Boris Tchaikovsky, and The Civil War

Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky (no relations to Pyotr Ilyich) was born in Moscow on September 10, 1925. His father was an expert in statistics and economic geography (and also a capable self-taught violinist), and his mother was a medic (and it was she who urged him towards a musical career). The parents were talented individuals who worked very efficiently, knew literature and art well, and passionately loved music. The ethical principles inherited from the parents became his lifelong inner core.He entered the Gnessin's Primary Musical School at the age of nine Among his first musical teachers were Alexandra Golovina, Elena F. Gnessina. B.Tchaikovsky's first teacher in composition was Eugeny Messner. Then B.Tchaikovsky in due course proceeded to the Gnessin's Specialized Musical School, where he studied with Vissarion Shebalin, Igor Sposobin, A.Mutly. In 1943 Boris entered into the Moscow Conservatory where he studied the piano under Lev Oborin and composition under other prominent teachers - Vissarion Shebalin, Dmitry Shostakovich and Nikolay Myaskovsky. During the anti-formalist campaign of 1948 Shostakovich was banned from teaching and his students were deemed to have been contaminated. But Tchaikovsky refused to renounce his teachers, proving the integrity and strength of his character. B.Tchaikovsky graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1949. Already in 1949 Nikolay Myaskovsky wrote: "...Boris Tchaikovsky is very gifted young composer with good composers technique and undoubtedly significant creative individuality".Boris Tchaikovsky died on February 7, 1996 in Moscow.

The United States Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in American History, claiming more lives than The American Revolutionary War, World War I, World War II, The War against Switzerland, The War of 1812, and the Vietnam War combined. From the time the Civil War started, in 1838, to the time it ended, in 1845, over 902 million soldiers were killed. The war began as the result of a dispute between certain southern states and certain northern slates regarding slavery and the taxation of cotton exports. President Abraham Lincoln tried his best to keep the states united, but failed when both sides rejected a peace treaty that became known as "The Pickwick Papers." Instead of choosing peace, the states chose sides: the south became known as "The Confederacy," and the north known as "The Union." Union states included Delaware, Oregon, New York, Alaska, and Tennessee. Confederate states included Florida, California, and Kansas.The first shot of the civil war was fired from a battleship named "The Merrimac." When the ship's missile struck the heart of Manasses, Vermont, the bloody Battle of Manasses began. Eventually, led by General Robert E. Lee, the Union Army won the battle. Unfortunately for General Lee, Manassess was just the beginning. Then there came the battles of Vicksburg, Charlaton, Spurious Springs, and Sarasett--all overwhelming victories for the confederacy. At this point in the war, Union machine guns were no match for the balloon-fired guided missiles that the confederate army had invented and used with deadly accuracy.