Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7 (April 25 in the old style), 1840, in the village of Votkinsk in the Vyatka province, which is now the city of Votkinsk in Udmurtia, Russia. His father, Ilya Petrovich (1795-1863), was a mining engineer and attained the rank of major general. The composer's mother, Alexandra Andreyevna Assier (1813-1854), was the daughter of a customs official and the second wife of Ilya Petrovich.

From an early age, his parents instilled a love of music in Pyotr Ilyich. His father played the flute, and his mother played the piano and harp, although no one in the family pursued music professionally. At the age of five, the serf Maria Markovna Palchikova began teaching him to play the piano, and by eight, he could already read music. In 1848, after Ilya Petrovich retired, the family moved to Moscow and then to Alapaevsk. In 1850, Pyotr Ilyich was sent to study at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg, and by 1852, the family had moved there as well. In 1854, his mother died of cholera. Tchaikovsky graduated from the school in 1859 and began working in the Ministry of Justice. His father, despite the advice of Kunding, suggested that his son continue his musical education. In 1861, Tchaikovsky enrolled in the Music Classes of the Russian Musical Society, which became the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1862. On the advice of Anton Rubinstein, he left government service in 1863, which upset his father. In 1865, his "Character Dances" were performed for the first time in the concert hall of Pavlovsk under the direction of Johann Strauss. That same year, he graduated from the conservatory with honors and accepted an offer from Nikolai Rubinstein to work at the conservatory.

From 1868, Tchaikovsky frequently wrote as a music critic, and from 1872, he worked for the "Russian Gazette." In 1878, he left teaching at the conservatory to devote himself entirely to composition. During his time at the conservatory, he created a significant portion of his works.

From 1879, Tchaikovsky traveled extensively throughout Europe, which contributed to his growing international fame. By the late 1880s, he often conducted his own works, and in the early 1890s, he received numerous invitations from various cities in Europe. He spent the last years of his life in the vicinity of Klin. In the house he rented in 1897, a museum was established, which is still operational today.

In 1893, while in St. Petersburg, Tchaikovsky fell ill with cholera and could not recover. He passed away on October 25, 1893, in St. Petersburg at his brother's apartment. He was buried on October 28 in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in the Necropolis of Artists.