Tchaikovsky was born in 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia. He was, in early years, trained in music by a Frensh governess. Even though he was very talented it was not for him to becomme a musician. Instead he studied law and graduated in 1859. After this he worked for 2 years as a government clerk but he soon threw his juridial career way to becomme a musician. In 1861 he entered St.Petersburg Conservatory to study composition. His tercher was Anton Rubinstein, the most famous composer and pianist i Russia. A known work from this time is a cantata over Schillers ode to joy. With that work he finished his conservtory studies and found a job as a techer of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1876 Tchaikovsky reseived a letter from the wealthy widow Nedezhda von Meck. She admired his music and commissioned a work from him. This was a begining of a long correspondence and she, without ever actually meet him, commissioned several works from him. The good thing was, she paid really well to the (at this time very poor) composer. After 13 years, she suddenly stopped commission works from him. But at this time Tchaikovsky was a very wealthy man through the incommes of his music and a lifetime-pension from the tsar. In 1877 he got married Antonia Milyukova, one of his students at the conservatory. This was a total disaster. Many people claim that the marriage was only to hide his homosexuallity. Whatever is was, it lead to a nervous breakdown and he attempted to commit suicide, but luckely, he failed. At the same time he wrote excellent music such as his fourth symphony. Throughout the 1880s his fame spread and the year of 1889 saw the premiere of Sleeping Beauty. A work wich was a huge succes and gave him even more fortune. The last years of his life he spent touring with an orchestra conducting his own compositions. He was never a robust man and every now and then he fell into psycological crisis and physical illnes. He died in 1893 under mysterious circumstances. Some claim he commited suicide or got murdered, some claim he contracted cholera during a visit to St.Petersburg. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky is one of the late romantics most personal composers. He was influenced by westeuropeean music( Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert etc.) and also of frensh and italian 19th century opera. But he also had a great connection to his russian predecessors´ (Glinka, Dargomyzskij) works and to russian folk music. He himself was an inspiration source to many of the 20th centuries composers.

(1840-1893)