Week 3 of social distancing (I think? Honestly March has lasted an eternity). I’m feeling a bit more adjusted to being at home, I don’t know about you guys. But I think we’re getting back into midterm season because I have 3 exams in the next 3 days, and I think others are feeling the same.
This week, I’m going to talk about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a Russian Romantic composer that you’ve probably heard of. I don’t know much about him, other than his 1812 Overture. However, the full Nutcracker by the NYC Ballet came up in my Youtube suggestions once, so I spent my college Friday night watching the Nutcracker and eating chocolate, and the music was incredible. Now that we know I don’t have a social life, let’s find out what Tchaikovsky was like.
Like most composers, Tchaikovsky showed musical promise from a young age. However, Russia did not have any music institutions while he was growing up, so he trained as a civil servant instead. Eventually, he trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory when it opened. Tchaikovsky was 25 when the first public performance of his work premiered.
To support his early music career, Tchaikovsky (I really wish his name was easier to type) was a music critic, especially for Schumann and Brahms, and a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory. Early on, he didn’t have much success with his operas, but his instrumental pieces were hits, especially Romeo and Juliet and his Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major.
In 1877, Tchaikovsky finished his first ballet, Swan Lake; although it is very successful today, this work was not an immediate hit due to bad staging and choreography. However, he was still rising in fame, leading to a public into his typically reserved personal life.
Tchaikovsky was gay in a time when the Romanov tsars had outlawed homosexuality, causing a fear of discovery throughout his entire life. He eventually couldn’t resist the social and familial pressures and tried to hide his homosexuality through marriage to one of his young students. But, as you might guess, this marriage proved disastrous due to their incompatibility and different sexual orientations, and he fled after a few weeks.
After this experience, Tchaikovsky stated that “only now… have I finally begun to understand that there is nothing more fruitless than not wanting to be that which I am by nature.” Quite profound. So although he adapted to the social pressures of the day, he did not force himself to conform.
From 1876 onward, Tchaikovsky earned the patronage of Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy businesswoman, allowing him to resign from teaching and focus solely on composing. Although they never met in person, they exchanged many letters on all sorts of philosophical issues and created a deep connection, so much so that when von Meck went bankrupt in 1890 and ceased their relationship, Tchaikovsky fell into depression.
One of Tchaikovsky’s most famous pieces is his 1812 Overture, which won him popularity even though he called it “very loud and noisy and completely without artistic merit, obviously written without warmth or love.” Somehow, the 1812 Overture is now played as a 4th of July tradition in America thanks to a sensational 1974 performance by the Boston Pops.
But this piece is fully devoted to Russia! Tchaikovsky included several Russian folks songs in his tale of the Russian victory over Napoleon and a mocking rendition of the French national anthem, which is then knocked down by the victorious “God Save the Czar.” Tchaikovsky did include cannons in the original score, but the logistics of firing them at the same time proved too difficult. In more modern times, people have figured out how to include them though, don’t worry.
In his later years, Tchaikovsky achieved fame with two more ballets, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, triumphant tours of America and Europe, and his great Symphony No. 6. Suddenly, just nine days after that symphonic premiere, Tchaikovsky died, most likely from cholera (although some rumors swirled about suicide from arsenic poisoning).
Tchaikovsky’s legacy has changed quite a bit over the years. During his lifetime, he was criticized by Russians for not being nationalistic enough, although he was championed by the Soviet Union. In America, Tchaikovsky was judged first and foremost by his sexual “deviance,” causing his music and life to be seen as vulgar and neurotic. Thank God we’ve moved on from this view to realize that Tchaikovsky’s experimentation, which inspired countless other composers, created Russian Romanticism, revolutionized ballet and elevated it to the symphonic level, and established him as the first great Russian symphonist. Overall, I’d say he belongs with the greats, no matter his sexuality.
Some more of Tchaikovsky’s hits:
The Seasons (for piano)
And of course, the musical meme of the week:
Sources:
Greenberg, Robert. “5 (Pretty Dark) Facts About Composer Peter Tchaikovsky.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 25 June 2019, www.biography.com/news/peter-tchaikovsky-facts-video.
Hopkin, Owen. “The 1812 Overture: The Hit That Tchaikovsky Hated.” Classic FM, Global, 26 Mar. 2018, www.classicfm.com/composers/tchaikovsky/guides/1812-hated-hit/.
Poznansky, Alexander. “Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 Feb. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Pyotr-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky.
Spencer, Mel. “Tchaikovsky: Compositions, Ballets, Biography and More Facts.” Classic FM, Global, 24 Sept. 2018, www.classicfm.com/composers/tchaikovsky/guides/tchaikovsky-facts/.