FREE ESSAY ON TCHAIKOVSKY: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC

TCHAIKOVSKY: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC

ATchaikovsky=s music is not only one of the cornerstones of Russian musical society and
world music . . . It is at the same time a creative and technical encyclopedia to which
every Russian composer has reference in the course of his own work,@ commented Dimitri
Shostakovich.1 This was a typical view held by Tchaikovsky=s contemporaries. He was well
known and well respected, especially in his later years. In addition, Tchaikovsky was
recognized as the most expressive Romantic composer in Russia.2 He was often idolized and
put on a pedestal, particularly during his tour of the United States in 1891 when he
conducted concerts of his own works in some of the leading concert halls. Tchaikovsky
brought national attention to the Russian musical culture and composers. From this period
forward Russian music was well received. Tchaikovsky did indeed make a great impact in
Russia and around the world. 
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, born in Votkinsk, Russia on May 7, 1840, was part of a family
with comfortable financial circumstances. His father was a mining engineer and he was
strongly attached to his mother. He first entered into the musical world at the age of
five when he was given his first instruction on the piano. In spite of these lessons and
Tchaikovsky=s love for music it never occurred to his parents to devote his life to
music. Instead, at the age of ten, his family moved to St. Petersburg where they enrolled
him in the School of Jurisprudence. Nine years later, in 1859, he passed into the
Ministry of Justice as a clerk. He still loved music although it did not prove to be a
major part of his life during this period. He was a member of the school choir and took
piano lessons, but none of his instructors suspected a budding genius.3 
A great tragedy that would prove to have a major impact on his life occurred while he was
in St. Petersburg. When he was fourteen years old, a major cholera epidemic was raging
through Russia, a quite common occurrence during his lifetime. His mother contracted the
disease and subsequently died. Tchaikovsky was completely shattered by her death. AIt is
likely that the emotional imbalance that characterized Tchaikovsky=s throughout his life
dates from this tragedy.@4
He remained a clerk for three years. He hated his job but he worked feverishly at it for
he worked hard at every task he was given. He continued to be drawn into the music world
and he took piano and theory lessons. Finally, in 1862, he quit his job and devoted the
rest of his life to music which he began by entering the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He
graduated with a silver medal in 1865. After graduation he was unsure of what to do until
1866 when Nicholas Rubenstein offered him the job of professor of harmony at the newly
formed Moscow Conservatory. It was here that he wrote his first serious works which
included AA Festival Overture on the Danish National Hymn,@ his First Symphony in G
AWinter Daydreams,@ and his first opera AThe Voyevode.@ Showing his desire for perfection
he tore up the opera because he was dissatisfied with it and it wasn=t until 1949 that it
was revived.5
Tchaikovsky=s first masterpiece was composed from 1869-1870. It was a symphonic fantasy
based on Shakespeare=s Romeo and Juliet. ARomeo and Juliet@ was the first of
Tchaikovsky=s works in which his superbly unique style is finally formed.6 ARomeo and
Juliet@ shows Tchaikovsky=s ability to portray a particular mood or emotion through his
music. It is thought that this ability was stimulated by his only love affair with the
well known soprano Desiree Artot. One day she was in Warsaw and she met a baritone there.
He proposed to her and she accepted without every giving another thought to Tchaikovsky.
What makes this curious is the fact that this composer, who was generally regarded as
sensitive and hot tempered, was able to forget her quite easily and continue on with his
life.7 
Tchaikovsky=s ability to put Desiree Artot out of his mind so easily stems from his
homosexual tendencies which left him with Aa profound sense of guilt . . . natural
shyness, melancholia, and emotional disturbance.@8 People were starting to ask questions
and talk about him so Tchaikovsky decided he must do something to silence the critics. At
the suggestion of his brother, Modest, with whom he was very close, Tchaikovsky decided
to marry and settle down. An opportunity to accomplish this, which Tchaikovsky has
referred to in letters as his Arash act,@ came in 1877. A women by the name of Antonina
came to him one day and threw herself at him. She told him that if he did not marry her
she would kill herself. Forced with this, in addition to the fact that he needed to
marry, he approached her with an unorthodox marriage proposal.9 He told her that he
Acould not love her but would be her faithful and grateful friend.@10 Then he asked her
to marry him and she, of course, accepted. His marriage succeeded in stifling the rumors
that were circulating about his homosexuality.
The marriage, which lasted all of two weeks, proved to be too much for Tchaikovsky. On
the brink of a nervous breakdown he tried to commit suicide. One evening he ran to the
Moscow river and plunged in up to his waist in hopes of contracting pneumonia. He managed
to stumble home and was found delirious 24 hours later. The doctor said that he had gone
through a period of great strain and that he should get away for a while. His family took
him to a secluded home on a lake and left him in peace. He remained there for some time.
He never wanted to, nor did, see his wife again.
In 1877 he was contacted by a widow, Nadezda von Meck, who expressed her interest in his
genius and who genuinely loved his music. She offered to provide him with an annual
Aallowance@ so that he could devote the majority of his time composing without having to
worry about his finances. Thus a very strange and intimate relationship began in which
they never met nor spoke but nonetheless knew each others most intimate secrets. Thus
began the happiest period in Tchaikovsky=s life in which he produced his most successful
opera, AEugene Onegin.@
Tchaikovsky really benefitted from this situation for he had found financial security in
addition to the friendship of a woman who would make no demands upon him. Since he had
been relieved of his financial duties he was able to embark upon a period in which he
composed some of his greatest works. These works would help place him among the foremost
composers of the period.11 
During this period of compositional brilliance, Tchaikovsky also enjoyed increased
popularity. This was due to the fact that the Slavic message portrayed in his music had
finally caught fire throughout Europe and the United States.12 Whenever he conducted
concerts of his own works he was greeted with wide acclaim. Among the works he composed
during this period were his Fourth Symphony in F minor, which he dedicated to Mme. Von
Meck, Capriccio Italien, and Overture Solennelle, better known as the 1812 Overture. His
high place in Russian musical society was confirmed in 1884 when the Czar of Russia
presented him with the Order of St. Vladimir. Four years later the government gave him a
lifetime pension.13
Tchaikovsky=s unusual relationship with Mme. Von Meck continued for fourteen years.
Shortly after receiving the news that he had been invited to the United States to conduct
a tour, he received a letter from Mme. Von Meck indicating that she could no longer
support him financially and that their intimate relationship had come to an end. The one
aspect which was most disturbing to Tchaikovsky was the manner in which she ended the
letter. It concluded with words that were totally devoid of warmth. She wrote, A... do
not forget and think of me sometimes.@14 This would be the last he heard from Mme. Von
Meck.
Tchaikovsky was in poor mental health upon his return to Russia from the United States.
He had not heard from Mme. Von Meck in eight months when he received a letter from a
mutual friend. She wrote that Mme. Von Meck was very ill and terribly upset and that she
could no longer communicate as they had before.15 This event broke Tchaikovsky=s spirit
and was a strain on his already deteriorating health.16 The remainder of his life was
filled with sadness and depression. Tchaikovsky was never the same after that. 
His greatest distinctions came during this time of sadness and despair. He was elected a
member of the Academie Francaise and he received an honorary degree from the University
of Cambridge. He composed his final work during this time of his greatest grief. It was
his Sixth Symphony entitled Symphonie Pathetique, the Pathetic Symphony, in B minor. This
symphony was a funeral dirge. He was saying goodbye to a dead friendship as well as, in
essence, writing his own requiem for it was widely felt that he intended to commit
suicide. The symphony premiered while he was still alive and his hundreds of worshipers
wondered what the real thoughts of so sad a person were. ABut two weeks later when the
Symphony Pathetique was performed in all its glory those who listened bowed their heads
and wept for then they knew.@17
Five days after the premier Tchaikovsky drank a glass of unboiled water during a time
when another cholera epidemic was raging through Russia. He contracted the disease and
died shortly thereafter. His carelessness combined with the fact that his mother died of
the same disease leads one to believe that he committed suicide. 
Igor Stravinsky said, A[Tchaikovsky=s] works represent the essence of the Russian land
and its people.@18 Tchaikovsky=s life was a mixture of fantasy and reality. His reality
was full of depression and despair so he used a fantasy life, which he engaged in his
music, to have happiness, contentment, and enjoyment. AHis music translates him into an
entirely different world - a world in which he can forget himself and become an
impersonal instrument in the hands of a higher power.@19
Tchaikovsky was truly Russia=s greatest composer. He brought national attention to
Russia=s musical society and he was the first Russian composer to tour the United States.
The impact he had on western culture was indescribable but can be best expressed in a
quote from Herman Laroche who said, AYou are the greatest musical talent of contemporary
Russia . . . in ou see the greatest, or rather, the only hope of our musical future.@ 
Bibliography
Abraham, Gerald. The Music of Tchaikovsky. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1946.
Bloom, Eric, ed. ATchaikovsky.@ Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians. New York: St.
Martin=s Press, 1968.
Brook, Donald. ATchaikovsky.@ Six Great Russian Composers. London: Salisbury Square,
1946.
Cross, Milton and David Ewen. ATchaikovsky.@ Encyclopedia of the Great Composers and
Their Music. New York: Doubleday, 1962.
Kaufmann, Helen L. ATchaikovsky.@ The Story of 100 Great Composers. New York: Grosset and
Dunlap, 1960.
Shonberg, Harold C. ATchaikovsky.@ Lives of the Great Composers. New York: W.W. Norton
and Company, 1981.
ATchaikovsky.@ Great Composers 1300-1900. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1966.
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich. Letters to His Family: An Autobiography. New York: Stein and
Day, 1973.
Thomas, Henry and Dana Lee Thomas. ATchaikovsky.@ Living Biographies of Great Composers.
New York: Garden City, 1959.