IT is possible that the family from which Tchaikovsky sprang
may have had a Polish origin, but in the absence of any
documentary evidence, the composer himself insisted with
great firmness on his purely Russian nationality. His great,
grandfather, Feodor Afanassievich Tchaikovsky, was an officer
of Cossacks in the reign of Peter the Great, and fought in
the Battle of Poltava. His grandfather, Peter Feodorovich
Tchaikovsky, was a nobleman in the government of Kazan.

The youngest of the latter's sons, Ilya Petrovich, was born
in 1795. He was educated as a mining engineer, and passed
his examinations in 1817, receiving a Government appoint-
ment in August the same year. Although the comparative
success he achieved in his profession affords proof that he
had acquired some proficiency in it, he does not appear to
have been otherwise a man of great general culture. He had
a certain liking for music, which, however, had not tempted
him to acquire any knowledge of the art, and if hereditary
influences play any part whatever in the genius of Tchaikovsky,
they must be traced on the mother's side. Ilya Petrovich was
from all accounts one of those genial and sunny temperaments
which are almost destined to be taken advantage of. His
confidence in his fellow men had no limits, and the material
reverses to which it led could not embitter his character, which
was that of a thoroughly kind-hearted and straightforward

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