Tchaikovsky P.I., (1840-1893), composer

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
TCHAIKOVSKY Peter Ilyich (1840-1893, St. Petersburg), composer, conductor, pedagogue, musical writer. Director of the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society (1885), member of the Paris Academy of Fine Arts, Honorary Doctor of Cambridge University. Lived in St. Petersburg in 1850-66. Graduated from the School of Law (1859) and the Conservatory (1865), where he studied under A.G. Rubinstein. In 1859-63 he served in the Department of the Ministry of Justice (3-5 Malaya Sadovaya Street). Made his debut as a composer and a conductor in the autumn of 1865. Tchaikovsky's creative life is closely connected with St. Petersburg. It was there that many of his works were premiered and the love of his public flowered. The audience appreciated hearing in music the Russian soul and dramatic confession of an intellectual of F.M. Dostoevsky's epoch. Tchaikovsky's works recall Petersburg in their European and even Pushkin-like overtones, and sometimes elicited a negative attitude to Tchaikovsky' inclusion as one of the Mighty Five composers. After the Petersburg premiere of the opera Eugene Onegin (1884, Mariinsky Theatre), C.A. Cui publicly called it a still-born child and completely unsound. In spite of this, the composer was given a standing ovation, and in 1891 the 100th performance of Eugene Onegin took place. Tchaikovsky was supported by the Russian Musical Society, Rubinstein, E.F. Napravnik, and the Board of Imperial Theatres. Many of his operas premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre, including The Oprichnik (1874), Vakula the Smith (Cherevichki, 1876), The Maid of Orleans (1881), Mazeppa (1884), The Enchantress (1887), The Queen of Spades (1890), Iolanta (or Iolanthe,1892), and the ballets Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892). At the hall of the Noble Assembly, Tchaikovsky conducted the premieres of his Symphony No. 5 (1888) and Symphony No. 6 (1893), and performed in 1889, in honour of Rubinstein's jubilee, his oratorio The Tower of Babel with over 700 musicians taking part in the concert. In summer, Tchaikovsky's music was often heard in Pavlovsk, Ozerki, and in the Aquarium Garden, after which the public, recognising him, would encircle and applaud him. Tchaikovsky died of cholera in the flat of his brother and co-author, Modest Ilyich (13 Malaya Morskaya Street, memorial plaque installed). Tens of thousands of people gathered for the funeral service at the Kazan Cathedral and funeral procession to Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Tchaikovsky's grave is located on the Composers' Path of the Necropolis of Artists . In 1923 Sergievskaya Street was renamed in memory of Tchaikovsky.

References: Конисская Л. М. Чайковский в Петербурге. 2-е изд., испр. и доп. Л., 1974; Чайковский М. И. Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского: (По док., хранившимся в архиве в Клину): В 3 т. М., 1997.

A. L. Porfiryeva. Cui Cesar Antonovich
Dostoevsky Fedor Mikhailovich
Napravnik Eduard Frantsevich
Rubinstein Anton Grigorievich
Tchaikovsky Modest Ilyich
Tchaikovsky Peter Ilyich
Malaya Morskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 13
Malaya Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 3
Malaya Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 5
Tchaikovskogo St./Saint Petersburg, city
Чайковский М. И. Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского: (По док., хранившимся в архиве в Клину): В 3 т. М., 1997
Конисская Л. М. Чайковский в Петербурге. 2-е изд., испр. и доп. Л., 1974 Law School
Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Imperial Theatres Board
Mariinsky Theatre
Kazan Cathedral
Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Necropolis of Artists
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