Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893
Russian composer of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and the 1812 Overture.
Biography
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer. He studied law and worked in the civil service before entering the new Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and then taught at the Moscow Conservatory.
His works joined Russian themes with Western forms and include the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, the operas Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, six symphonies, the First Piano Concerto, the Violin Concerto and the 1812 Overture.
A long financial arrangement with the patron Nadezhda von Meck let him compose full time. He toured Europe and the United States as a conductor and died in Saint Petersburg in 1893, days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony.
Affiliations
Education
- Jan 1, 1850 – Jun 10, 1859 Imperial School of Jurisprudence Two preparatory years then the seven-year course; graduated 10 June 1859
- Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Employment
- from Jan 1, 1866 Moscow Conservatory