Transcript Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

Peter Ilych
Tchaikovsky
Born: 1840 in Russia
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
Acknowledged as the greatest
composer in Russia and one of
the great composers in the
world, Tchaikovsky was truly a
composer for the people. His
music reflected not only his
own powerful emotions and his
Russian patriotism, but also his
feelings that were (and are)
common to all of humanity.
Tchaikovsky
In this story, we get a glimpse
of his patriotism and his oversensitive heart.
As a boy growing up in Russia,
he was seen by his nanny kissing
the map of Russia, while spitting
on the other countries in Europe.
When she reminded him that she
was French, he replied in a sweet
voice, “I covered France with my
hand.”
Here is the house where
Tchaikovsky lived as a child in
the city of Votkinsk.
A Picture of
the
Tchaikovsky
Family in
1848. The
composer is
the boy
standing on
the far left.
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky’s life was full of contrasts. He seemed to alternate
between being a shy, modest person and a do-it-now and askquestions-later kind of attitude.
He often had trouble dealing with
this double-sidedness, and as a result
was very self-conscious. He tore up
many compositions – he even wrote
on one of them “Dreadful Muck”.
Tchaikovsky
Peter as a child
Peter Ilych was always a sensitive little boy. The slightest word
of disapproval from his nanny would send him scurrying off to
the corner for a long sulk. She called him “a porcelain child”,
because she thought he was so emotionally fragile. As he grew
older, Tchaikovsky developed this into an art. He became a
master pouter. His music can be pretty weepy, too.
Listen to this
portion of his
Symphony #6.
His brother
nicknamed the
symphony
“Pathetique.”
Why do you think Tchaikovsky developed
such low self-esteem?
Tchaikovsky
• Tchaikovsky studied law and for a while was
employed as a legal clerk for the
government. There, he perfected the art of
looking busy while doing very little. He
didn’t begin to study music seriously until he
was 21.
• He was a late bloomer, but he made up for it.
He once confessed that before he began
studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory,
he didn’t even know how many symphonies
Beethoven had composed. But you do, right?
Romeo and
Juliet
More info
Listen to two selections from
Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet
fantasy. Common in the Romantic
Period was Program Music. Write the
definition in the space provided.
•What do you think is happening in the first selection?
(Click to start each)
•What does the second represent? 1. Fighting 2. Love
Tchaikovsky
Anton Rubenstein
Peter accepted criticism
with a positive attitude
toward his improvement.
Once he took a composition
he had worked very hard on
to his teacher Anton
Rubenstein.
Tchaikovsky wrote of
Rubenstein’s reaction, “He said,
‘it was not for the development
of imbeciles that he took the
trouble to teach composition.’ I
left the Conservatory full of
gratitude for my professor."
Although he gained fame as a composer, he never had what
it takes to be a good conductor, even of his own music.
He was always very
nervous and had a
morbid fear that his
head might fall off in
the middle of the piece.
So he propped it up
with his left hand and
conducted only with his
right. True Story!
We don’t know
how he turned
the pages.
Tchaikovsky’s love life was, to put it bluntly, depressing.
As a young man he was deeply in love with an
operatic soprano named Desiree Artot. They got
engaged, but then she married someone else without
any warning or communication whatsoever.
Desiree
Artot
Later, one of his students, Antonina
Miliukova, declared her love for Peter, and
he agreed to marry her out of pity.
Peter and Antonina
He shouldn’t have bothered. The marriage
was a disaster from start to finish and
lasted all of nine weeks.
Tchaikovsky
In a fit of
depression,
Tchaikovsky
attempted suicide by
jumping into the
River Neva, hoping
to catch pneumonia.
Wouldn’t you know it, all he got was a terrible cold.
A wealthy
admirer
That same year, 1877,
was a good year in
another respect though.
Tchaikovsky got a fan letter from a woman named Nadezhda
von Meck, a 46 year-old widow with 11 children and more
money than she knew what to do with. She thought it would
be fun to have a composer that she could call her own.
Tchaikovsky
She agreed to send Tchaikovsky a
regular allowance so that he could be
free to spend his time composing.
Her only rather eccentric stipulation was that they
should never meet.
They wrote letters back and forth all the time for 14
years, but never once met each other.
Assured of income from von Meck, Tchaikovsky wandered around
Europe composing. Since his music appealed to other Europeans, he
was often considered a traitor by other Russian composers and many
Russian listeners. He lived mainly alone, avoiding social contact
whenever possible.
However, once Tsar Alexander III
of Russia conferred nobility and a
lifelong pension to Tchaikovsky,
all of that changed.
Tchaikovsky
became a Russian
hero for his
attempts at
“universal unity
with the West.”
He was able to
move into this
mansion, not far
from Moscow.
His success earned him an honorary Doctor of
Music degree in England.
His success also carried him all the way to
the United States, where he conducted his
Slavonic March at New York’s Carnegie
Hall on it’s OPENING NIGHT on May 5,
1891. Here is a crude sketch of Carnegie
Hall on opening night, illustrating how
simply packed it was.
Tchaikovsky
Died: 1893
in St.
Petersburg,
Russia
Tchaikovsky died in 1893,
a famous and successful
man. He was said to have
contracted Cholera from
an unclean water glass.
Authorities claim that
Tchaikovsky took poison
rather than be implicated
in a political scandal.
On to the Listening Examples….
Tchaikovsky
Although today the Nutcracker Ballet is one of Tchaikovsky’s
most popular compositions, in his lifetime it was a complete
failure!
The
Nutcracker
You may know this piece from seeing it at
Christmas time, or from the movie Fantasia.
Now we will listen to the Chinese Dance from
the Nutcracker. Please complete the top area on
Click to start the music
your listening sheet.
1812 Overture
Tchaikovsky’s 1812
Overture is one of his most
famous pieces. We often
hear it performed in the
United States for
Independence Day, which
leads some people to believe
that it was written for the
American War of 1812, but
it wasn’t. It celebrated
Russia’s defeat of Napoleon
in 1812. This war happened
28 years before Tchaikovsky
was born.
We will now complete the
lower portion of the listening
sheet. In this example from the
1812 Overture, you will hear a
lot of bells – Tchaikovsky
used these to represent the
Church Bells all over St.
Petersburg after the Russians
had won a great battle against
Napoleon and his troops.
Then you’ll hear cannon fire,
representing the fireworks and
the victory celebration of the
troops coming home.
(click to start music)
Tchaikovsky
The End
Romeo and Juliet
Return to
presentation
William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet is a story about two young people who fall in love.
Unfortunately, they belong to opposing families that hate each other,
the Montagues and the Capulets. The families are always fighting
and disturbing the peace of Verona. Romeo and Juliet secretly get
married and decide to run away
together. In order for this plan
to succeed, Juliet fakes her own
death. She explains this all in a
letter to Romeo, which he never
receives. Upon seeing her
“dead,” Romeo takes poison.
When Juliet sees Romeo dead,
she stabs herself.