Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Difference between revisions

<!-- Please do not add an infobox without discussion on the talk page, per [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical music/Style guidelines#Biographical infoboxes|Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical music/Style guidelines#Biographical infoboxes]] -->

[[File:Tchaikovsky by Reutlinger.jpg|thumb|212px|{{center|Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, {{c.|1888}}<ref group=a>Published in 1903</ref><br />[[File:Tchaikovsky's signature.jpg|150px|alt=Tchaikovsky's signature]]}}|alt=]]

'''Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky'''<ref group=a>Often anglicized as ''Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky''; also standardized by the [[wikipedia:Library of Congress|Library of Congress]]. His names are also transliterated as ''Piotr'' or ''Petr''; ''Ilitsch'' or ''Il'ich''; and ''Tschaikowski'', ''Tschaikowsky'', ''Chajkovskij'', or ''Chaikovsky''. He used to sign his name/was known as ''P. Tschaïkowsky''/''Pierre Tschaïkowsky'' in French (as in his afore-reproduced signature), and ''Peter Tschaikowsky'' in German, spellings also displayed on several of his scores' title pages in their first printed editions alongside or in place of his native name.</ref> ({{IPAc-en|lang|tʃ|aɪ|ˈ|k|ɒ|f|s|k|i}} {{Respell|chy|KOF|skee}};<ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/tchaikovsky "Tchaikovsky"]. ''[[wikipedia:Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary|Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{lang-rus|Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский,<ref group=a>Петръ Ильичъ Чайковскій in Russian pre-revolutionary script.</ref>}} {{IPA-ru|pʲɵtr ɪlʲˈjitɕ tɕɪjˈkofskʲɪj|IPA|Ru-Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.ogg}}; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893<ref group=a>Russia was still using [[wikipedia:Old style and new style dates|old style dates]] in the 19th century, rendering his lifespan as 25 April 1840&nbsp;– 25 October 1893. Some sources in the article report dates as old style rather than new style.</ref>) was a [[wikipedia:Russian composer|Russian composer]] of the [[wikipedia:Romantic period|Romantic period]]. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. He was honored in 1884 by Tsar [[wikipedia:Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]] and awarded a lifetime pension.

Tchaikovsky's training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices to which he had been exposed from childhood. From that reconciliation, he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style. The principles that governed melody, harmony and other fundamentals of Russian music ran completely counter to those that governed Western European music, which seemed to defeat the potential for using Russian music in large-scale Western composition or for forming a composite style, and it caused personal antipathies that dented Tchaikovsky's self-confidence. Russian culture exhibited a split personality, with its native and adopted elements having drifted apart increasingly since the time of [[wikipedia:Peter the Great|Peter the Great]]. That resulted in uncertainty among the [[wikipedia:intelligentsia|intelligentsia]] about the country's national identity, an ambiguity mirrored in Tchaikovsky's career.

== Religious views ==

Touching on the question of eternal life, he writes in a letter to [[tchaikovsky:Nadezhda von Meck|Nadezhda von Meck]] in 1877:

{{quote|text=I shall begin with Beethoven, whom it is usual to extol indisputably, and it is enjoined to worship him as a god. Thus, what is Beethoven for me? I admire a greatness in some of his works - but I do not love Beethoven. My attitude to him reminds me what I felt in my childhood about the Lord of Sabaoth. I felt (and by now my feelings have not changed) amazement, and at the same time, fear towards Him. He created Heaven and Earth, and He created me also, and yet, although I cringe before Him, there is no love. Christ, on the contrary, arouses just and only feeling of love. Although he was God, at the same time he was a man. He suffered like we. We feel sorry for him, we love in him his ideal human features. And when Beethoven takes a place in my heart similar to the Lord of Sabaoth, then I love Mozart as the Christ of music. By the way, you know, he lived almost as long as Christ|author=Pyotr Tchaikovsky|source=Dnevniki P. I. Cajkovskogo, p. 209-210 (record of June 29, 1886)}}

Musical compositions by Tchaikovsky which were religiously inspired are:

=== The All-Night Vigil (Vesper Service), for unaccompanied chorus Op. 52 (1881-82) ===

{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbg6_I4g0dA||center|||rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://en.seminaverbi.bibleget.io}}

Tchaikovsky, known primarily for his symphonies, concertos and ballets, was deeply interested in the music and liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1875, he compiled ''A Concise Textbook of Harmony Intended to Facilitate the Reading of Sacred Musical Works in Russia''.<ref name=MusicaRussica>{{cite web|title=Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)|work=Musica Russica|url=http://www.musicarussica.com/composers/peter-tchaikovsky|accessdate=22 March 2013}}</ref>

The Cherubikon is the usual Cherubic Hymn sung at the Great Entrance of the Byzantine liturgy. The hymn symbolically incorporates those present at the liturgy into the presence of the angels gathered around God's throne.

=== Legend ===

{{Poem quote|text=The young child Jesus had a garden

And placed it on his shining head;

And where the roses should have shone,

==Notes==

* Hosking, Geoffrey, ''Russia and the Russians: A History'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2001). {{ISBN|0-674-00473-6}}.

* Jackson, Timothy L., ''Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 6 (Pathétique)'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). {{ISBN|0-521-64676-6}}.

* {{wikicite|ref={{SfnRef|Kozinn|1992}}|reference=[[wikipedia:Allan Kozinn|Kozinn, Allan]], [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/18/arts/critic-s-notebook-defending-tchaikovsky-with-gravity-and-with-froth.html?ref=peterilyichtchaikovsky "Critic's Notebook; Defending Tchaikovsky, With Gravity and With Froth"]. In ''[[wikipedia:The New York Times|The New York Times]]'', 18 July 1992. Retrieved 27 February 2012.}}

* Lockspeiser, Edward, "Tchaikovsky the Man". In ''Music of Tchaikovsky'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1946), ed. [[wikipedia:Gerald Abraham|Abraham, Gerald]]. ISBN n/a. {{OCLC|385829}}

{{Wikiquote}}

* [http://www.tchaikovsky-research.net Tchaikovsky Research]

* {{BBC composer page|tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky}}

* [http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=+Tchaikovsky&queryType=%40attr+1%3D1 Tchaikovsky cylinder recordings], from the [[wikipedia:Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project|Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project]] at the [[wikipedia:University of California, Santa Barbara|University of California, Santa Barbara]] Library.

* {{IMSLP|id=Tchaikovsky%2C_Pyotr_Ilyich|cname=Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150518111217/http://www.studioceleste.eu/ Tchaikovsky Arias and Piano works performed live in Brussels]

{{Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky}}

[[Category:Russian classical pianists]]

[[Category:Russian opera composers]]