Born: 7 May 1840 · Died: 6 November 1893 · Age: 53
Russian Romantic composer of the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker and the 1812 Overture
Did you know?Although he trained as a civil servant at a school of jurisprudence, he abandoned his legal career to study music at age twenty-two.
Quick facts
Date of birth7 May 1840
Date of death6 November 1893
Age at death53
Cause of deathCholera
NationalityRussian
BirthplaceVotkinsk, Russia
Occupationcomposer, librettist, conductor
Editor's Take:
Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most instantly recognisable music in the world, from the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy to the swans of Swan Lake. His three great ballets, including The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, transformed ballet music from mere accompaniment into a major art form. His symphonies and his First Piano Concerto are staples of concert halls everywhere. His music is famously emotional, sweeping from tenderness to despair, which partly reflects his own troubled private life. His 1812 Overture, complete with cannon fire, is still played at celebrations around the world.
Key Milestones
1877: Swan Lake premieres in Moscow
1890: The Sleeping Beauty premieres
1891: Conducts at Carnegie Hall's opening
1892: The Nutcracker premieres
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( chy-KOF-skee; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's birthday is May 7. He was born on May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia.
How old was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky when he died?
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died on November 6, 1893, aged 53.
Who shares a birthday with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky?
Famous people who share Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's May 7 birthday include Johannes Brahms, Josip Broz Tito, Eva Perón, Władysław Reymont and Gary Cooper.
