Life and Work of Tchaikovsky

Unfortunately, Tchaikovsky's change of career was not enough to bring him a life of happiness. Throughout his career as a composer, Tchaikovsky suffered from extreme depression and feelings of doubt. In 1877, he married a fellow student from the Conservatory of St. Petersburg, Antonina Miliukov. During that same period, however, Tchaikovsky also began a battle with his repressed feelings of homosexuality. His marriage to Antonina quickly fell apart when "he tried to drown himself, and nearly lost his reason" (Gilder 345). Nevertheless, soon after his divorce, Tchaikovsky's musical career took a turn for the better when he began receiving the patronage of a wealthy widow named Nadezhda von Meck. Becaus

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xpression. In contrast, the Romantic period was marked by the dissolution of the European patronage system. The composers, who no longer had to create their works for the pleasure of kings and queens, began to be more emotionally expressive in their music. In addition, the music itself became more expansive, with more chromaticism and tone color than ever before. Two other unique elements in Romantic music were the spread of nationalism, in which composers expressed pride in their home nations, and the use of "program music," in which instrumental music was "inspired by a poem, novel, play, painting, sculpture, or some other extramusical entity, and meant to suggest the essence of that entity to the listener" (Griffel 589). It is interesting to note that Tchaikovsky, unlike most of his Romantic period contemporaries, was able to obtain the support of a patron during the later part of his life. Aside from this, Tchaikovsky's music clearly shows many of the elements which are characteristic of the Romantic period in general. For example, his music was highly expressive and emotional. David Brown states that Tchaikovsky sought to "forge a musical language that might be a vehicle for his own overwrought emotions" (628). Tcha
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Approximate Word count = 1500
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)