Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is in my opinion one of the greatest classical music
composers of all time. He also had one of the most interesting lives I have ever read
about. Although he suffered through a large enormity of emotional problems and
nervous breakdowns, along with having to deal with harsh instances of love and death,
his music reflects these emotions in a very beautiful way.
Tchaikovsky (also spelled Chaikovsky or Tschaikovsky, and often referred to as
Peter), was born on May seventh, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia. His father, Ilya Petrovitch
Tchaikvosky, was the superintendent of government owned mines, giving his family an
upper-class standing in Russia, and Tchaikovsky had a French governess (mostly because his mother was half-French). Although he was musically talented at a young age, his parents were unsupportive as he was kind of anxious and excitable, and they thought music would do him even more harm mentally. But even before age 10, he had already begun composing music.
Because of a transfer in his father's job in about 1850, the family was moved to
Moscow and then to St. Petersburg, where Tchaikovsky was sent to the prepatory School of Jurisprudence, which was all male. He lived somewhat happily until his mother's death four years later. He had loved her very much, almost abnormally, and was deeply
disturbed by it, with his father's uncaring manner intensifying the matter even worse. To
help alleviate some of the pain involved, Tchaikovsky composed a short waltz for piano, with thoughts of composing an opera as well. Underlying homosexual desires also burdened him during this time, while attending an all-male school didn't help it any. For the rest of these school years, the only musical education he got was random piano, singing, and harmony lessons, along with several opera attendances, which have been said to have "lasting influences on his musi...