Tchaikovsky Presentation

1
Tchaikovsky Presentation
Click your mouse anywhere on this screen. If it
does not immediately go to the next slide, wait a
few seconds, and then click OPEN when prompted
to do so.
2
Peter Ilych
Tchaikovsky

• Born 1840 in Russia

Always click the mouse or use the arrow keys on
your keyboard to go to the next slide. Click on
the house in the top right at any time to end the
show.
3
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.
4
Tchaikovsky
In this story we get a glimpse of his patriotism
and his over-sensitive 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.
5
Tchaikovsky
A Picture of the Tchaikovsky Family in 1848. The
composer is the boy standing on the far left.
6
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovskys life was full of contrasts. He
seemed to alternate between being a shy, modest
person and a do-it-now and ask-questions-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.
7
Tchaikovsky
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 fragile.. As he
grew older, Tchaikovsky developed this into an
art he became a master pouter.
8
Click on the speaker to listen to a portion of
Tchaikovskys Symphony 6. His brother gave the
symphony the French nickname, Pathetique. What
do you think this word means?
9
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 didnt 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 didnt even
  know how many symphonies Beethoven had composed.

How many symphonies did Beethoven compose? Click
on the picture to see if youre correct.
9 Symphonies
10
Romeo and Juliet
Click here to find out more about Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky
Listen to two selections from Tchaikovskys Romeo
and Juliet fantasy. Common in the Romantic Period
was Program Music. Write the definition in the
space provided from your Romantic Music History
worksheet.
(Click on the speaker to start or pause the
example)

• What do you think is happening in the first
  selection?

11
Romeo and Juliet
Click here to find out more about Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky

• The listening example you just heard represented
  the first time Romeo and Juliet saw each other
  and fell in love.

• What do you think the next listening example
  represents?

(Click on the speaker to start or pause the
example)

• It represents the quarrels between the two
  feuding families. If you listen for a while, you
  can hear the swords clashing as they fight.

12
Tchaikovsky
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 Rubensteins 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."
Anton Rubenstein
13
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!
14
We dont know how he turned the pages.
15

• Tchaikovskys love life was,to put it bluntly
• confused.

As a young man he thought he was in love with an
operatic soprano named Desiree Artot, but he was
wrong there. He even went so far as to marry a
young woman named Antonina Miliukova. He
shouldnt have bothered. The marriage was a
disaster from start to finish and lasted all of
nine weeks.
16
Tchaikovsky
In a fit of depression, Tchaikovsky attempted
suicide by jumping into the River Neva, hoping to
catch pneumonia.
Wouldnt you know it, all he got was a terrible
cold.
17
A wealthyadmirer
That same year, 1877, was a good year in another
respect though.

• Tchaikovsky got a fan letter from a woman named
  Nadedja von Meck, a 46 year-old widow with 11
  children and more money than she knew what to do
  with.

18
Tchaikovsky
She thought it would be fun to have a composer
that she could call her own. She agreed to send
Tchaikovsky a regular allowance so that he could
be free to spend his time composing.
19
Tchaikovsky
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.
20
Tchaikovsky
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.
Died 1893 in St. Petersburg, Russia
21
On to the Listening Examples.
22
The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky
23
Today, the Nutcracker Ballet is one of
Tchaikovskys most popular compositions, but in
his lifetime it was a complete failure!
The Nutcracker
24
You may know this piece from seeing it at
Christmas time, or from the movie Fantasia.
25
You have been listening to the Chinese Dance from
the Nutcracker. Click on the speaker to play it
again and fill in Song 1 on your listening form .
26
1812 Overture
You are now listening to Tchaikovskys 1812
Overture. It is one of his most famous pieces.
We often hear it performed in the United States
for Independence Day, and people sometimes think
that it was written for our War of 1812, but it
wasnt. (Click to see what War it was composed
for song will continue to play)
27
Although it was written in 1880, the 1812
Overture commemorates Russias defeat of Napoleon
and his armies. In this selection, you will hear
a lot of bells Tchaikovsky used these to
represent the Church Bells that rang all over St.
Petersburg after the battle.
Then youll hear canon fire, representing the
fireworks and celebrating of the victory and the
troops coming home. Listen and fill in Song 2
on your listening form.
28
The End
Click on house to end show
29
Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William
Shakespeare. Its about two families, the
Montagues and Capulets, that hate each other and
are always fighting. Juliet Capulet and Romeo
Montague fall in love, but they try to keep it a
secret from their families because of their
family quarrels.
Romeo and Juliet
Click to go back