya Petrovich was offered the position of head of the Kama-Votkinsk steel plant, which at that time was a very large enterprise. In Votkinsk, Tchaikovsky Sr. received a large house with servants and even his own army, consisting of a hundred Cossacks. Nobles, young people from the capital, English engineers and other respectable personalities often visited this house.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky in his youth

Peter was the second child in his family. He also had an older brother Nikolai, a younger brother Ippolit and younger sister Alexandra. IN big house The Tchaikovskys were lived not only by the family couple themselves and their children, but also by numerous relatives of Ilya Petrovich. A French governess, Fanny Durbach, was summoned from St. Petersburg to teach the children, who later became practically a member of the Tchaikovsky family.

Music has always been a welcome guest in parental home Peter Ilyich. His father could play the flute, his mother could play the piano and harp, and she also performed romances very skillfully. The governess was deprived of a musical education, but she also had a passion for music. In the Tchaikovskys' house there was an orchestrion (mechanical organ) and a piano. The young musician took piano lessons from the serf Marya Palchikova, who was musically literate.

Another hobby of the young Tchaikovsky, in addition to learning the basics of playing the piano, was poetry. Peter enthusiastically composed in French numerous poems. In addition, he tried to learn everything he could from the biography of Louis XVII. Reverence for this historical figure he carried it through his entire life.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky in his youth

In 1848, the Tchaikovskys moved to Moscow, as Ilya Petrovich retired and intended to find private service. Just a couple of months later, the family moved again, this time to St. Petersburg. There the eldest sons were sent to the Schmelling boarding school.

In St. Petersburg, Pyotr Ilyich continued to study music, and also became more familiar with ballet, opera and symphony orchestra. There, the young man contracted measles, which subsequently caused him to periodically have seizures.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky with his family

In 1849, Nikolai Tchaikovsky, Peter’s older brother, was assigned to the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers, and the rest of the children and their parents returned to the Urals, to the city of Alapaevsk. There, the head of the family took the post of head of the plant of Yakovlev’s heirs. Fanny Durbach had left the Tchaikovsky family by that time, and another governess, Anastasia Petrova, was hired to prepare the grown-up Pyotr Ilyich for further education.

In the same year, the young musician had two more younger brothers: twins Modest and Anatoly.

Education and civil service

Although young Pyotr Tchaikovsky had been demonstrating an increased interest in music for several years, was delighted with famous operas and loved going to ballet, his parents did not at all consider music as a worthy profession for their son. At first they wanted to send him to the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers, like his eldest son Nicholas, but then they gave preference to the Imperial School of Law, located in St. Petersburg. Pyotr Ilyich entered it in 1850.

The musician studied at the school until 1859. The first years of study were the most difficult for Tchaikovsky: he had a hard time parting with his family, who could not visit him often. And the guardianship of family friend Modest Vakar was overshadowed by the fact that ten-year-old Tchaikovsky accidentally brought scarlet fever into his house, which is why little son Modesta died suddenly.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

In 1852, when Ilya Petrovich left the service, the whole family moved to St. Petersburg. During these years, Pyotr Ilyich actively became acquainted with Russian opera and ballet, and also became friends with a classmate, the poet Alexei Apukhtin, who had a great influence on his views and beliefs.

In 1854, Tchaikovsky's mother died after a long battle with cholera. Ilya Petrovich assigned older children to educational institutions closed type, and with four-year-old twins temporarily settled with his brother.

Portrait of Pyotr Tchaikovsky

In the period from 1855 to 1858, Pyotr Ilyich took piano lessons from the famous German pianist Rudolf Kündinger. His father hired him for the young Tchaikovsky, but in the spring of 1858 the lessons had to be stopped: due to an unsuccessful scam, Ilya Petrovich lost almost all his money, and there was nothing to pay the foreign musician. Fortunately, soon Tchaikovsky Sr. was offered to head the management of the Technological Institute and was offered a large government apartment, where he moved with the children.

Pyotr Ilyich completed his studies at the School of Law in 1859. Interestingly, he enjoyed great sympathy both from teachers and from other students of the school. Unlike many other talented creative figures, who were distinguished by unsociability and poor socialization, Pyotr Tchaikovsky felt comfortable in society and fit perfectly into any company.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Upon completion of his studies, the young man got a job at the Ministry of Justice. There he was most often involved in managing various affairs of the peasants. In his free time, he continued to go to the opera house and study music. In 1861, Pyotr Ilyich traveled abroad for the first time, visiting Hamburg, Berlin, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, Ostend and even London. By that time, he was fluent in Italian and French, and therefore was able to accompany engineer V.V. Pisarev. (his father's friend) as a translator.

Creation

Surprisingly, even at the age of 21, Pyotr Ilyich, who received an education and entered the public service, haven’t really thought about it yet musical career. He, like his parents once, did not take his hobby seriously. But, fortunately, the father of the future composer Ilya Petrovich still felt that his son was destined to become a great musician.

Tchaikovsky Sr. even went to Rudolf Kündinger to find out his opinion regarding his son’s talent. The German pianist categorically stated that special musical abilities Tchaikovsky Jr. does not, and 21 is not the age to start a creative career. And Pyotr Ilyich himself suggested his father to combine work with receiving music education At first I took it as a joke.

But when he found out that it was opening in St. Petersburg new conservatory, which will be led by the famous Anton Rubinstein, everything has changed radically. Tchaikovsky decided to enter the St. Petersburg Conservatory at all costs, which he did, becoming one of the first students of this educational institution by composition class. And soon after that, he completely abandoned jurisprudence, deciding, despite the problems with money that arose, to devote himself entirely to music.

As my thesis Pyotr Ilyich wrote the cantata “To Joy”. It was created for the Russian translation of Friedrich Schiller's ode with the same name. The cantata made a bad impression on the musicians of St. Petersburg. The critic Cesar Cui was especially harsh, saying that Tchaikovsky was extremely weak as a composer, and also accusing him of conservatism. And this despite the fact that for Pyotr Ilyich music was freedom, and his idols were Borodin, Mussorgsky, Balakirev - composers who did not recognize authorities and rules.

Portrait of Pyotr Tchaikovsky

But such a reaction did not bother the young composer at all. Having received his well-deserved silver medal for the successful completion of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, which was then the highest award, he set to work with even greater zeal and passion. In 1866, the composer moved to Moscow at the invitation of his mentor's brother. Nikolai Rubinstein offered him a job as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.

Career blossoming

At the Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky showed himself to be an excellent teacher. In addition, he put a lot of effort into quality organization educational process. Since there were few worthy textbooks for his students at that time, the composer began to translate foreign literature and even creating your own teaching materials.

However, in 1878, Pyotr Ilyich, tired of being torn between teaching and his own creativity, left his position. His place was taken by Sergei Taneyev, who became Tchaikovsky’s most beloved student. A wealthy patron, Nadezhda von Meck, helped Tchaikovsky make ends meet. Being a wealthy widow, she idolized the composer and annually provided him with subsidies in the amount of 6,000 rubles.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

It was after moving to Moscow that the real rise began creative career Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his significant growth as a composer occurred. At this time, he met the composers participating in the creative community “The Mighty Handful”. On the advice of Mily Balakirev, the head of the commonwealth, Tchaikovsky in 1869 created a fantasy overture based on the work “Romeo and Juliet”.

In 1873, Pyotr Ilyich wrote another of his famous work– symphonic fantasy “The Tempest”, the idea for which was suggested to him by an authoritative figure at the time musical critic Vladimir Stasov. Around the same time, Tchaikovsky began to travel again, gaining inspiration abroad and using the images imprinted in his memory to form the basis of his subsequent creations.

In the 1870s, the composer wrote such works as the ballet “Swan Lake”, the opera “The Oprichnik”, the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, the Second and Third Symphonies, the fantasy “Francesca da Rimini”, the opera “Eugene Onegin”, the piano cycle “The Times” of the year" and many others. In the 1880-1890s, Pyotr Tchaikovsky traveled abroad even more often than before, and in the vast majority of cases, as part of concert trips.

During such trips, the musician met and became friends with many musicians from Western Europe: Gustav Mahler, Arthur Nikisch, Edvard Grieg, Antonin Dvorak and others. The composer himself acted as a conductor during the concerts. In the early 1890s, Tchaikovsky even managed to visit the USA. There, stunning success awaited him during a concert where Pyotr Ilyich conducted his own works. Written at the right time creative maturity, they no longer raised any doubts about the composer’s talent.

Tchaikovsky spent his last years before his death in the vicinity of the town of Klin near Moscow. There, he agreed to open a school, dissatisfied with the quality of life of local peasants, and donated money for its maintenance. In 1885, he helped Klinov residents fight a fire that burned several dozen houses in the city.

During this period of his life, the composer wrote the ballet “The Nutcracker”, the opera “ Queen of Spades", the Hamlet overture, the opera Iolanta, the Fifth Symphony. At the same time, the international recognition of Pyotr Ilyich’s talent was confirmed: in 1892 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy fine arts in Paris, and in 1893 - an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

Tchaikovsky died on November 6, 1893 from cholera. He was buried in the Kazan Cathedral and buried in the Necropolis of Masters of Arts.

Personal life

There are many photographs preserved where Pyotr Tchaikovsky is captured in a more than decent manner with his male friends. Even during his lifetime, the composer's orientation became the subject of speculation: some accused the musician of being a homosexual. It was assumed that his men (men for whom he had platonic affection) were Joseph Kotek, Vladimir Davydov and even brothers Alexey and Mikhail Safronov.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky with Joseph Kotek (left) and Vladimir Davydov (right)

It is difficult to judge whether there is reliable evidence that the composer loved men. His connections with the individuals mentioned above could well have been simply friendly. Be that as it may, there were also women in Tchaikovsky’s life, although some researchers claim that this was the composer’s way of trying to hide the fact that he was gay.

Thus, the failed wife of Pyotr Ilyich was the young French prima donna Artaud Desiree, who preferred the Spaniard Marian Padilla to him. And in 1877, Antonina Milyukova, who was eight years younger than her newly-made husband, became his official wife. However, this marriage lasted only a few weeks, although Antonina and Peter never officially divorced.

It is worth recalling his connection with Nadezhda von Meck, who admired the composer’s talent and long years supported him financially.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (April 25 (May 7), 1840, in the village at the Kama-Votkinsk plant, Vyatka province, now the city of Votkinsk, Udmurtia - October 25 (November 6), 1893, St. Petersburg) - a great Russian composer, one of the best melodists, conductor, teacher, musical and public figure. Father - Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky (1795 - 1880).

He graduated from the School of Law in St. Petersburg (1859), served in the Ministry of Justice (until 1863). From 1861 he studied in the Music classes of the Russian musical society(RMO), transformed in 1862 into the St. Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865 in the composition class of A. G. Rubinstein. In 1866–78 he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory (classes of free composition, theory, harmony and instrumentation).

Tchaikovsky actively participated in musical life Moscow, his works were published and performed here, and the main genres of creativity were determined. The result of meeting in 1868 and creative contacts with members " Mighty bunch» was the creation of software symphonic works(on the advice of M. A. Balakirev, the fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet (1869), the symphony Manfred, (1885) was written); V. V. Stasov suggested to Tchaikovsky the idea of ​​the fantasy symphony “The Tempest”, (1873).

Creativity of the 70s. distinguished by the intensity of quests and the diversity of artistic interests. In con. 70s Tchaikovsky experienced a severe mental crisis caused by overexertion creative forces, as well as circumstances of personal life. For several years he lived mainly abroad (mainly in Switzerland and Italy). During these years, material support and correspondence (1876–90) with N. F. von Meck were important for Tchaikovsky. All R. 80s Tchaikovsky returned to active musical and social activities. In 1885 he was elected director of the Moscow branch of the Russian Medical Society, contributed to raising the level musical culture Moscow. From 1885 he lived constantly in the Moscow region - in the vicinity of the city of Klin (Maidanovo, Frolovskoye), from 1892 - in Klin itself, where after the death of the composer a memorial house-museum was opened. Since the late 1880s. He performed extensively as a conductor in Russia and abroad. Concert trips strengthened Tchaikovsky's creative and friendly ties with Western European musicians (Hans von Bülow, Edvard Grieg, Antonin Dvorak, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Nikisch, Camille Saint-Saëns, etc.).

Creation
In Tchaikovsky's work, in which opera and symphony were leading, almost all musical genres. The music reflected the deep social and ethical conflicts born of Russian reality in the 2nd half. 19th century. There is a noticeable increase in the tragic beginning in the works recent years(especially in the opera The Queen of Spades and the 6th Symphony). The content of Tchaikovsky's music is universal: it covers images of life and death, love, nature, childhood, everyday life, it reveals in a new way the works of Russian and world literature - A. S. Pushkin and N. V. Gogol, Shakespeare and Dante. Tchaikovsky's music reveals deep connections with the work of L.N. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, I. S. Turgenev, A. P. Chekhov. In Tchaikovsky's music, deep processes of spiritual life, doubt, despair and the impulse towards the ideal were realized.

Interesting Facts

* Tchaikovsky in 1890 in his notebook wrote sketches for the “Queen of Spades” he was composing. And on one piece of paper, written down in hasty handwriting, is obviously the theme (melody) he just invented, which is played by the violins at the very beginning of the fourth scene - “The Countess’s Bedroom.” This is one of best places operas. Tchaikovsky wrote down the beginning of this melody in a book and added: “and similar erotic whining...”

Major works

Voivode (1868)
Ondine (1869)
Oprichnik (1872)
Evgeny Onegin (1878)
Maid of Orleans (1879)
Mazepa (1883)
Cherevichki (1885)
The Enchantress (1887)
Queen of Spades (1891)
Iolanta (1891)

Swan Lake (1876)
Sleeping Beauty (1889)
The Nutcracker (1892)

Symphonic works

"The Thunderstorm", overture to a drama (1864)
Symphony No. 1 “Winter Dreams” (1866)
"Fatum", symphonic fantasy (1868)
Symphony No. 2 (1872)
Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra (1875)
Symphony No. 3 (1875)
"Francesca da Rimini", symphonic fantasy (1876)
Variations on a Rococo Theme, for cello and orchestra (1878)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1878)
Symphony No. 4 (1878)
"1812", solemn overture (1880)
"Romeo and Juliet", fantasy overture (1869, 1870, 1880)
Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra (1880)
"Manfred", symphony (1885)
Pezzo capriccioso (1887)
Symphony No. 5 (1888)
Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra (1893)
Symphony No. 6 (1893)

Piano music

"The Seasons" Op.37b, 12 characteristic scenes (1876)
Children's Album Op.39, 24 easy pieces (1878)
18 pieces, Op.72 (1892)

Selected orchestral works

Slavic March (1876)
March of the Voluntary Fleet (1878)