Tchaikovsky

Born during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the second born of six surviving children born to the manager of a metal works company. From an early age, the little Russian boy who would dive under his bed upon hearing thunder had a clear interest in music which was manifested from an orchestrina in the family home. It took until his mother's death from cholera when his father realised his vocation and thus a piano teacher named Rudolph Kündinger was hired for Pyotr. Pyotr also developed a passion for Italian music after coming under the influence of Italian singing instructor Luigi Piccoli. After many years of studying music, Pyotr became a music theory teacher and in 1866, he composed his first symphony called Symphony No.1 in G Minor (Winter Daydreams). Tchaikovsky's best known works are ones we heard in film, adverts, television and documentaries. These include Swan Lake (1877), The Nutcracker (based on the 1816 story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A Hoffman, 1892), Romeo and Juliet (based on the William Shakespeare play, 1879), The Sleeping Beauty (1889), 1812 Overture (1880) and Symphony No.6 in B Minor (Pathetic) (1893). A lot of his work has been associated with Ballet like Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. The melody from the Garland Waltz which appears in The Sleeping Beauty is the basis for Once upon a Dream from Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959). Tchaikovsky died in 1893, most likely from cholera.