Piotr Tchaikovsky

He started piano studies at five and soon showed remarkable gifts. In 1863 he entered the Conservatory, also undertaking private teaching. Three years later he moved to Moscow with a professorship of harmony at the new conservatory. 

In 1875 came the carefully written Third Symphony and Swan Lake, commissioned by Moscow Opera. Soon will write his greatest works, the Fourth Symphony and Eugene Onegin. The symphony embodies a 'fate' motif that recurs at various points, clarifying the structure. The first one is a combination of melancholy with a folk theme pressed into service as second subject.

Eugene Onegin, after Pushkin, tells of a girl's rejected approach to a man who fascinates her. The brilliant Violin Concerto also comes from the late 1870s. In 1884, he produced his Manfred symphony, after Byron. He continued to travel widely, and conduct. The next three years saw the composition of two ballets, the finely characterized "Sleeping Beauty" and the more decorative "Nutcracker".

Catalina Burga
"D. Zamfirescu" School, Focsani, Romania
Teacher: Petru Dumitru <petrudumitru@netscape.net>