Best Tchaikovsky Works: 5 Essential Pieces By The Great Composer

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) is widely considered the most popular Russian composer of all time. He wrote many very popular classical works including the 1812 Overture and three ballets – Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. His works include symphonies, concertos, operas, ballet and chamber music. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is one of the the most popular concertos ever written and his Symphony No. 6, the ‘Pathétique’, is one of the great symphonic masterpieces of all time. He turned to literary and dramatic sources, including Shakespeare, for a number of orchestral compositions. Tchaikovsky’s music combines tuneful melodies, impressive harmonies and colourful orchestrations.

The Nutcracker



No other composer has ever succeeded in capturing the fairy-tale world of childhood innocence as inimitably as Tchaikovsky in this most cherishable of his three great ballet scores. The ballet’s title comes from a story written in 1814, by the German fantasy writer ETA Hoffmann, in which a young girl’s favourite Christmas present, a nutcracker, comes to life as a handsome prince who whisks her off to the Land of Sweets.

Swan Lake


Swan Lake is arguably the greatest of all Romantic ballets and one of Tchaikovsky’s best works. The original version of Swan Lake, premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow in 1877, was a failure, and it was not until the 1895 revival, with choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, that the ballet finally won over the Russian public. Swan Lake is now adored by children and adults and is the world’s most frequently performed ballet.

The Sleeping Beauty



The Sleeping Beauty, based on a timeless fairytale, is one of the world’s most beloved ballets. Tchaikovsky’s radiantly inspired music reflected his contented state of mind at the time and he declared, “The subject is so poetical that I got quite carried away while composing it!” Sadly Tchaikovsky did not live long enough to witness the instant success of The Sleeping Beauty outside Russia.

Piano Concerto No.1



The first version of Piano Concerto No. 1 was severely criticised by Nikolai Rubenstein, Tchaikovsky’s desired pianist, who declared,”Only two or three pages are worth preserving; the rest must be thrown away!” However the concerto was an immediate success at the premiere, performed by Hans von Bulow, and is widely regarded as one of the most popular concertos ever written.

Eugene Onegin



Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky’s best-loved opera, is based on Pushkin’s novel of the same name. Tchaikovsky’s natural sympathy with the situation of Eugene Onegin – composed around the time of the composer’s disastrous marriage – inspired him to new operatic heights of expression.




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