TCHAIKOVSKY, PYTOR ILLYICH (b. Votkinsk, 7 May 1840; d. St. Pletersburg, 6 Nov 1893)
Tchaikovsky himself said that a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni determined him to dedicate his life to writing music. His family bcakground was not musical and he was intended by his parents to study law. But by 1861, without opposition from his family, he began to study music.
His early compositions have largely been lost. His first orchestral pieces were performed in Moscow, where he was continuing his studies. But his main ambition was still to write for the opera.
A first opera was performed in 1869, but he subsequently destroyed the score. A second was rejected by the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg. His growing reputation continued to rest on his symphonic compositions until, in 1876, he heard a performance of Bizet's Carmen and was again inspired to write for the stage.
Vakula the Smith, which he wrote that year, is almost forgotten today. But in 1879 Tchaikovsky produced his masterpiece, Eugene Onegin. In its famous letter scene he provided sopranos with one of the most dramatic, truthful and and beautiful opportunities in the operatic repertoire for virtuoso singing and psychological interpretation.
The Maid of Orleans was written in 1881, and was followed, in 1884, by Mazeppa. Neither offers the remarkable characterisation found in Onegin, though he never fails to produce striking dramatic effects. In this period he continued to write for the orchestra as well as composing songs for the solo voice.
The Sorceress, (1887) shows Tchaikovsky's continuing interest in the use of dance on the operatic stage. The influences of Bizet and Mozart appear again in The Queen of Spades (1890), as does a Wagnerian intensity, which gives an inconsistency to the work as a whole.
His next major commission was the ballet The Nutcracker, originally intended to be a double bill with his final, one-act opera, Yolanta. The opera is almost forgotten, but the ballet remains an international favourite, frequently performed at Christmas time.
As a personality Tchaikovsky was difficult, emotional and given to depression. Throughout his life he was tormented by his homosexuality and the fear of its revelation. A loveless marriage led to a suicide attempt in 1877. It has been suggested that his death was brought about by a group of his peers, who, outraged by the potential scandal of his homosexuality, set up a kangaroo court which demanded that he poison himself.
