Peter Il'yich Tchaikovsky was born on 7 May 1840 at Votkinsk in Russia. It was clear very early in his life that he had an extraordinary musical talent. At the age of four, with the help of his younger sister, he composed a song for his mother. Nevertheless, initially he was trained as a civil servant. He actually worked a while as a civil servant for the Ministry of France, but soon registered at the Academy of Music of St. Petersburg. He left the institute with a prize of composing and with the ambition to become a great composer. Shortly afterwards he was appointed as a teacher at the Academy of Music at Moscow. Tchaikovsky married, but the marriage proved to be a great mistake: already after a few weeks it was annulled. Tchaikovsky regularly had periods with emotional and creative problems. Howeverm he had the advantage that he could work as an independant composer due to the financial support of a rich admirer: Madame Nadesja von Meck. Peter Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck kept up a long-lasting correspondence with each other. Tchaikovsky wrote everything to her about his musical and personal problems.

    Tchaikovsky's extreme sensitivity was also evident right from infancy. He would over-react to any criticism and so strongly was he affected by music that sometimes the memory of a phrase would keep him awake at night. A bright child, he learned French and German from a French governess employed by the family, and when he started piano lessons with a local teacher, he fast overtook her in his ability in music. For some time he worked as a music critic for a Moscow newspaper and was twice as critical when it concerned his own work. Tchaikovsky also was a very patriotic man.

    Like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky's life was fraught with personal failures. Fate struck him when Madame von Meck broke all ties with him and his popularity decreased. He drank a glass of water which was contaminated with chrlera and died. However, through the pain and suffering Tchaikovsky had conjured up the most beautiful tunes of the Romantic era.