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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский, sometimes transliterated as Piotr, Anglicised as Peter Ilich, (April 25, 1840 (O.S.) (May 7, 1840 (N.S.)) - November 6, 1893) was a Russian composer of Ukrainian and French ancestry. His works include seven symphonies, the "1812 Overture", the Overture-Fantasy, Romeo and Juliet, ten operas, most notably Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, and the ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake debuted on March 4, 1877.
He was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia.
Tchaikovsky is well known for his harmonic and melodic mastery, as well as the robust Russian flavour in his music, and was rumoured to have suffered throughout his life, especially during his short marriage, as he was a homosexual.
Tchaikovsky often felt guilt for his homosexuality because of his Russian Orthodox faith. Some speculate that his death (commonly claimed to be from cholera brought about by deliberately drinking infected water, although arsenic poisoning is more likely) in Saint Petersburg, Russia was suicide. Tchaikovsky was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russia.
His life, somewhat emboidered, is the subject of Ken Russell's motion picture The Music Lovers.
Selected works
- Opus 11 String Quartet No.1 in D major
- Opus 20 Swan Lake, ballet
- Opus 23 Piano Concerto No.1 in b flat minor
- Opus 31 March Slav
- Opus 35 Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major
- Opus 36 Symphony No.4 in f minor
- Opus 37a Piano suite, The Seasons
- Opus 45 Capriccio Italien
- Opus 48 Serenade for Strings in C major
- Opus 49 1812 Overture
- Opus 58 Manfred Symphony
- Opus 59 Dumka, Russian rustic scene in c minor for piano
- Opus 64 Symphony No.5 in e minor
- Opus 66 Sleeping Beauty, ballet
- Opus 67 Hamlet Overture
- Opus 70 String sextet, Souvenir de Florence
- Opus 71a Nutcracker Suite
- Opus 74 Symphony No. 6 in b minor, Pathétique