The book about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky highlights some new research and views on his life and work. The author draws on biographical materials drawn from foreign sources, from conversations with the composer’s relatives, and strives to give a portrait of Tchaikovsky the man, describing his surroundings against the backdrop of historical and social events in the cultural life of Russia in the second half of the last century. The author, a shipbuilding engineer by training, all his life is studying the work of the great Russian composer, whose 150th birthday is celebrated in 1990.