Peter Tchaikovsky

Peter Tchaikovsky

Almost everybody knows "The Nutcracker Suite" with its "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "Waltz of the Flowers" "The Nutcracker Suite" was written as a ballet, but many more people have heard the music than have seen the ballet. Some of Tchaikovsky's other compositions are well-known too. Among them are the "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty" (ballets), the "Romeo and Juliet" (overture), the "Eugene Onegin", "Mazzeppa" "Iolanta" "The Queen of Spades" (operas) and the Symphony N 6; called the "Pathetic".

Many of Tchaikovsky's writings are very tuneful. Several popular songs have tunes borrowed from them.

Tchaikovsky was born in a small town in the Ural mountains. His father was a mining engineer. As a boy Tchaikovsky loved music, but he did not think of giving his life to it. He planned to be a lawyer. When he was old enough, he began to study law.

But at 21 he decided that music was much more interesting and entered the conservatory at St. Petersburg. After he graduated five years later, he was made a professor in Moscow Conservatory. Along with his teaching, he wrote a great deal of music.

His compositions are so popular now that it is hard to believe that at first they were not at all popular. But for ten years all his operas were failures and no one paid much attention to anything else he wrote.

As a result of his unhappiness and lack of success, he became ill and had to give up his teaching.

At last his music won the praise it deserved. Tchaikovsky was only 53 when he died, but he lived long enough to know that his music was being played far and wide over the world.