Tchaikovsky brief biography of martin

In between was his manservant Aleksey Sofronov "Alyosha" , whose status changed over the years from one of bed-mate to that of a valued friend, who eventually married with Tchaikovsky's blessing, but stayed in his household until the very end. At the end of his life, the composer succeeded in creating an emotionally satisfying environment through close family relationships, and by surrounding himself with a group of admiring young men, headed by his beloved nephew Bob Davydov.

Tchaikovsky undertook several attempts at divorce between and , but without success, since for a long time Antonina continued to believe in the possibility of some sort of future "reconciliation" and refused to agree to what her husband proposed, thereby invoking his wrath, with accusations of stupidity, suspicions of "blackmail", etc.

Only in did Tchaikovsky finally abandon the idea of divorce. At this time he ceased paying his wife the pension he had promised her it had fluctuated from 50 to rubles a month on the grounds of her erratic and unpredictable behaviour. Antonina Milyukova 's role in Tchaikovsky's life is no longer viewed in the one-dimensional terms that used to prevail.

It is impossible to deny that she had a very negative effect on the composer's psychological and physical state, a fact that is confirmed by Tchaikovsky's own statements in his letters and diaries. Tchaikovsky called his wife a "terrible wound"—he felt heavily burdened by his legal bind and sometimes even afraid of possible "disclosures" by her concerning his homosexual preferences.

Yet Tchaikovsky was also deeply concerned over the entire fiasco, and felt sincere remorse for his apparently cruel treatment of Antonina. Paradoxically, it is precisely the years from to —the most difficult time in Tchaikovsky's marital drama—that stand out as one of his most productive periods in a creative sense. Subsequently Tchaikovsky was plagued with pangs of conscience: for instance in his letters to Pyotr Jurgenson from and , where he asks his publisher to locate his abandoned spouse in order to help her materially.

Tchaikovsky appreciated his wife's musical abilities, which is evident by a series of favourable judgments found in his letters. But Tchaikovsky often perceived Antonina 's personal qualities unfairly, painting a distorted picture of her, based on his irritation at this or that trait of her character for instance, in his letters to Nadezhda von Meck , his brothers, and others.

The fact remains that, despite her ruined family life and perennial pain, not once did Antonina attempt to "avenge" her husband. On the contrary, she even embellished slightly the composer's human image in her recollections: "No one, not a single person in the world, can accuse him of any base action. Until recently, most of Tchaikovsky's biographers have recounted the details of Tchaikovsky's marriage in a superficial and tendentious manner, always with a bias in favour of the composer.

Antonina Milyukova 's own recollections, which present her side of the story, have been labelled the product of a rash and insane woman, and therefore ignored [49]. Recent archival studies have made it possible to clarify several key details relating to Antonina 's origins, and the history of the couple's acquaintance, marriage, further relationship and her life after their separation [50].

After the composer's death, Antonina received a pension of rubles a month, which Tchaikovsky left her in his will. Antonina 's further fate was tragic: soon after Tchaikovsky's death she began to display signs of an emotional disorder a mania of persecution. By , the disease had worsened and Antonina moved to Kronstadt, where she sought spiritual support and a cure from the renowned miracle-worker Father John of Kronstadt.

For some unknown reason the priest refused to help her. After her relative recovery, in February , she was released from the hospital, only to return there in June of with a diagnosis of paranoia chronica. A month later, with the help of Tchaikovsky's brother Anatoly , she was transferred to a more comfortable psychiatric hospital outside the city—the Charitable Home for the Emotionally Disturbed at Udelnaya.

The pension of her late husband served as payment for her room and board. Antonina spent the last ten years of her life at this institution more as a "resident" than a patient. The home provided her with medical supervision in her old age, with attentive care by the personnel, and full living conveniences. Her grave has not survived. At the end of , a second woman entered Tchaikovsky's life.

This was Nadezhda von Meck , the widow of a wealthy railway magnate. She had heard and admired some of Tchaikovsky's music, and when she found out that he was encountering financial problems, she began to commission pieces from him. Both agreed on the one condition—that they should never meet. Their strange relationship, expressed through over letters, was to last for almost fourteen years.

They only met twice, by accident, and hurried off without greeting each other. When Mrs von Meck learned what had happened with Tchaikovsky during his abortive marriage, she agreed on his request to arrange for him to receive a regular allowance of rubles. This way the composer resolved his permanent financial crisis, and Mrs von Meck 's money allowed him to dedicate himself to creative work.

Tchaikovsky's relationship with Nadezhda von Meck , despite their obvious eccentricities, occasional frustrations and their gradual although on the surface almost imperceptible deterioration, can be argued to have been among the most gratifying experiences of the composer's life. Their silent understanding never to meet endowed their "epistolary friendship" with a particular "platonic" colouring, which was deeply emotional, and at times almost ecstatic.

In the case of Mrs von Meck the erotic component was very significant even at the conscious level , although always neutralised through her emphatic sentimentalism. This proved satisfactory to both parties, providing a safe outlet for their feelings by ruling out any obvious manifestation of sexual love. In her correspondence with the composer, Mrs von Meck displayed an exceptional degree of tact, sympathy and understanding in the light of Tchaikovsky's psychological idiosyncrasies and the specific characteristics of their epoch.

There are reasons to believe that she may have been aware of Tchaikovsky's homosexuality from the very start of their friendship, even if in a somewhat vague and inexplicit fashion, in keeping with the general Victorian attitudes towards the subject. At the end of and the beginning of , Tchaikovsky and his brother Anatoly later replaced by Modest proceeded with their European tour through Switzerland, France, Italy and Austria, hoping to put the whole disastrous business of Tchaikovsky's marriage firmly behind them.

Iosif Kotek arrived in Vienna at the end of November and spent some time with the brothers travelling. By January , Tchaikovsky had finished his Fourth Symphony , the first of his mature symphonic works, which he dedicated secretly to Nadezhda von Meck. The other major work which occupied him during the period of his ill-fated marriage was the opera Yevgeny Onegin.

At first the opera made a modest impression on the audience, and it took several years to achieve the public acclaim it deserved. One other masterpiece also emerged from this period of self-exile: the Violin Concerto , written in Switzerland. This was inspired by Iosif Kotek , but for opportunistic reasons Tchaikovsky initially offered the dedication to the virtuoso Leopold Auer.

However, it seemed that Tchaikovsky's new concerto would suffer the same fate as his First Piano Concerto four years earlier, when Auer claimed it was far too difficult and refused to play it. In , an up-and-coming violinist, Adolph Brodsky , played it at a Philharmonic Society concert in Vienna [51] , at which the legendary critic Eduard Hanslick, in his newspaper review of the concert, declared that the music "gave off a bad smell".

Just like the Piano Concerto No. In April , Tchaikovsky returned to Russia, depressed by the prospect of resuming his teaching duties, and short of inspiration. Nevertheless, he finished some smaller piano pieces, including the popular Children's Album. Returning to Moscow after his usual summer visit to Kamenka , and also after a visit to Mrs von Meck 's estate at Brailov , he took a decisive step.

He resigned his teaching job at the Conservatory, and shortly thereafter set off on his travels once again. He was to spend the next few years constantly on the move, avoiding Moscow and Saint Petersburg as much as possible. First he travelled to Florence , then to Paris , and then to Clarens in Switzerland, where he started to work on another opera — The Maid of Orleans , which did not prove to be one of his greatest successes.

Back in Russia by the autumn, he began a Second Piano Concerto. Later he travelled to Rome , where he composed the Italian Capriccio. Tchaikovsky then returned to his homeland, where he spent much of in the country. There he completed the Serenade for String Orchestra , and the piece most often associated with his name—the overture The Year , a commemoration of the historic Russian defeat of Napoleon's army.

Early in , still in Rome , Tchaikovsky learned that the seriously ill Nikolay Rubinstein had gone to Paris for treatment, and had died there soon afterwards. He rushed to Paris to pay his last respects to Rubinstein , and in December he began working on a musical memorial, the Piano Trio dedicated "to the memory of a great artist" Op. By now Tchaikovsky's music was being performed more often, thanks in a large degree to the efforts of the late Nikolay Rubinstein , who played and conducted a Tchaikovsky programme at the Paris Exhibition of , and premiered many of his new compositions in Moscow , though rarely with total success.

The main work of —83 was the opera Mazepa , based upon Pushkin 's epic poem Poltava. During the course of its composition his enthusiasm flagged considerably. Perhaps it is a decline in my powers, or have I become more severe in my self-judgment? Mazepa was performed in both Moscow and Saint Petersburg in February , but Tchaikovsky left for Europe without attending the Saint Petersburg premiere, since the opera was not very cordially received in Moscow.

He had hardly spent three weeks in the French capital before he was summoned back to Russia to appear before Alexander III and receive an official decoration—the Order of Saint Vladimir 4th class. By the beginning of , the composer was feeling the need to cease his restless wandering and settle down. He found a manor house in Maydanovo , near Klin , in the countryside outside Moscow.

This residence also had the advantage of being on the direct route between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Soon he settled down to a regular routine: reading, walking in the forest, working in the mornings and afternoons, and playing cards or duets with friends in the evenings. He wrote to his brother: "I am contented, cheerful and at peace" [54]. He was occupied at this time with the revision of Vakula the Smith , which was to be re-issued under the new title of Cherevichki —and also with a new opera based on Ippolit Shpazhinsky's play The Enchantress , the story about an innkeeper's daughter who is courted by two princes father and son , with predictably disastrous consequences [55].

In May, Tchaikovsky began to fulfil a promise made to Balakirev to compose a symphonic work on the subject of Lord Byron 's Manfred. This task cost Tchaikovsky immense effort and was finished only in September All the autumn he continued to work on The Enchantress while travelling for a few days or weeks at a time to Moscow , Saint Petersburg and Kamenka.

At the end of this month he decided to visit his brothers— Ippolit in Taganrog and Anatoly in Tiflis Tbilisi in the Caucasus. The concert was followed by a supper and the presentation of a silver wreath. It had a far-reaching influence on Tchaikovsky's future, for it was then that he made his first successful attempt at conducting.

The work had a great success, perhaps due to the composer's presence, but it remained in the repertoire for only two seasons. Now Tchaikovsky began to think of venturing on a concert tour abroad. He spent most of the spring at Maydanovo working on the orchestration of The Enchantress. In Borzhom he received a telegram from his old friend Nikolay Kondratyev , who was dying in Aachen [56].

Tchaikovsky conducted again but, in spite of a personal ovation, the opera left audiences cold. On the seventh night, the work was sung to a half-empty house, and was quickly withdrawn. At the end of December, he set out on his first European concert tour as a conductor, which included Leipzig , Berlin , Prague , Hamburg , Paris and London.

He returned home only in April, but this time to a new house in the village of Frolovskoye which, like Maydanovo , is located near the small town of Klin. There he began a new symphony, inspired by the death of his friend Nikolay Kondratyev. At the end of November Tchaikovsky travelled to Prague , where he conducted a successful performance of Yevgeny Onegin.

In December, he retired to Frolovskoye for six weeks in order to compose a ballet— The Sleeping Beauty —based on a French fairy tale and commissioned by the directors of the Saint Petersburg Theatres. Here he found himself in the same hotel as Brahms , and felt gratified to hear that the concert performance of his Fifth Symphony had pleased the latter, with the exception of the finale.

Before going to London at the end of March, as scheduled, Tchaikovsky spent a few weeks in Paris. The local music society again celebrated his visit with concerts from his works. The summer was spent as usual in his country home, and his time was occupied by the completion and orchestration of The Sleeping Beauty. Tchaikovsky spent the greater part of the autumn travelling between Saint Petersburg and Moscow , conducting concerts of his own works, those of Anton Rubinstein on the occasion of the latter's Jubilee Festival , and rehearsing his new ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre.

The day before, Alexander III had expressed his approval of the ballet at a gala rehearsal attended by the Imperial court. Tchaikovsky composed the opera with an enthusiasm almost without parallel in his career. The entire score was written in a fit of creative frenzy that lasted just forty-four days. In the process, as we learn from Tchaikovsky's letters, the composer came to identify with its characters and its action.

Elsewhere Tchaikovsky wrote: "I worked on [the opera] with unbelievable ardour and excitement, and actually experienced everything that happens in the story, at one time even fearing the appearance of the old dame's ghost, and I hope that my authorial tumult and absorption will echo in the hearts of the audience" [58]. While he never doubted the quality of his art, the composer was genuinely modest and sensitive to unfavourable feedback.

Furthermore, he tended to deprecate his own work and lose interest in it upon completion. It was not so with The Queen of Spades. Despite the scepticism of many, he adamantly held to the belief that the music of this opera belonged among the finest in the world. The judgment of posterity has proved him right. Tchaikovsky had spent the summer of in Frolovskoye , preoccupied with the finishing touches for his opera, and composing the sextet Souvenir de Florence.

In the last ten years, the pathos and enthusiasm so characteristic of its initial stages had gradually diminished in Tchaikovsky's correspondence with Nadezhda von Meck. Her financial assistance would still continue for more than a decade, but eventually they so accommodated themselves to one another that they could treat the whole situation as a matter of fact—quietly and more prosaically.

Nevertheless, the intellectual level of their correspondence remained high, and ranged from theoretical discussions to intimate confessions. During September , however, he received a letter from Mrs von Meck informing him that she was on the brink of ruin, and therefore unable to continue either his allowance or their correspondence. The suddenness of this news wounded him deeply, and left him depressed for some time.

In the meantime, however, Tchaikovsky accepted an invitation to conduct his own works in America on the occasion of the grand opening of Carnegie Hall in New York. The success of this concert, which consisted entirely of his own works, was marred when he read news of his sister Aleksandra 's death in a French newspaper. Nevertheless, he decided to go ahead with his tour of America.

During the voyage, and throughout his American visit, he kept a diary of his experiences. Tchaikovsky conducted six concerts in which his own works were performed: four in New York , one at Baltimore and one at Philadelphia. He also visited Niagara Falls. The composer was greatly impressed and heartened by the warmth and hospitality of his American hosts and by the enthusiastic reception given to his music.

Back home, Tchaikovsky returned to the composition of the ballet The Nutcracker , based on E. In addition, Tchaikovsky orchestrated a symphonic ballad The Voyevoda Op. While the opera enjoyed tremendous success, Tchaikovsky developed a strong dislike for The Voyevoda after its performance and actually tore up the score, which was reconstructed only after his death.

The end of found Tchaikovsky embarking on a new concert tour, this time calling at Kiev and Warsaw before proceeding on to Germany. From Warsaw he went to Hamburg by way of Berlin , in order to be present at a new production of Yevgeny Onegin , conducted by Gustav Mahler. In his later years, Tchaikovsky was often overcome by feelings of homesickness that afflicted him whenever he left Russia, and now he even abandoned a concert for which he had been engaged in Holland — going instead to Paris before heading home.

This time he found a bigger house on the outskirts of the town itself, right next to the Petersburg highway but surrounded by fields and the woods. In May, Tchaikovsky began work on a Symphony in E-flat major , but the sketches he produced to this end—which were in some state of completion by October—did not satisfy him. Almost a year later they were used as the basis for the one-movement Third Piano Concerto , and the Andante and Finale for piano and orchestra, completed by Taneyev after the composer's death.

However, upon arriving he learned that the performance was to be given in a restaurant by a scratch orchestra, and promptly took offence and left. His old friend from the Moscow Conservatory, the Austrian pianist Anton Door , who had not seen him since the late s, not surprisingly found him looking older than his years. From Vienna the composer travelled to be a guest of the German pianist Sophie Menter at Itter Castle, in the Tyrol, and thereupon to Prague in order to attend their first performance of The Queen of Spades.

The Emperor was cordial with respect to both pieces, but it seems that the music of Iolanta did not appeal to the public. The Nutcracker proved more fortunate, with most critics approving of its music and choreography. He wrote to his brother Nikolay : "The past rose up so vividly before me that I seemed to breathe the air of Votkinsk and hear our mother 's voice" [59].

Tchaikovsky brief biography of martin

Tchaikovsky spent the last days of in Paris and in Brussels. He conducted concerts of his own works, supervised a production of The Queen of Spades , and attended several banquets in his honour. He worked so vigorously that in the week after his arrival, the first movement of the symphony was already complete, and the rest was clearly outlined in his head.

Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. On Radio 3 Now In Tune. Next On Air Opera on 3 View full schedule. Some of his reviews have quite creatively scathing remarks! Prince Odoevsky, a generous patron, once gave Tchaikovsky a pair of fine cymbals, since he thought that the composer was "good at introducing them at the right moment" in a piece.

What an interesting gift! He married one of his former students at one point, out of a feeling of obligation. But Tchaikovsky, famously, was actually homosexual. The marriage completely failed after a few months, with Tchaikovsky unable to return his wife's affection. In , he began a strange relationship with Nadezhda von Meck , the widow of a rich railway magnate.

She was a big fan of his, and supported him financially. They communicated entirely through sending letters to each other though, and only met once where they were too embarrassed to say anything to each other. Von Meck was a dear friend, and Tchaikovsky was extremely upset when she suddenly stopped sending letters and money in So, with his new freedom, Tchaikovsky finally resigned from the Moscow Conservatory in and traveled around Europe and Russia.

He lived alone, in rural areas, and moved frequently. He was almost like a social exile. His isolated lifestyle suited him very well. He could think and compose in tranquility, and didn't have to be around irritating distractions like traffic and other people. The Tsar eventually gave Tchaikovsky a life pension and the Order of St. Vladimir , and personally requested a performance of the composer's opera Eugene Onegin.

At this point, Tchaikovsky became extremely popular with the public. He now started to feel more comfortable in society. In he stopped traveling and went back to live in Russia, in a manor house between Moscow and St Petersburg. In addition to learning while at the conservatory, Tchaikovsky gave private lessons to other students. In , he moved to Moscow, where he became a professor of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's work was first publicly performed in , with Johann Strauss the Younger conducting Tchaikovsky's Characteristic Dances at a Pavlovsk concert. In , Tchaikovsky's First Symphony was well-received when it was publicly performed in Moscow. The following year, his first opera, The Voyevoda, made its way to the stage — with little fanfare.

After scrapping The Voyevoda , Tchaikovsky repurposed some of its material to compose his next opera, Oprichnik , which achieved some acclaim when it was performed at the Maryinsky in St. Petersburg in By this time, Tchaikovsky had also earned praise for his Second Symphony. Also in , his opera, Vakula the Smith , received harsh critical reviews, yet Tchaikovsky still managed to establish himself as a talented composer of instrumental pieces with his Piano Concerto No.

Acclaim came readily for Tchaikovsky in , with his composition Symphony No. At the end of that year, the composer embarked on a tour of Europe. In , he completed the ballet Swan Lake as well as the fantasy Francesca da Rimini. While the former has come to be one of the most frequently performed ballets of all time, Tchaikovsky again endured the ire of critics, who at its premiere panned it as too complex and too "noisy.

Tchaikovsky resigned from the Moscow Conservatory in to focus his efforts entirely on composing. As a result, he spent the remainder of his career composing more prolifically than ever.