First ballet music written tchaikovsky biography

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed three of the most beloved ballets: Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty. The melodies are, quite literally, music to one’s ears. These compositions are so popular and well-known that they have been featured in countless movies, shows and other arts. His internationally acclaimed compositions helped shape both music and dance over a century ago and are still doing so today.

A 2008 production of Swan Lake at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Tchaikovsky’s Early Life

Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, widely known by his last name, was born in Russia in 1840. A brilliant child, he learned how to play the piano at five and knew three languages at six. Despite his obvious talent, his parents sent him to boarding school to become a civil servant. At fourteen his mother died from cholera, devastating him, and forever impacting the rest of his life. He attempted his first composition, a waltz, inspired by and dedicated to her.

He completed his education and worked in the civil service at the Ministry of Justice for three years. The Russian Musical Society was founded to foster native talent instead of focusing on those in Europe during this time. Tchaikovsky attended classes in music theory before enrolling at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory the following year. The teachings there were Western-oriented, and exposed him to more than traditional Russian music. From the different teachings throughout his life, he created his own sense and style of music from various influences.  His progressive work was not initially well-received, however, he graduated in 1965.

Soon after, he began working as a Professor of Music Theory. One of his works was performed in public for the first time as well. He became a music critic and was able to travel to listen to a wide range of music, including Beethoven. He continued to compose as his pieces were performed with greater frequency. As he gained popularity, he expanded his compositions a

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is rightly considered the maestro of ballet music. He defended it against contemporaries who classified it as mere incidental music, and found great freedom and serenity in writing Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. A love story.

His hair had become thinner and greyer, and the increasing depressive episodes were getting to him. His eyesight was failing, making it harder for him to read, especially in winter. It was the late 1880s, and Tchaikovsky was slowly approaching fifty. He had just completed his Fifth Symphony and was embarking on a European tour conducting his own works. Like his previous trip, this one would end in the fog of London.

In this literally and figuratively early autumnal phase of his life, Tchaikovsky returned to the world of ballet, which he had left behind years before. It was prompted by a commission from the director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky, who asked for a new ballet score in May 1888: Sleeping Beauty, based the French version of the story by Charles Perrault. The director himself sketched the first outline of the plot. The composer was taken with it, worked out parts during his trip to Europe and in the end was very satisfied with his work: “Sleeping Beauty is perhaps my best work.” Absolute aesthetic judgements may be questionable, but there are good reasons for Tchaikovsky’s appraisal: refined harmonies with bold modulations, a dazzling abundance of melodies, flexible rhythms – all of these are woven together into a melange of colours all of its own.

Tchaikovsky had a fondness for dance music long before he wrote his ballet compositions. Even in his early years, he made use of waltzes, mazurkas, polonaises, and Russian dances. If you look at the piano works of this period, you come across titles such as Polka de salon, Valse-Caprice and Scherzo humoristique. I

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born into a middle-class family in Votkinsk, Russia. He was a complex and emotional child with a brilliant intellect and great musical ability. Despite developing some skill as a pianist and composing some short pieces, family pressure led him to study Law rather than music.

After graduating, he worked for several years as a civil servant, finally enrolling in Anton Rubinstein's new music college (soon to become the St Petersburg Conservatoire) in 1863. He studied there for two years and in 1866 accepted the post of professor of harmony at Anton's brother, Nicolai Rubinstein's rival music conservatoire in Moscow. He found his teaching commitments difficult as they took away from the time he could spend composing. However, during his first two years at the Moscow Conservatoire, he completed his First Symphony Op.13 (Winter Daydreams, 1866) and his first opera, Voyevoda (1867-8).

In 1868 Tchaikovsky made the acquaintance of 'The Five', or 'The Mighty Handful', a group of nationalistic composers lead by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Their influence showed in his Second Symphony Op.17 (Little Russia, 1872), but he was eventually dismissed by most of the members as too much of a product of the conservatoire, or not suitably Russian. He remained in contact with Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev however, and slowly began to make a name for himself as a composer of operas and orchestral works.

Tchaikovsky wrote his first ballet, Swan Lake, in 1875, shortly after the premiere of his now famous First Piano Concerto. At its premiere, the work was not the disaster that is often cited. It was poorly prepared and performed, but did achieve some success, being given a total of 41 performances during the composer's lifetime.

Two years later, Tchaikovsky, married one of his pupils, Antonina Milyukova. She was obsessed with the young composer, but had little appreciation for his music. Needless to say, their marriage was a disaster. It lasted