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Above: A portrait of Tchaikovsky painted when
he was in his forties. The artist has captured the tension and lack of
self-confidence which tortured the composer throughout his life. This
was the cause of his difficulty in forming close relationships. Only in
his music did he find fulfilment.
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Musical Period: Late Romantic
Birth Place: Votkinsk, Russia
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a) Concertos b) Ballet c) Symphonies |
d) Orchestral Works c) Chamber Works |
In modern times, Tchaikovsky would be summed up as an 'odd-ball' - not fitting in with any particular group, and sufficiently different to be on his own much of the time. His early life, however, was conventional enough.In modern times, Tchaikovsky would be summed up as an 'odd-ball' - not fitting in with any particular group, and sufficiently different to be on his own much of the time. His early life, however, was conventional enough. He was born in Russia in 1840. His parents were middle class - his father owned an iron mine - and they mapped out for the young Peter Illyich a typically conventional start in life - boarding school, university and entry into one of the professions, in his case, law.
Tchaikovsky hated all this. He was happy as a child, but his hesitant and withdrawn personality meant he had difficulty in forming relationships. The forced parting from his mother at the age of eight, when he was sent to boarding school, heralded a life of emotional torment.
Tchaikovsky found solace in music. He was given piano lessons as a child, showed promise quickly and continued his schooling part-time at St. Petersburg Conservatoire (public school of music), until he was 22 years old. Then he abandoned law to become a full-time music student. The first public performance of his compositions came only three years later.
His life was full of contradictions. He associated with eminent composers of the day - Borodin, Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov - but he was not one of them. He found Russia stifling and travelled widely, but was always desperate to return. He froze at the thought of close contact with others but yearned for a passionate, emotional relationship.
The opportunity presented itself in the form of the widow Nadezhda von Meck whose husband had made a fortune on the Russian railways. She lived in splendour but was a virtual recluse. One of the few people to visit her was Nikolay Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky's employer. He introduced Madame von Meck to his pupil's work, and she commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose music for her in 1877; he was in his mid-thirties, she was well into middle age.
She fell in love with his music, whose emotional sensitivity struck a chord with her own intense personality. She wrote in glowing terms to Tchaikovsky, who responded warmly, and they began to write regularly. They exchanged over 1100 letters in 13 years, sometimes three or four a day.
Their relationship existed only on paper, and this suited Tchaikovsky perfectly. Madame von Meck granted him an annual salary of 6000 roubles, provided they never met. This was equivalent to £54 000 in today's monry, enough to live in some style.
Meanwhile, Tchaikovsky was gaining a reputation as a composer, some of his works receiving great acclaim, others being panned by the critics of the day.
In 1877, Tchaikovsky, then 37, received a love letter from a woman he did not know, Antonina Milyukova, who was barely 20 and, as a student of his music, had fallen in love with the emotions expressed in it. She was what might now be called a ‘groupie' - she bombarded him with passionate letters and threatened to commit suicide if they did not meet. They were married that same year.
It was a disaster. Tchaikovsky's fear of human contact was in direct contrast to his wife's appetites. He shrank away from her on their honeymoon, finding her physically repulsive. He avoided her by travelling even more frequently than before. They divorced in 1881. In the meantime, Tchaikovsky was driven to several nervous breakdowns and Antonina to a succession of affairs and eventually to the lunatic asylum.
Again, Tchaikovsky sought refuge in music. He found serenity in the physical act of writing down his compositions, and he built his life around it. He held no truck with the artist's eternal complaint of working only when inspiration took hold. For him, as he put it, ‘the Muse keeps unfailing hours'.
By 9.30am each morning he was at his piano composing. He went for a walk in the early afternoon to reflect on his morning's work, returning only to make alterations later on. He finished the day with a game of cards and a tumbler of whisky to help him sleep.
His routine, he claimed, kept him sane. Any upheaval would destabilise him, such as the sudden end to his correspondence with Madame von Meck in 1890. Convinced she was bankrupt, she stopped the salary and the letters abruptly. Her actions led to his decline.
Criticism
Tchaikovsky was not a character who inspired great affection. His friends were
often offended by his unthinking criticism, but he reserved his harshest judgement
for other composers. He thought Handel ‘fourth-rate... not even interesting'
and Richard Strauss had ‘an astounding lack of talent'.
Tchaikovsky died in 1893 at the age of 53. The conventional wisdom of the time reported him dying from cholera after drinking contaminated water. Others hinted that a whispering campaign in Russian high society forced him to take poison to avoid scandal.
The real story has never been resolved.
His death mirrored his life - full of contradictions, unlike the directness of his compositions. The emotions Tchaikovsky suppressed within himself are given free rein in his music, making it a joy to listen to.
