Facts about Russian composer Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, Russia, on May 7, 1840.

In 1869 Tchaikovsky composed the Fantasy-Overture Romeo and Juliet, which he would still revise in 1870 and 1880.

In 1875 Tchaikovsky composed Piano Concerto No. 1.

In 1876 he completed the Swan Lake ballet.

Tchaikovsky befriended a wealthy widow named Nadezhda von Meck, who would support him financially for the next 20 years.

In 1889 he composed the ballet Sleeping Beauty.

Tchaikovsky completed the Nutcracker ballet in 1892.

Symphony No. 6 (Pathetic) was premiered in 1893.

Tchaikovsky and her patron, Nadezhda von Meck, conducted their relationship solely on the basis of correspondence during the years she sponsored it.

Tchaikovsky's marriage in 1877 was an immediate disaster, and shortly after his marriage he made arrangements never to see his wife again.

The cause of Tchaikovsky's death is still uncertain: Some authorities believe that his death was accidental, but others contend that he purposely took arsenic or drank water infected with cholera.

His brother Modest was a playwright and librettist who wrote a biography of Tchaikovsky.

Above any other composer, Tchaikovsky adored Mozart. He even once referred to him as "the Christ of music. Of other composers, Wagner bored him while detesting Brahms.

Tchaikovsky struggled with his sexuality and worked hard to keep his homosexuality a secret.

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Facts about composer Franz Schubert

It was in Vienna, the city where Franz Schubert, one of the most gifted composers of the 19th century, was born.

Schubert (January 31, 1797) was the twelfth of 13 brothers. The family lived in the Liechtental district.

His music teacher soon became aware of his talent and went so far as to say to him: "I have nothing more to teach you, knowledge you have received from the good God".

Shubert's beautiful voice allowed him to enter the choir of the Imperial Chapel and the Royal Seminary, where he would later study composition with Salieri.

Franz Schubert composed his first symphony in 1813.

Schubert composed more than 600 songs (lieder), many of them inspired by poems by Goethe, Schiller, and Heine.

In October 1822, Schubert began his famous Symphony in B minor, commonly called The Unfinished.

Except for a circle of admirers who were among the most notable artists of the period, Schubert gained little recognition before his death, and generally lived in economic hardship.

During his lifetime Franz Schubert could not premiere any of his operatic or orchestral works.
Franz Schubert got a job as a private music teacher for the children of a Hungarian nobleman.

The schubertiadas were gatherings of artists who formed a bright, festive circle dedicated to music and reading, where the central figure was Schubert.

Franz Schubert lived only 31 years, a syphilis, finally complicated with a typhoid fever, led him to death on November 19, 1828. In so few years Schubert managed to compose a musical work excellent for its great beauty and inspiration.

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