Editing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (section)

==Early life and education==
{{multiple image|direction=vertical|image1=Дом Чайковского.jpg |alt1=A peach-colored prune-tiled three-story house with single-story aisles surrounded by trees |caption1=Tchaikovsky's birthplace in 1840 in [[Votkinsk]], Russia, now [[Tchaikovsky Museum (Votkinsk)|a museum]]|image2=Tchaikovskys family in 1848 From left to right sitting Alexandra Andreevna Tchaikovska Alexandra Ippolit Ilya Petrovitch Tchai Family 2.jpg|caption2=The Tchaikovsky family in 1848. Left to right: Pyotr, Alexandra Andreyevna (mother), Alexandra (sister), Zinaida, Nikolai, Ippolit, Ilya Petrovich (father)}}

Tchaikovsky was born on 7 May 1840 in [[Votkinsk]],<ref name=EB1911>Chisholm, 348</ref> a small town in [[Vyatka Governorate]] during the [[Russian Empire]] in present-day [[Udmurtia]] near the banks of the [[Kama River]]. His father, Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, served as a lieutenant colonel and engineer in the Department of Mines<ref name="holden4">Holden, 4.</ref> and managed the Ironworks in [[Kamsko-Votkinsk]]. His grandfather, Pyotr Fedorovich Tchaikovsky, was born in the village of Nikolaevka, [[Yekaterinoslav Governorate]], Russian Empire in present-day [[Mykolaivka, Luhansk Oblast|Mykolaivka]], Ukraine,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Tchaikovsky:_A_Life|title=Tchaikovsky: A Life|website=tchaikovsky-research.net}}</ref> and served first as a physician's assistant in the army and later as city governor of [[Glazov]] in Vyatka. His great-grandfather,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/culture/pyotr-tchaikovsky-ukrainian-creative-spirit|title=Pyotr Tchaikovsky, a Ukrainian by creative spirit|work=[[The Day (Kiev)|The Day]]|location=Kyiv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AFcABAAAQBAJ&q=fedor+chaika&pg=PA4|title=Tchaikovsky and His World|isbn=978-1-4008-6488-1|last=Kearney|first=Leslie|year=2014|publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref> a [[Zaporozhian Cossack]] named Fyodor Chaika, served in the Russian military at the [[Battle of Poltava]] in 1709.<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 19</ref><ref>Poznansky, ''Eyes'', 1</ref>

Tchaikovsky's mother, Alexandra Andreyevna (née d'Assier), was the second of Ilya's three wives; his first wife died several years before Pyotr's birth. She was 18 years younger than her husband and was of French and German ethnicity through her paternal side.<ref>Poznansky, ''Eyes'', 1; Holden, 5.</ref> Both Ilya and Alexandra were trained in the arts, including music.<ref name="wiley_tchaik6">Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 6.</ref> Of his six siblings,{{refn|Tchaikovsky had four brothers (Nikolai, Ippolit, Anatoly, and Modest), a sister (Alexandra) and a half-sister (Zinaida) from his father's first marriage (Holden, 6, 13; Warrack, ''Tchaikovsky'', 18). Anatoly later had a legal career, and Modest became a dramatist, librettist, and translator (Poznansky, ''Eyes'', 2).|group=n}} Tchaikovsky was close to his sister Alexandra and twin brothers Anatoly and [[Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Modest]]. Alexandra's marriage to Lev Davydov<ref>Holden, 31.</ref> produced seven children<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Aleksandra_Davydova|title=Aleksandra Davydova|website=en.tchaikovsky-research.net}}</ref> and lent Tchaikovsky the only real family life he knew as an adult,<ref name="holden43" /> especially during his years of wandering.<ref name="holden43">Holden, 43.</ref> One of those children, [[Vladimir Davydov]], who went by the nickname "Bob", became very close to him.<ref>Holden, 202.</ref>

In 1844, the family hired Fanny Dürbach, a 22-year-old French governess.<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 22; Holden, 7.</ref> Four-and-a-half-year-old Tchaikovsky was initially thought too young to study alongside his older brother Nikolai and a niece of the family. His insistence convinced Dürbach otherwise.<ref>Holden, 7.</ref> By age six, he was fluent in French and German.<ref name="wiley_tchaik6"/> Tchaikovsky also became attached to Dürbach; her affection for him reportedly counterbalanced his mother's coldness and emotional distance,<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 27; Holden, 6–8.</ref> though others assert that the mother doted on her son.<ref>Poznansky, ''Quest'', 5.</ref> Dürbach saved much of Tchaikovsky's work from this period, including his earliest known compositions, and became a source of several childhood anecdotes.<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 25–26; Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 7.</ref>

Tchaikovsky began piano lessons at age five. Within three years he had become as adept at reading sheet music as his teacher. Tchaikovsky's parents, initially supportive, hired a tutor, bought an [[orchestrion]], a form of barrel organ that could imitate elaborate orchestral effects, and encouraged his piano study for both aesthetic and practical reasons. But in 1850 they sent Tchaikovsky to the [[Imperial School of Jurisprudence]] in Saint Petersburg. They had both graduated from institutes in Saint Petersburg and the School of Jurisprudence, which mainly served the lesser nobility, and thought that this education would prepare Tchaikovsky for a career as a civil servant.<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 31; Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 8.</ref> Regardless of talent, the only musical careers available in Russia at that time—except for the affluent aristocracy—were as a teacher in an academy or as an instrumentalist in one of the Imperial Theaters. Both were considered on the lowest rank of the social ladder, with individuals in them enjoying no more rights than peasants.<ref>Maes, 33.</ref>

Tchaikovsky's father's income was also growing increasingly uncertain, so both parents may have wanted Tchaikovsky to become independent as soon as possible.<ref>Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 8.</ref> As the minimum age for acceptance was 12 and Tchaikovsky was only 10 at the time, he was required to spend two years boarding at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence's preparatory school, {{convert|800|mi|km|order=flip}} from his family.<ref>Holden, 14; Warrack, ''Tchaikovsky'', 26.</ref> Once those two years had passed, Tchaikovsky transferred to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence to begin a seven-year course of study.<ref>Holden, 20.</ref>

Tchaikovsky's early separation from his mother, despite the aforementioned alleged distant relationship, caused emotional trauma that lasted the rest of his life and was intensified by her death from [[cholera]] in 1854, when he was 14.<ref>Holden, 15; Poznansky, ''Quest'', 11–12.</ref>{{refn|Her death affected him so much that he could not inform Fanny Dürbach until two years later (Brown, ''The Early Years'', 47; Holde, 23; Warrack, 29). More than 25 years after his loss, Tchaikovsky wrote to his patroness, Nadezhda von Meck, "Every moment of that appalling day is as vivid to me as though it were yesterday" (As quoted in Holden, 23).|group=n}} The loss of his mother also prompted Tchaikovsky to make his first serious attempt at composition, a waltz in her memory. Tchaikovsky's father, who had also contracted cholera but recovered, sent him back to school immediately in the hope that classwork would occupy the boy's mind.<ref name="holden23">Holden, 23.</ref> Isolated, Tchaikovsky compensated with friendships with fellow students that became lifelong; these included [[Aleksey Apukhtin]] and Vladimir Gerard.<ref>Holden, 23–24, 26; Poznansky, ''Quest'', 32–37; Warrack, ''Tchaikovsky'', 30.</ref>

Music, while not an official priority at school, also bridged the gap between Tchaikovsky and his peers. They regularly attended the opera<ref>Holden, 24; Poznansky, ''Quest'', 26</ref> and Tchaikovsky improvised at the school's [[Pump organ|harmonium]] on themes he and his friends had sung during choir practice. "We were amused", Gerard later remembered, "but not imbued with any expectations of his future glory".<ref>As quoted in Holden, 25.</ref> Tchaikovsky also continued his piano studies with Franz Becker, an instrument manufacturer who made occasional visits to the school, but the results, according to musicologist [[David Brown (musicologist)|David Brown]], were "negligible".<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 43.</ref>

In 1855, Tchaikovsky's father funded private lessons with Rudolph Kündinger and questioned him about a musical career for his son. While impressed with the boy's talent, Kündinger said he saw nothing to suggest a future composer or performer.<ref>Holden, 24–25; Warrack, ''Tchaikovsky'', 31.</ref> He later admitted that his assessment was also based on his own bad experiences as a musician in Russia and his unwillingness for Tchaikovsky to be treated likewise.<ref>Poznansky, ''Eyes'', 17.</ref> Tchaikovsky was told to finish his course and then try for a post in the Ministry of Justice.<ref>Holden, 25; Warrack, ''Tchaikovsky'', 31.</ref>