THE GREAT Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) was renowned throughout the world by the time of his death. His major works, including the First Piano Concerto, the Violin Concerto, Romeo and Juliet, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the opera Eugene Onegin, and the ballets Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, were lauded in Russia, Europe, England, and the United States.