Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky [1840–1893] was one of the most prominent Russian composers of the Romantic era, and his music continues to be performed more often than nearly any of the orchestral or operatic works of his contemporaries. In addition to symphonies and chamber music, he also composed a number of notable ballets.
Tchaikovsky abandoned his parents’ wishes for a career as a civil servant to pursue one in music, a personal interest of his that began with piano lessons at the age of five. Graduating at 19 from a school long considered a clear path to government service, Tchaikovsky spent only three years as a low-level functionary before attending the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. There he studied elements of composition and ultimately became the institution’s professor of music theory. Tchaikovsky originally believed in following the methods and themes popular in Westernized classical music, while a group of influential composers known collectively as The Five—Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov—had a more nationalistic view of the sort of classical music Russians should be writing; their compositions favored folk-tune harmonies and rhythms, plus other Eastern influences. Tchaikovsky’s first symphony, written upon his graduation as a music student, was quite Western in outlook, but his initial major musical triumph—a fantasy-overture titled Romeo and Juliet—was sufficiently Russian in character to receive The Five’s unqualified appreciation.
During the years 1867–1878, Tchaikovsky wrote some of his most enduring music. Major pieces from this period include Piano Concerto No. 1, the ballet Swan Lake, and the opera Eugene Onegin. His violin concerto [1878] is one of the best known in all of classical music, as well as perhaps the most difficult technically. Its debut marked an end to a period of mental stability for Tchaikovsky; his emotional health, while never great, seems to have taken a severe turn as exemplified by the composer’s seclusion from public appearances. Much of this may have been driven by his homosexuality and the disdain for which that lifestyle was held at the time—even though he never admitted publicly that he was attracted to men.
Tchaikovsky composed a number of works that remain extremely popular with the public today. In addition to the pieces named above, these include the ballets The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, the opera The Queen of Spades, an assortment of string quartets and piano pieces, and the iconic 1812 Overture. Tchaikovsky died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. While his official cause of death was listed as cholera, some scholars claim that his passing was a suicide. Given his clearly bipolar condition and melancholy outlook, this possibility can hardly be ruled out.