Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
(1840 - 1893)
Tchaikovsky was one of the earlier students of the St. Petersburg Conservatory established by Anton Rubinstein, completing his studies there to become a member of the teaching staff at the similar institution established in Moscow by Anton Rubinstein's brother Nikolay. He was able to withdraw from teaching when a rich widow, Nadezhda von Meck, offered him financial support which continued for much of his life, although, according to the original conditions of the pension, they never met. Tchaikovsky was a man of neurotic diffidence, his self-doubt increased by his homosexuality. It is now suggested by some that an impending scandal caused him to take his own life at a time when he was at the height of his powers as a composer. His music is thoroughly Russian in character, but, although he was influenced by Balakirev and the ideals of the Five Russian nationalist composers, he may be seen as belonging rather to the more international school of composition fostered by the Conservatories that Balakirev so much deplored.
The first of Tchaikovsky's full length ballet-scores was Swan Lake, completed in 1876, followed in 1889 by The Sleeping Beauty. His last ballet, based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, was "Nutcracker", first staged in St. Petersburg in December 1892. (The music of Swan Lake is presented in the Ol'Kunnel's Jukebox as the theme of the motion picture "M" made in 1931.)
The first of Tchaikovsky's three piano concertos has become the most generally popular of all romantic piano concertos. Piano Concerto No. 1 and other works can be enjoyed on other jukebox pages of the Kunnel's Korner.
