Editing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (section)

===Opera composer===
[[File:Von Meck.jpg|thumb|alt=A middle-aged woman wearing her hair up on her head, wearing a dark dress with a large white collar|[[Nadezhda von Meck]], Tchaikovsky's patroness and confidante from 1877 to 1890]]
{{Listen|type=music|image=none|help=no
| filename      = Tchaikovsky, Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor Op.23, I. Allegro.ogg
| title         = Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor Op.23 – I. Allegro
| description = ''Allegro non-troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito'' from Tchaikovsky's [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)|First Piano Concerto]]}}
The infrequency of Tchaikovsky's musical successes, won with tremendous effort, exacerbated his lifelong sensitivity to criticism. Nikolai Rubinstein's private fits of rage critiquing his music, such as attacking the [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)|First Piano Concerto]], did not help matters.<ref name="wiley25147"/> His popularity grew, however, as several first-rate artists became willing to perform his compositions. [[Hans von Bülow]] premiered the First Piano Concerto and championed other Tchaikovsky works both as pianist and conductor.<ref>Steinberg, ''Concerto'', 474–476; Wiley, ''New Grove'' (2001), 25:161.</ref> Other artists included [[Adele aus der Ohe]], [[Max Erdmannsdörfer]], [[Eduard Nápravník]] and [[Sergei Taneyev]].

Another factor that helped Tchaikovsky's music become popular was a shift in attitude among Russian audiences. Whereas they had previously been satisfied with flashy virtuoso performances of technically demanding but musically lightweight works, they gradually began listening with increasing appreciation of the composition itself. Tchaikovsky's works were performed frequently, with few delays between their composition and first performances; the publication from 1867 onward of his songs and great piano music for the home market also helped boost the composer's popularity.<ref>Wiley, ''New Grove'' (2001), 25:153–154.</ref>

During the late 1860s, Tchaikovsky began to compose operas. His first, ''[[The Voyevoda (opera)|The Voyevoda]]'', based on a play by [[Alexander Ostrovsky]], premiered in 1869. The composer became dissatisfied with it, however, and, having re-used parts of it in later works, destroyed the manuscript. ''[[Undina (Tchaikovsky)|Undina]]'' followed in 1870. Only excerpts were performed and it, too, was destroyed.<ref name="Taruskin 665">Taruskin, 665.</ref> Between these projects, Tchaikovsky started to compose an opera called ''Mandragora'', to a libretto by Sergei Rachinskii; the only music he completed was a short chorus of Flowers and Insects.<ref>Holden, 75–76; Warrack, ''Tchaikovsky'', 58–59.</ref>

The first Tchaikovsky opera to survive intact, ''[[The Oprichnik]]'', premiered in 1874. During its composition, he lost Ostrovsky's part-finished libretto. Tchaikovsky, too embarrassed to ask for another copy, decided to write the libretto himself, modeling his dramatic technique on that of [[Eugène Scribe]]. Cui wrote a "characteristically savage press attack" on the opera. Mussorgsky, writing to [[Vladimir Stasov]], disapproved of the opera as pandering to the public. Nevertheless, ''The Oprichnik'' continues to be performed from time to time in Russia.<ref name="Taruskin 665"/>

The last of the early operas, ''[[Vakula the Smith]]'' (Op. 14), was composed in the second half of 1874. The libretto, based on [[Gogol]]'s ''[[Christmas Eve (Gogol)|Christmas Eve]]'', was to have been set to music by [[Alexander Serov]]. With Serov's death, the libretto was opened to a competition with a guarantee that the winning entry would be premiered by the [[Imperial Mariinsky Theatre]]. Tchaikovsky was declared the winner, but at the 1876 premiere, the opera enjoyed only a lukewarm reception.<ref>Brown, ''Viking Opera Guide'', 1086.</ref> After Tchaikovsky's death, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the opera ''[[Christmas Eve (opera)|Christmas Eve]]'', based on the same story.<ref>Maes, 171.</ref>

Other works of this period include the ''[[Variations on a Rococo Theme]]'' for cello and orchestra, the [[Symphony No. 3 (Tchaikovsky)|Third]] and [[Symphony No. 4 (Tchaikovsky)|Fourth Symphonies]], the ballet ''[[Swan Lake]]'', and the opera ''[[Eugene Onegin (opera)|Eugene Onegin]]''.

Tchaikovsky remained abroad for a year after the disintegration of his marriage. During this time, he completed ''Eugene Onegin'', orchestrated his Fourth Symphony, and composed the [[Violin Concerto (Tchaikovsky)|Violin Concerto]].<ref>Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 159, 170, 193.</ref> He returned briefly to the Moscow Conservatory in the autumn of 1879.<ref>Brown, ''The Crisis Years'', 297.</ref>{{refn|Rubinstein had actually been operating under the assumption that Tchaikovsky might leave from the onset of the composer's marital crisis and was prepared for it (Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 189–190). However, his meddling in the Tchaikovsky–von Meck relationship might have contributed to the composer's actual departure. Rubinstein's actions, which soured his relations with both Tchaikovsky and von Meck, included imploring von Meck in person to end Tchaikovsky's subsidy for the composer's own good (Brown, ''The Crisis Years'', 250; Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 188–189). Rubinstein's actions, in turn, had been spurred by Tchaikovsky's withdrawal from the Russian delegation for the [[Exposition Universelle (1878)|1878 Paris World's Fair]], a position for which Rubinstein had lobbied on the composer's behalf (Brown, ''The Crisis Years'', 249–250; Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 180, 188–189). Rubinstein had been scheduled to conduct four concerts there; the first featured Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto (Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 190).|group=n}} For the next few years, assured of a regular income from von Meck, he traveled incessantly throughout Europe and rural Russia, mainly alone, and avoided social contact whenever possible.<ref name="brmm219">Brown, ''Man and Music'', 219.</ref>

During this time, Tchaikovsky's foreign reputation grew and a positive reassessment of his music also took place in Russia, thanks in part to Russian novelist [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]'s call for "universal unity" with the West at the unveiling of the Pushkin Monument in Moscow in 1880. Before Dostoevsky's speech, Tchaikovsky's music had been considered "overly dependent on the West". As Dostoevsky's message spread throughout Russia, this stigma toward Tchaikovsky's music evaporated.<ref name="volkovsp126">Volkov, 126.</ref> The unprecedented acclaim for him even drew a cult following among the young intelligentsia of Saint Petersburg, including [[Alexandre Benois]], [[Léon Bakst]] and [[Sergei Diaghilev]].<ref>Volkov, 122–123.</ref>

Two musical works from this period stand out. With the [[Cathedral of Christ the Saviour]] nearing completion in Moscow in 1880, the 25th anniversary of the coronation of [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] in 1881,{{refn|Celebration of this anniversary did not take place as [[Assassination of Alexander II|Alexander II was assassinated]] in March 1881.|group=n}} and the 1882 Moscow Arts and Industry Exhibition in the planning stage, [[Nikolai Rubinstein]] suggested that Tchaikovsky compose a grand commemorative piece. Tchaikovsky agreed and finished it within six weeks. He wrote to [[Nadezhda von Meck]] that this piece, the ''[[1812 Overture]]'', would be "very loud and noisy, but I wrote it with no warm feeling of love, and therefore there will probably be no artistic merits in it".<ref name="brwa119">As quoted in Brown, ''The Years of Wandering'', 119.</ref> He also warned conductor [[Eduard Nápravník]] that "I shan't be at all surprised and offended if you find that it is in a style unsuitable for symphony concerts".<ref name="brwa119" /> Nevertheless, the overture became, for many, "the piece by Tchaikovsky they know best",<ref name="brmm224">Brown, ''Man and Music'', 224.</ref> particularly well-known for the use of cannon in the scores.<ref>Aaron Green,[https://www.thoughtco.com/tchaikovskys-1812-overture-724401 "Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture"], thoughtco.com, 25 March 2017</ref>

On 23 March 1881, Nikolai Rubinstein died in Paris. That December, Tchaikovsky started work on his [[Piano Trio (Tchaikovsky)|Piano Trio in A&nbsp;minor]], "dedicated to the memory of a great artist".<ref>As quoted in Brown, ''The Years of Wandering'', 151.</ref> First performed privately at the Moscow Conservatory on the first anniversary of Rubinstein's death, the piece became extremely popular during the composer's lifetime; in November 1893, it would become Tchaikovsky's own elegy at memorial concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg.<ref>Brown, ''The Years of Wandering'', 151–152.</ref>{{refn|The piece also fulfilled a long-standing request by von Meck for such a work, to be performed by her then-house pianist, [[Claude Debussy]] (Brown, ''New Grove'' vol. 18, p. 620).|group=n}}