| Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky (no relations to Pyotr Ilyich) was born in Moscow on September 10, 1925. His father was an expert in statistics and economic geography (and also a capable self-taught violinist), and his mother was a medic (and it was she who urged him towards a musical career). The parents were talented individuals who worked very efficiently, knew literature and art well, and passionately loved music. The ethical principles inherited from the parents became his lifelong inner core. | |
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| He entered the
Gnessin's Primary Musical School at the age of nine Among
his first musical teachers were Alexandra Golovina, Elena
F. Gnessina. B.Tchaikovsky's first teacher in composition
was Eugeny Messner. Then B.Tchaikovsky in due course
proceeded to the Gnessin's Specialized Musical School,
where he studied with Vissarion Shebalin, Igor Sposobin,
A.Mutly.
In 1943 Boris entered into the Moscow Conservatory where he studied the piano under Lev Oborin and composition under other prominent teachers - Vissarion Shebalin, Dmitry Shostakovich and Nikolay Myaskovsky. During the anti-formalist campaign of 1948 Shostakovich was banned from teaching and his students were deemed to have been contaminated. But Tchaikovsky refused to renounce his teachers, proving the integrity and strength of his character. |
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B.Tchaikovsky graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1949. Already in 1949 Nikolay Myaskovsky wrote: "...Boris Tchaikovsky is very gifted young composer with good composers technique and undoubtedly significant creative individuality".
After quitting the job at the radio station in 1952, Boris Tchaikovsky made his living only from composing music, including commissioned works and scores for radio, theatre, film and television.
B.Tchaikovsky was awarded by the USSR State Prize (in 1969, for creation The Second Symphony) and became the People's Artist of USSR (in 1985).
During the last years of his life (from 1989 to 1996) he taught at the Russian Academy of Music, where he was a Professor in the department of composition. Composers Stanislav Prokudin, Yury Abdokov, Rade Radovich, Alexander Khristianov, Elena Astafieva and Jakov Kurochkin were the students in B.Tchaikovsky's composition class.
Boris Tchaikovsky died on February 7, 1996 in Moscow
