Biography Of Pyotr Peter Tchaikovsky

Gwendolyn Richmond
Music Appreciation 110
November 11, 2014
Large Paper
Pyotr ‘Peter’ Tchaikovsky Peter Tchaikovsky was one of the Great Russian composers of the Romantic Period and he created many musical masterpieces. Born in May of 1840, he was fascinated with music as young as five years old. His parents supported his dream but eventually directed him into the government. At ten years old, he studied at the School of Jurisprudence after he and his family relocated to St. Petersburg. When he was only fourteen his mother passed away and he decided to honor both of his parents’ wishes by taking a bureau clerk position at the Ministry of Justice. Tchaikovsky was twenty one when he began studing music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He
excelled in his music studies and became the school’s first composition student. Upon graduation, he became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory where he held the position for twelve years. Tchaikovsky composed furiously; a symphony, an opera and a tone poem and by the age of thirty had composed his first great orchestral work, Romeo and Juliet (Kamien). As aforementioned, Tchaikovsky was an exceptional music composer.
He wrote musical pieces for vocal ensembles and orchestral works as well. Peter wrote his best work for the ballet. Some of those ballets were Swan Lake (1876), Sleeping Beauty (1889) and one of his most famous ballets, The Nutcracker (1892). Along with ballets, Tchaikovsky composed operas and orchestral pieces. His music was well known for having stunning melody lines and showing great emotion. He would write for all the voices and/or instruments to build to the powerful climaxes. “One thing Peter Tchaikovsky was good at was using Russian melodies and sounds, but presenting them in a sophisticated way that audiences from Western Europe appreciate without having to cover their ears,” (Sebastian). Many things influenced his work from French, Italian, and German elements to the dramatic events that plagued him throughout his
life. Tchaikovsky wrote many outstanding pieces that have stood the test of time. In 1865, Tchaikovsky had his first work publicly performed where it was received by the audience. Among some of his greatest works were the orchestral pieces of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Symphonies (1877, 1888, 1893), the Violin Concerto (1878) and the overture-fantasy Romeo and Juliet (1869). In his time he composited a total of eight operas two of them were, Eugene Onegin (1877-1878), and Pique Dame (1890). One work noted for not receiving well with the audience was his first opera, Voyevoda which, “made its way to the stage- with little fanfare,” (Bio). This only made Tchaikovsky take some of the material and create a different construction of work with achieved some acclaim. The piece was his second opera titled Oprichnik. Tchaikovsky wrote and worked diligently on his repertoire in the short years between his start of studying music to his untimely death.
In 1869, when he was only twenty nine Tchaikovsky composed Romeo and Juliet. Tchaikovsky worked hard to capture the message of passion that was presented through Shakespeare’s play. He captured all the emotions and themes of the play and even down to the actions of the characters. Romeo and Juliet was an overture that he wrote with slow beginning and eventually a speedy sonata as to mimick the conflicts in the story. The music was used effectively to show the hatred between the families, the clashing of swords during fighting scenes and the deep passionate love Romeo and Juliet had for each other. Now a great memorable piece, it took many revisions arrive at the standing that it is at now. The 1870 premiere was regarded as a ‘failure’ as no one spoke during the dinner that followed. ‘”After the concert we dined….No one said a single word to me about the overture the whole evening. And yet I yearned so for appreciation and kindness.”’(Kamien) This feeling of Tchaikovsky’s led to three revisions of the piece before becoming final and performed in
1880. Ofcourse Tchaikovsky was mentioned as being a musical genius by people then and even more today. He never completely felt the same way, and would be sensitive to criticism. Pyotr took many of his pieces and would turn them into new works or just revise them, as mentioned with Romeo and Juliet. He wanted his work to be received by the audience in that he would work twice as hard to make music that would stick with people and stay in their heads and hearts. A quote by Tchaikovsky found by Chris Gonzales explains how he felt about hard work: "There is no doubt that even the greatest musical geniuses have sometimes worked without inspiration. This guest does not always respond to the first invitation. We must always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood. If we wait for the mood, without endeavouring to meet it half-way, we easily become indolent and apathetic. We must be patient, and believe that inspiration will come to those who can master their disinclination."
Inspiring composers believed in what he said, that in order to be great there as to be work done and inspiration behind the work. Tchaikovsky often times reflected on his own dismay to make some of the best work that he created. Tchaikovsky trained under Western style teachings and music theory setting him apart from other Russian composers of his time. This also put him under a specific amount of scrutiny for the years to some after breaking into the musical scene. Peter studied closely with Nikolai Zaremba and was taught instrumentation and compostition from the director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Anton Rubinstein. Tchaikovsky was figuratively put under a microscope of The Five and his work was harshly criticized and regarded as weak by members of the group. Though he faced difficulty with emotions and tragedy he somehow managed to remain friendly with the men who would tear apart his work. He used every bit of himself and events to make his music, surprisingly enough most of his music is known for being leapful and almost like a dance with the instrumentation. A number of musical reviewers and past composers have rewarded Tchaikovsky with the statement that he is one of the most professional composers of his time. Before Pyotr, there was a very limited glimpse of Russian music. Tchaikovsky effectively took what he learned studying with Rubinstein and Zaremba and created a new form of musical genre. He broke barriers in audience make up by indulging foreign audiences with his own music. His great detail into the scores for operas and ballets is what propelled him into stardom. As mentioned ballets were his best works and it was because of the detail into the instrumentation and how it all worked together to combine pieces that him, his teachers and audiences can be proud of and captured in. The impact of Tchaikovsky's own works should not be underestimated; his mastery of melodies which match physical movements perfectly, along with vivid orchestration, effective themes and continuity of thought were unprecedented in the genre, setting new standards for the role of music in classical ballet (ClassicCat).