[Tchaikovsky] Pick up famous and representative pieces!
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a towering composer who represents Romantic-era Russia.
From ballet music such as Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty to works like the Piano Concerto No.
1 and several symphonies, he created numerous masterpieces that continue to be loved to this day.
Tchaikovsky’s music conveys richly colored, delicate melodies and a brilliant, dramatic musicality.
In this article, we introduce Tchaikovsky’s celebrated and representative works.
We’ve selected pieces ranging from famous tunes to lesser-known gems worthy of being called masterpieces—be sure to check them out!
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[Tchaikovsky] A Selection of Famous and Representative Works (131–140)
Swan LakePyotr Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, Swan Lake.
In Japan, it’s known by the title “Hakuchō no Mizūmi” (Swan Lake).
It’s probably the most famous ballet music in the world, isn’t it? This was Tchaikovsky’s first ballet score, and it premiered in 1877.
In fact, the work wasn’t highly regarded in the ballet world at the time, but later, through major revisions by choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, it became a production that attracted worldwide attention.
The NutcrackerPyotr Tchaikovsky
One of the most famous works of ballet music is The Nutcracker, known in Japan as Kurumiwari Ningyō.
Composed by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and premiered in 1892, it tells the story of a girl who receives a nutcracker as a gift and journeys through a dream world.
The music perfectly captures this narrative with a fantastical tone.
Since it is set at Christmas, it’s especially recommended for the holiday season.
The Sleeping BeautyPyotr Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, most famous as a renowned composer of ballet music, is widely known in Japan as well, since he appears in school music textbooks.
He produced a number of ballet scores, many of which have remained beloved as standard repertoire to this day.
Among his works, one of the most famous is The Sleeping Beauty.
Known in Japan by the title “Nemureru Mori no Bijo,” it is counted—along with Swan Lake and The Nutcracker—among the three great classical ballets.
Waltz of the FlowersPyotr Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, a great musician who produced numerous masterpieces of ballet music.
For those not familiar with ballet, he may be known simply as a famous classical composer, but in fact it’s no exaggeration to call him the father of ballet music, given how many celebrated works he created.
Among these is the renowned “Waltz of the Flowers,” one of the pieces featured in The Nutcracker, which—as its title suggests—unfolds in a brilliant major key.
The Nutcracker, No. 3: Dance of the Sugar Plum FairyPyotr Tchaikovsky
This is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker—a piece that, for some reason, has long been used as background music for Halloween scenes or graveyards where you might dare each other to test your courage.
The sparkling timbres entwined with a minor-key melody give it a subtly eerie feel, don’t they? It would really enhance the atmosphere if you played it at a Halloween party.
From ‘The Seasons’: ‘October – Autumn Song’Pyotr Tchaikovsky
“The Seasons” is a set of twelve piano pieces composed with Russian seasonal scenes as their themes.
It originally began as a project in a music magazine, which each month featured a poem by a Russian poet expressing the mood of the season, alongside a piano piece by Tchaikovsky musically depicting the character of that poem.
The poem published with the piece “October” conveys the melancholy and poignancy of autumn—the falling leaves and the fading colors disappearing from the garden.
“The Four Seasons” — 12 Characteristic Pieces, Op. 37bis: October, “Autumn Song”Pyotr Tchaikovsky
The Seasons is a collection of twelve piano pieces depicting Russian scenes.
The tenth piece, October: Autumn Song, composed for the month of October, is a work filled with poignant melancholy.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky created each piece for a magazine series, pairing it with a poem by a Russian poet evocative of the respective month.
Autumn Song is accompanied by a poem that portrays a sorrowful scene of colored leaves fluttering down on the wind.
It conveys a wistful sense of “autumn” that differs from Japan’s expanses of vivid fall foliage.
