Line #40 Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky


1	[[quoteright:174:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tchaikovsky_1906_evans_5856.png]]
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3	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский, 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian Romantic composer, most famous for ballets ''Theatre/SwanLake'', ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'', and ''Theatre/TheNutcracker.'' Also known for the ''1812 Overture'', which features cannons. His first name is usually anglicized as Peter. One of the first known gay composers, he suffered much during his lifetime, and it shows through his music.
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5	The ''Capriccio Italien'' is another reasonably famous piece, a medley of various Italian songs he claimed to have heard on vacation. Or cribbed from anthologies, showing that the practice of sampling is nothing new in music.
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7	Tchaikovsky is known for his exceptional gift as a melodist; his three ballets in particular show his ability to write an entire evening's worth of memorable tunes. This ability could sometimes work against him in symphonic and chamber music, since he has a tendency to repeat themes, both large sections of a piece and small bits of a few bars that make up those themes, rather than spin music from motifs in developmental style. Still, his last three symphonies are acknowledged as masterpieces of the orchestral repertoire.
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10	!! Tropes present in Tchaikovsky's life and works:
11	* AnonymousBenefactor: The patronage of Nadezhda von Meck allowed Tchaikovsky to devote himself full-time to composition from 1877 to 1890; the composer dedicated his Symphony No. 4 in F minor to her. The only stipulation the reclusive Meck put on their arrangement was that they never meet in person; the two exchanged a voluminous correspondence, numbering approximately 1200 letters, but indeed never met. Meck gave financial assistance to several other composers, including Henryk Wieniawski and a young Music/ClaudeDebussy.
12	* AwfulWeddedLife: The composer was less than comfortable with his homosexuality and in 1877 married one of his former students, Antonina Miliukova, likely to please his family and [[TheBeard quash rumors of his sexual orientation]]. It was a disaster, the couple being an utter mismatch on several levels, and they separated after six weeks -- though they never officially divorced. Tchaikovsky often referred to her as "the reptile" in post-separation correspondence.
13	* BadassArmy: No matter how you look at it, the two warring factions in ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' -- one an army of mice, the other of the nutcracker leading an army of tin soldiers and gingerbread men -- are too cool for words.
14	* BecomeARealBoy: Applies to two of the composer's most famous ballets.
15	** In ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'', the title toy turns into a handsome prince.
16	** In ''Theatre/SwanLake'', the swans turn into beautiful maidens.
17	* {{Bowdlerize}}: The original [[DownerEnding tragic conclusion]] to the ballet ''Theatre/SwanLake'' is at times turned into a happy ending. Inverted at times in presentations of ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' which return Clara back to reality and her broken nutcracker at the end.
18	* ChristmasSpecial: ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' has become a Yuletide tradition in the United States and Europe.
19	* ClosetGay: Needless to say, in a society where homosexuality was not only frowned upon but outright illegal, Tchaikovsky kept his sexuality a secret, and was never really comfortable with himself.
20	* CrappyHolidays: The ballet ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' has elements of this. Clara is heartbroken when her brother Fritz breaks her nutcracker gift.
21	* CulturallyReligious: Tchaikovsky was raised a Russian Orthodox Christian, but he was not particularly devout, having written to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck: "As you can see, I am still bound to the Church by strong ties, but on the other hand I have long ceased to believe in the dogma." He was, however, profoundly attached to the Orthodox Church's rituals and music and wrote a liturgical composition based on the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, a Eucharistic service in the Eastern Christian Church.
22	* {{Curse}}: The evil fairy Carabosse in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' puts a curse on the young Princess Aurora that will have her prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die on her sixteenth birthday.
23	* CurseEscapeClause: In ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'', the Lilac Fairy modifies Carabosse's [[{{Curse}} curse]] to have the princess fall into a death-like sleep, which can be broken by her TrueLovesKiss.
24	* DancePartyEnding: The final act of ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' consists of a collection of dance scenes that involve magical beings (a sugar plum fairy), flutes, flowers, snowflakes, and various ethnic characters (Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Arab). Similarly, ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' wraps up the story at the end of Act 2, and the final act is a pageant for the wedding of the title character and the prince, with a suite of dances performed by other fairy-tale characters.
25	* DangerousSixteenthBirthday: Princess Aurora pricks her finger on a spinning wheel and goes into a deep slumber on her sixteenth birthday in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.
26	* DownerEnding: Aside from his operas, this is found in some of his other works.
27	** The Symphony No. 6 in B minor ("Pathétique") is accurately named, featuring a despairingly sad, pessimistic finale that doesn't so much end as fade away into nothing. A notable exception to the prevailing tendency to end symphonies in an upbeat and obvious way.
28	** The original version of the ballet ''Theatre/SwanLake'' has its StarCrossedLovers die at the end. Versions exist, though that {{Bowdlerize}} the work into a happy ending.
29	** Some presentations of ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' return Clara back to reality and her broken nutcracker at the end.
30	* FairyDevilmother: Wicked fairy Carabosse puts a [[{{Curse}} curse]] on young Princess Aurora in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.
31	* {{Fanfare}}:
32	** The Fourth Symphony starts off with a striking fanfare that suddenly pops up again in the last movement.
33	** ''Capriccio Italien'' starts out with a trumpet fanfare. One story is that during an Italian vacation, Tchaikovsky's hotel was near an army barracks and their reveille kept waking him, so he put it into the piece.
34	* FriendlyRivalry: Tchaikovsky's relationship with the "Russian Five" was complicated. The group's members initially disliked Tchaikovsky because he had been a student of Anton Rubinstein, whose Westernized, academic music aesthetic clashed with "The Five"'s wish to make their works more authentically Russian. One of its members, composer and critic Cesar Cui, regularly wrote scathing reviews of Tchaikovsky's work. They eventually grew to like each other over time, however, helped in part by Tchaikovsky's writing a positive review of a work by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Despite this, he remained ambivalent about their music.
35	* HappilyEverAfter:
36	** In contrast to the DownerEnding of ''Theatre/SwanLake'', both ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' (usually) and ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' conclude on a positive note.
37	** Tchaikovsky's marriage inverts this trope in the strongest possible way. The totally incompatible pair separated for good after only six weeks.
38	* JumpScare: One of the most famous in the classical repertoire occurs in the first movement of the "Pathetique" Symphony, with first clarinet and then bass clarinet[[note]]The score calls for the last four notes to be played on bassoon, though they're almost always played by bass clarinet nowadays because the latter instrument can play low notes more softly[[/note]] playing pianississississimo before a sudden chord jolts the listener into the development section.
39	* LighterAndSofter: Applies to several fine lesser-known pieces in this composer's output, including the Serenade for Strings in C major, ''Variations On A Rococo Theme'' for solo cello and orchestra, the first three symphonies, the four orchestral suites, and the second and third piano concertos. Tchaikovsky's favorite composer was Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart, and these works most clearly demonstrate that love.
40	* NiceMice: Inverted in ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'', where the mice are unalloyedly evil.
41	* OrchestralBombing: Pretty much the entire point of the ''1812 Overture'', in which the score (depicting Russia's defeat of Napoleon's army) actually calls for [[StuffBlowingUp real cannons to be fired]] at the finale. To quote ComicStrip/{{Calvin\|AndHobbes}}:
42	--> "And they perform this in crowded concert halls?? Gee, I thought classical music was boring!"
43	* PatrioticFervor: Both the ''1812 Overture'' and ''Marche Slav'' respectively feature Russian and Serbian nationalistic elements.
44	* PrinceCharming: Prince Désiré is Princess Aurora's true love in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.
45	* PrincessProtagonist: Applies to the heroine Princess Aurora in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.
46	* StandardSnippet: His music is a particularly rich source of these. Many selections and passages from ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' (thanks to ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''), the ''1812 Overture'', ''Music/MarcheSlav'', and the "swan theme" from ''Theatre/SwanLake'', as well as the "love theme" from the overture to ''Music/RomeoAndJuliet'' quoted in several love scenes.
47	* SmallReferencePools: To casual viewers, Tchaikovsky defines pretty nearly the entire genre of {{Ballet}} between ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' and ''Theatre/SwanLake''. And if they know a third ballet, it’s most likely ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.
48	* StarCrossedLovers: Applies to Odette and Prince Siegfried in ''Theatre/SwanLake'', who die at the end of the original ballet.
49	* TitleByYear: ''1812 Overture'', about Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia (there were a buttload of wars in that year).
50	* TravelogueShow: Or travelogue work in the case of ''Capriccio Italien'', an Italian-flavored tone poem.
51	* TrueLovesKiss: Prince Désiré awakens Princess Aurora with a kiss in ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.
52	* UncommonTime: The second movement of the Symphony No. 6 is written in 5/4, one of the first uses of quintuple time in classical music since the Baroque era.
53	* WhatWereYouThinking: Two biographical examples qualify.
54	** The composer was less than comfortable with his homosexuality and in 1877 married one of his former students, UsefulNotes/AntoninaMiliukova, likely to please his family and quash rumors of his sexual orientation. It was a disaster, the couple being an utter mismatch on several levels, and they separated after six weeks -- though they never officially divorced. Tchaikovsky often referred to her as "the reptile" in post-separation correspondence.
55	** Tchaikovsky died November 6, 1893 after inadvisably drinking an unboiled glass of water during a cholera epidemic. Those dining with him at the time were reportedly aghast when they saw him do so. However, [[DrivenToSuicide he may have done this on purpose]], with unconfirmed stories that he was being investigated for his homosexuality. Even today, there is no agreement on his motive.
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57	!!In fiction
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59	* ''Film/{{Tchaikovsky}}'', a 1970 Russian biopic

Context Music / PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky