Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia, on May 7, 1840. He was introduced to music at age 5. His father was a Ukrainian mining engineer and his wife, his second, was of French ancestry. He went to school at the School of Jurisprudence and was a civil servant till 1861 when he entered Saint Petersburg Conservatory and graduated in 1865. In 1866 he was appointed professor of theory and harmony at Moscow Conservatory, which was established that year. He continued teaching there till around 1878.
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