Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky Essay Research Paper

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky Essay, Research Paper

“Tchaikovsky is not only one of the corner stones of Russian musical culture and world music.. It’s at the same time creative and technical encyclopedia to which every Russian has reference in the course of his own work” (Cross and Ewen, 1025), said Dimitri Shostakovich. Peter Iltich Tchaikovsky is considered one of the best composers of all time. In this paper you will see how Tchaikovsky’s life was difficult and memorable.

Peter Tchaikovsky was born in Votinsk, in the district of Viatka, Russia on May 1, 1840. “His father, Lieutenant colonel Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky (a well-to-do engineer who was the principle inspector of Government Mines and Metallurgical works), and mother, Alexandra Andreuevna (of French ancestry) had seven children, of whom Peter was third” (Cross and Ewen, 1027). Peter’s first musical expression came whine he was three, upon hearing one of Mozart’s great aria’s, Don Giovanni. He demonstrated extaordinary sensitivity for music early in life. As a child he was fascinated y a little mechanical instrument called an “orchestrion”. When he was five he took piano lessons form Kundnges. Life passed and when he was ten he and his family moved to St. Petersburg where he was enrolled in preparatory classes for the school of jurisprudence. Nicholas Zaremba was a big inspiration, helping him to over come his natural tendencies toward indolence. And he worked hard and well. Another of Tchaikovsky’s teachers was Gabriel Lomankin. Tchaikovsky’s mother died of cholera when he was 14. He finished school when he was 19. For a year he worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice a job he hated, but devoted himself to completely. Tchaikovsky’s first 20 years were very hard. Working to survive in a world was there is no help. (Scionti, 375, Cross and Ewen, 1027-1028, Ewen, 375).

Tchaikovsky’s early works were technically sound, but unappreciated. I always thought that his music was always greatly appreciated in his time along with ours. He started composing in 1860 and completed an Italian Song, which was published. “He soon met the Rubinstein brothers, Anton and Nickolai; both were composers, and Anton was a pianist second only to France Liszt in technical brilliance and fame. In 1862 Anton opened Russia’s first conservatory, under the sponsorship of the Imperial Russian Music Society (I.R.M.S.); in St. Petersburg, and Tchaikovsky was its first composition student” (Ewen, 375). In 1862, Tchaikovsky left the government service and enrolled in the then Newly founded Conservatory. He combined his studies with Zaremba, a member of the Conservatory Faculty, and Anton Rubinstein with lessons in harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration. “Do not for one moment think that I expected to be a great artist.’ He wrote to his sister. ‘Whether I become a famous composer or a poor music teacher is a matter of indifference to me. At all events, my conscience will be clear and I shall no longer have thought to complain about my lot” (Cross and Ewen, 1028). Now when he was writing full time and some of his music was getting performed. “Characteristic Dances, for orchestra, was introduced by Johann Strauss II during the summer season in Povlovsky in 1865 a String Quartet and an Overture in F, for orchestra, where heard at students concerts at the Conservatory in 1865 and in 1866 respectively. A Cantata, ode to Joy (written-as a graduating exercise to Schiller’s words, the same text used by Beethoven in the Ninth Symphony), won for him a silver medal and inspired his young friend Hermann Laroche, later a famous critic, to say “You are the greatest music talent of contemporary Russia, more powerful than Balakirev, more creative than Serov, infinite more cultivated that Rimsky-Korsakov. In you I see the greatest, or rather the one hope of our musical future” (Cross and Ewen, 1028-1029).

Upon graduating in 1865, Tchaikovsky had the problem of supporting himself. However, in 1866 Nickolai Rubinstein, brother of Anton, invited him to Moscow to be a professor of harmony; despite the meager salary of fifty rubles a month, Tchaikovsky accepted. Gradually, he became accustom to his new teaching duties at the conservatory. “Much to my surprise,’ he wrote to his sister on February 19, 1866, ‘my course is very successful. My nervousness has completely vanished, and I am gradually acquiring the proper professional demeanor. My hypochondria are also disappearing. But Moscow is till a strange town for me, and it will be a long time before I will be able to think without dread of having to stay here for years, perhaps forever” (Cross and Ewen, 1029). Soon after he started to work on his first symphony, subtitled “Winter Dreams”. Worry, lack of confidence, and dissatisfaction with his writing caused him to have mental breakdowns and he suffered form insomnia. He was sure that he would die before he finished; he worked frequently through the nights. A nervous breakdown followed. A simmer holiday at a country house brought relief and he was able to finish the Symphony that people might not have liked. He was very lucky to have a chance to reverse the damage that he had caused. Tchaikovsky showed the score to Anton Rubinstein. He was not impressed with it and refused to conduct the premiere performance. On the other hand, Nickolai agreed to conduct it in Moscow on February 15, 1868. It was a resounding success. “The warm reception of the sympho