P.I. Tchaikovsky: through thorns to the stars

A very long time ago on the southwestern borders of Russia, in the steppes of Ukraine, there lived a freedom-loving Cossack family with a beautiful surname Chaika. The history of this kind goes back centuries when the Slavic tribes mastered the steppe fertile lands and were not yet divided into Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians after the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar hordes. The Tchaikovsky family loved to remember the heroic life of the great-grandfather Fyodor Afanasevich Chaika (1695-1767), who, with the rank of centurion, actively participated in the defeat of the Swedes by the Russian troops near Poltava (1709). In that battle, Fedor Afanasevich was seriously wounded. Around the same period, the Russian state began to assign each family a permanent surname instead of nicknames (non-baptismal names). The composer’s grandfather chose his family name Tchaikovsky. Such surnames ending in “sky” were considered noble, as they were given to the families of the nobility. A noble title was awarded to his grandfather for “faithful service to the Fatherland.” In the Russian-Turkish war, he performed the most humane mission: he was a military doctor. Continue reading →