Parents wanted Pyotr Tchaikovsky to become a lawyer, but he was fond of music since childhood. At twenty-three, he quit his job at the Department of Justice and focused on creativity. Even during the composer's lifetime, newspapers wrote about his "impressive power of skill." Pyotr Tchaikovsky entered the history of world classical music as the author of ten operas, three ballets and seven symphonies.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840 into a noble family in Votkinsk, Vyatka province. The father of the future composer, mining engineer Ilya Tchaikovsky, was the director of a local factory, and his mother Alexandra Assier was a pianist. In addition to Peter, there were four more children in the Tchaikovsky family. For their upbringing, the parents sent a governess from St. Petersburg, the Frenchwoman Fanny Durbach. Pyotr Tchaikovsky studied well, his favorite subjects were history and literature.
“In the class it was impossible to be more diligent and understanding; during recreation, no one invented more cheerful amusements; during general readings for entertainment, no one listened more attentively, and in the twilight on the eve of the holiday, when I gathered my chicks around me and made me tell something in turn, no one fantasized more charmingly ... Everyone loved him, because they felt how he loved everyone . His impressionability knew no bounds, so it was necessary to deal with him very carefully. Any trifle could offend, hurt him. It was a glass child."
As a child, Pyotr Tchaikovsky began to compose poetry, and then became interested in music. To develop the abilities of the future composer, his parents hired a teacher for him - the former serf Maria Palchikova. Soon Tchaikovsky began to pick up plays and romances by ear, which were played at his house. His brother Modest Tchaikovsky recalled: “When he was forbidden to be at the instrument, he continued to touch anything with his fingers. Once, carried away by this mute strumming on the glass of the window frame, he was so dispersed that he broke it and seriously injured his hand.
In 1848, the composer's father, Ilya Tchaikovsky, retired and moved with his family to Moscow and then to St. Petersburg. There, Pyotr Tchaikovsky was sent to the Imperial School of Law - his parents wanted him to receive a law degree. However, at the same time, the future composer continued to make music. Together with his mother, Tchaikovsky often attended ballets and operas at the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theater and the Mariinsky.
At the school, Tchaikovsky met and became friends with the poet Alexei Apukhtin. Together they published the journal School Bulletin, where they published their poems and articles. The future composer read a lot - subscribed to the Sovremennik magazine, bought books by Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Griboyedov and Mikhail Lermontov. In addition, at the school he was engaged in the choir. When Gavriil Lomakin, who taught there, fell ill, Tchaikovsky replaced him and conducted music lessons for his classmates. At the same time, the father hired a new teacher for the future composer - professional pianist Rudolf Kündinger. Tchaikovsky recalled: "Every Sunday I spent an hour with him and made rapid progress in playing the piano." He worked with Kündinger for about three years.
