Short answers, pulled from the story.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on the 7th of May 1840 in the small town of Votkinsk. His father managed the Ironworks in Kamsko-Votkinsk and intended for his son to pursue a career in civil service rather than music.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky left his civil service job because it offered no creative outlet and he enrolled in the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1862 to study music. The Russian Musical Society began fostering native talent, creating an opportunity that allowed him to pursue a musical career instead of remaining a titular counselor in the Ministry of Justice.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky married Antonina Miliukova in 1877, but the union was a disaster and they lived together for only two and a half months before he left. The marriage collapse forced him to confront his sexuality and led to a year of wandering abroad during which he composed the Violin Concerto and the Fourth Symphony.
Nadezhda von Meck supported Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky financially for thirteen years from 1877 to 1890. She provided him with a lifetime annual pension that allowed him to travel and compose works such as the opera Eugene Onegin and the ballet Swan Lake without meeting him.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died on the 6th of November 1893 at the age of fifty-three, nine days after conducting the premiere of his Sixth Symphony. His death is generally attributed to cholera caused by drinking unboiled water, though academic speculation in the 1980s suggested he may have committed suicide.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's iconic works include Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, and his symphonies. These pieces have become sound-bytes that have never gone out of style and his music remains popular among audiences worldwide.