The icon inside the cabinet in the composer’s living room indicates that the Tchaikovsky family was religious. The icon of Saint Peter is the most important part of any household’s iconostasis. It was believed that praying in front of this icon would save one from danger, and help strengthen and maintain one’s faith. The icon with a silver rIza was created in one of St. Petersburg’s workshops. Tchaikovsky’s parents ordered it as a gift for the birthday or the name day of their one-year-old son.
This is a full-height icon of Peter the Apostle; in his left hand, according to Matthew the Evangelist, Saint Peter is holding two big keys from the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven; pictured underneath his hand is a church which resembles the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Votkinsk where the newborn Tchaikovsky was baptized. His right hand is pointing to the road planted with trees and rising up to the skies. The apostle’s holy face is surrounded by clouds and rays of glory. From letters the composer’s father IlyA Tchaikovsky wrote to his wife AlexAndra in 1841, researchers found out that Ilya was in St. Petersburg in January, on a business trip. In a letter dated January 28, he wrote: “I have almost made all the purchases, and I”m well above the cost estimate…’ .The icon for their youngest son was likely purchased during that trip.
Tchaikovsky also shared his thoughts on faith in his letters. There is a note in the archives dated 1878, where Ilya Tchaikovsky wrote that not blind, but sensible and conscious faith is a person’s biggest happiness. A clever person and a pure devotee is endowed with incredible power which protects them from any strokes of misfortune. The same year, his son, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, created his first devotional composition — the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for a mixed choir, with a total of 15 pieces. His next work — the All-Night Vigil — was composed in 1881–1882, in between working on other pieces. Tchaikovsky’s Nine Church Pieces came out in 1885, and in 1887 the composer created the masterpiece of religious music–an Easter hymn The Angel Cried Out. Today, many of Tchaikovsky’s devotional compositions are performed in churches and during concerts. Some churches traditionally play the Liturgy with Tchaikovsky’s music on 6 November, when the composer passed away.
This is a full-height icon of Peter the Apostle; in his left hand, according to Matthew the Evangelist, Saint Peter is holding two big keys from the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven; pictured underneath his hand is a church which resembles the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Votkinsk where the newborn Tchaikovsky was baptized. His right hand is pointing to the road planted with trees and rising up to the skies. The apostle’s holy face is surrounded by clouds and rays of glory. From letters the composer’s father IlyA Tchaikovsky wrote to his wife AlexAndra in 1841, researchers found out that Ilya was in St. Petersburg in January, on a business trip. In a letter dated January 28, he wrote: “I have almost made all the purchases, and I”m well above the cost estimate…’ .The icon for their youngest son was likely purchased during that trip.
Tchaikovsky also shared his thoughts on faith in his letters. There is a note in the archives dated 1878, where Ilya Tchaikovsky wrote that not blind, but sensible and conscious faith is a person’s biggest happiness. A clever person and a pure devotee is endowed with incredible power which protects them from any strokes of misfortune. The same year, his son, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, created his first devotional composition — the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for a mixed choir, with a total of 15 pieces. His next work — the All-Night Vigil — was composed in 1881–1882, in between working on other pieces. Tchaikovsky’s Nine Church Pieces came out in 1885, and in 1887 the composer created the masterpiece of religious music–an Easter hymn The Angel Cried Out. Today, many of Tchaikovsky’s devotional compositions are performed in churches and during concerts. Some churches traditionally play the Liturgy with Tchaikovsky’s music on 6 November, when the composer passed away.
