PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

BORN 7 May 1840, Votkinsk, Russia. DIED 6 November 1893, St Petersburg, Russia, aged 53. FAMILY One of seven children of Ilya, a lieutenant colonel and engineer, and Alexandra.

The composer of the world’s most famous ballet music quit the civil service at 21 to dedicate his life to music. A widow he never met, Madame von Meck, helped fund his career. He was gay but had a disastrous marriage with an exstudent, and is thought to have died from cholera, though some believe that he killed himself.