Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Essentials

Best known, and much loved, for his 1812 Overture, First Piano Concerto, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake ballets, Romeo and Juliet, and plenty more, Tchaikovsky was one of Russia's greats. A cultivated and cosmopolitan man, he had a glorious gift of melody that could dig deep, as in the opera Eugene Onegin, or sweep his audiences up, as in his great ballets. He was an adored teacher and an accomplished conductor. His final three symphonies (Nos. 4-6) bare his often troubled soul and have found a place on concert programmes the world over. His death, at age 53, remains an enigma.