Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

Il'ia Tchaikovsky (1795–1880)

Il'ia Tchaikovsky

Father of the composer (b. 20/31 July 1795 in Glazov, near Viatka; d. 9/21 January 1880 in Saint Petersburg), born Il'ia Petrovich Tchaikovsky (Илья Петрович Чайковский, Il'ja Petrovič Čajkovskij, Il'ya Petrovich Tchaikovsky).

Il'ia was the fifth son of Petr Fedorovich Tchaikovsky (1745–1818) and his wife Anastasiia (b. Posokhova, 1751–?), and became one of the foremost metallurgists in Russia. After graduating from the Saint Petersburg Mining College, from 1818 to 1821 he served as a mining engineer at the Perm' iron works, and between 1821 to 1831 in the Department for Iron and Salt Affairs, where he enjoyed a broad authority within the Ekaterinburg region—from governing local factories to repealing the decisions of local courts.

On 11/23 September 1827 he married for the first time to Mariia Karlovna Keizer (d. 1831), and they had a daughter—  Zinaida (1829–1878).

Over the next few years Il'ia Tchaikovsky served as administrator of the Onezhskii salt board (1831–1837) and director of the Kamsko-Votkinsk iron works (1837–1848). In 1848 Il'ia Tchaikovsky resigned his post in Votkinsk and brought his family to Moscow, and later, in anticipation of a new appointment, to Saint Petersburg. However, the expected position in the capital did not materialize, and in May 1849 he returned with his family to the Urals, where he was appointed manager of the Alapaevsk and Nizhe-Nev'ianskei iron works (1849–1852).

He married his second wife, Aleksandra Assier (1812–1854), on 1/13 October 1833, and the couple had seven children: Ekaterina (d. in infancy); Nikolai (1838–1911); Petr (1840–1893), the composer; Aleksandra (1841–1891); Ippolit (1843–1927); Anatolii (1850–1915); and Modest (1850–1916).

In 1852 Il'ia returned to Saint Petersburg, and in 1858 he was appointed director of the Technological Institute in the capital, where he worked until his retirement in 1863. He married for the third and final time to Elizaveta Mikhailovna Lipport (1829–1910).

Il'ia Tchaikovsky enjoyed music, and played the flute sufficiently well to participate in amateur concerts, and he also encouraged his children's interest in music. Although he hoped that his son Petr would have a successful career in the civil service, he gave both moral and financial support to his son's decision to leave the Ministry of Justice to try to become a professional composer.

Correspondence with Il'ia Tchaikovsky:

• 57 letters from the composer to his father Il'ia have survived, dating from 1850 to 1879.