PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Pyotr's EARLY LIFE

• Born May 7 1840
• Age 5 years he started taking piano lessons.
• Displayed an early passion for music.
• At age of 10 years, Tchaikovsky began attending the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, a boarding school in St. Petersburg.
• When he was 21, Tchaikovsky decided to take music lessons at the Russian Musical Society.

WORKS IN HIS LIFE

• His work includes the The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.
• Pyotr Tchaikovsky's work was first publicly performed in 1865, with Johann Strauss the Younger. The name was Characteristic Dances.
• He is recognized all over Russia today.

COMPOSITIONS

• Tchaikovsky resigned from the Moscow Conservatory in 1878 to focus his efforts entirely on composing. As a result, he spent the remainder of his career composing more prolifically than ever. His collective body of work constitutes 169 pieces, including symphonies, operas, ballets, concertos, cantatas and songs. Among his most famed late works are the ballets The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892).

DEATH

• Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893. While the cause of his death was officially declared as cholera, some of his biographers believe that he committed suicide.
• He lived to 53 years old.
• He had in total 119 pieces he wrote.