Despite showing remarkable musical talent from a very young age, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky didn’t begin to study music until his early twenties. In 1861, at the Russian Musical Society (the first Russian music school open to the general public) 21-year-old Tchaikovsky took classes in music theory with Nikolai Zaremba, and the next year he enrolled at the newly established St. Petersburg Conservatory, studying under Anton Rubinstein.
When he started his formal music education at the Conservatory, Tchaikovsky also had a job at the Ministry of Justice. He had been working there since 1859 after graduating from the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, a civil service school he had attended since age ten. Although his parents initially supported his musical interests, they wanted him to pursue a more stable career in the civil service. However, Tchaikovsky found his work at the Ministry of Justice tedious and unsatisfying, both as a clerk and later as a senior assistant. Also, he increasingly struggled to combine his work with his studies. Convinced he could become a professional musician, in early 1863 he decided to quit his job and fully dedicate himself to music.
April 15th (27th), 1863Dear Sasha,From your letter which reached father to-day, I perceive that you take a lively interest in my situation and regard with some mistrust the step I have decided to take. I will now explain to you more fully what my hopes and intentions really are. My musical talent—you cannot deny it—is my only one. This being so, it stands to reason that I ought not to leave this God-sent gift uncultivated and undeveloped. For this reason I began to study music seriously. So far my official duties did not clash with this work, and I could remain in the Ministry of Justice. Now, however, my studies grow more severe and take up more time, so I find myself compelled to give up one or the other.... In a word, after long consideration, I have resolved to sacrifice the salary and resign my post. But it does not follow that I intend to get into debt, or ask for money from father, whose circumstances are not very flourishing just now. Certainly I am not gaining any material advantage. But first I hope to obtain a small post in the Conservatoire next season (as assistant professor); secondly, I have a few private lessons in view; and thirdly—what is most important of all—I have entirely renounced all amusements and luxuries, so that my expenditure has very much decreased. Now you will want to know what will become of me when I have finished my course. One thing I know for certain. I shall be a good musician and shall be able to earn my daily bread. The professors are satisfied with me, and say that with the necessary zeal I shall do well. I do not tell you all this in a boastful spirit (it is not my nature), only in order to speak openly to you without any false modesty. I cherish a dream; to come to you for a whole year after my studies are finished to compose a great work in your quiet surroundings. After that—out into the world.....
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