Tchaikovsky

“Where the heart does not enter, there can be no music.” I find this quote to be the perfect introduction to today’s topic. I would like to do a brief recap of Pyotr Ilyish Tchaikovsky’s life. There’s no doubt that he is one of the greatest composer of all times. His music is timeless, there’s something about his musical approach that its totally his. His music sounds like Tchaikovsky, there’s like a watermark on his works, nothing sounds like him.

Pyotr Ilyish Tchaikovsky, later anglicized to Peter Ilyish Tchaikovsky was a later romantic era Russian composer. He was actually the first Russian composer to impact the wider Western musical landscape. Tchaikovsky was born in the small town of Votkinsk, his father was a military man from a long line of military men. His mother was a German/French woman nearly 20 years his junior.

His family was really prone to the arts, life in a small town it’s not easy, every little sprout of entertainment must be fully enjoyed and cherished. Tchaikovsky had 6 siblings, and after his Mother died and his Father remarried, he inherited even more siblings.

Tchaikovsky was a really clever little child. By the time he was 6, he was fluent in either German or French and by the time he was 8, he was better at sight reading than his music teacher. His parents were supportive to his musical fervor, but by that time to be a musician was not considered a proper way to make a living. Back then in Russian, a career in music was considered like a lower class option, with little resources you could study music.

His Father had a better idea for him and enrolled him to the Imperial Jurisprudence school in Saint Petersburg to get a legit education. During his studies, his Mother died of Cholera in 1854, and that incident inspired him to write his first serious piece of music.

Tchaikovsky and his friends were really prone to music and theater. What is really peculiar is the fact that even his former Law classmates became shocked when they found out that Peter became a full time musician, for them it was an excuse to go out, to enjoy life, not a full time job.

When out of school, he got a real job as a civil servant in 1859. However, he did not love to do that and it didn’t take long until he realized that this was not the right path for him. In 1862 the Saint Petersburg’s conservatory opened its doors and Tchaikovsky became one of the first students.

The conservatory had a huge impact on his musical style. It gave him the opportunity to be open to a wide array of western music which Tchaikovsky blended with his personal style. This out-of-the-ordinary approach gave his music a unique twist, and due to that, was not well-received on either side of the world. His music is not fully Russian and does not comply with was is known as European music.

When he composed his first symphony, his teachers made him revisit several times his scores, it was so unique and groundbreaking that not even his teachers knew how to deal with this new music that was written on the pentagram.

When he graduated in 1865, the brother of one of his teachers made him a proposal that changed his life. Nikolai Rubistein offered him the job of professor of music theory in the brand new Conservatory of Moscow. The pay was not outstanding, but better things came for him from this posting.

Music began to change in the late eighteen hundred, music became really flashy and bombastic, but people began to crave for something more introspective and with more meaning, this is something that Tchaikovsky’s music always had.

One of his most celebrated pieces of work came from this time period. In 1869 his Romeo and Juliet symphonic poem, this composition was one of his own favorites of all the work he accomplished during all his career.

End of part I.