Although he displayed an early passion for music, his parents hoped that he would grow up to work in the civil service. At the age of 10, Tchaikovsky began attending the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, a boarding school in St. Petersburg. His mother, Alexandra, died of cholera in 1854, when he was 14 years old.
WAS A RUSSIAN COMPOSER OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD. HE WAS THE FIRST RUSSIAN COMPOSER WHOSE MUSIC WOULD MAKE A LASTING IMPRESSION INTERNATIONALLY. HE WROTE SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR CONCERT AND THEATRICAL MUSIC IN THE CURRENT CLASSICAL REPERTOIRE, INCLUDING THE BALLETS SWAN LAKE AND THE NUTCRACKER,
Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant. There was scant opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865.