Peter Tchaikovsky was a composer in the Romantic Period.

 

 

Peter Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in Russia. Tchaikovsky loved music from a very young age and wrote his first song at age 4. Tchaikovsky took piano lessons in elementary school learning works by Chopin. His parents however wanted him to become a lawyer so they sent him to a boarding school in St.Petersburg. He did well at the school and continued his piano lessons when he graduated. He took a job as a clerk after his graduation but soon left after the opening of a new conservatory of music(the first in his area). He was one of their first students and this was the beginning of his very successful career. Tchaikovsky wrote ballets, symphonies, operas and concertos. Sometimes Tchaikovsky would be so focused on writing music that he would forget to eat and sleep. Once in the middle of a song-writing frenzy, he wrote “I continue to bake musical pancakes.”

Tchaikovsky also became very nervous when he had to conduct an orchestra. He was terrified of actually losing his head so he would hold on to it with his left hand while beating time with his right. Tchaikovsky had a hard time especially outside of Russia because he was gay. Although he married a woman, the public often criticised him and his work because of his sexuality. However, ​Tchaikovsky learned to navigate this negativity and remained successful anyway. Tchaikovsky died from complications from cholera in 1893. He is now acclaimed as one of the most popular Russian composers of all time. 

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Here are a few examples of Tchaikovsky's compositions: