Editing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (section)

===Antecedents and influences===
[[File:Robert Schumann 1839.jpg|thumb|An 1839 lithograph of [[Robert Schumann]] by [[Josef Kriehuber]]]]
Of Tchaikovsky's Western predecessors, Robert Schumann stands out as an influence in formal structure, harmonic practices, and piano writing, according to Brown and musicologist [[Roland John Wiley]].<ref>Brown, ''New Grove'' vol. 18, pp. 613, 620; Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 58.</ref> [[Boris Asafyev]] comments that Schumann left his mark on Tchaikovsky not just as a formal influence but also as an example of musical dramaturgy and self-expression.<ref>Asafyev, 13–14.</ref> [[Leon Botstein]] argues the music of [[Franz Liszt]] and [[Richard Wagner]] also left their imprints on Tchaikovsky's orchestral style.<ref>Bostein, 103.</ref>{{refn|As proof of Wagner's influence, Botstein cites a letter from Tchaikovsky to Taneyev, in which the composer "readily admits the influence of the ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Nibelungen]]'' on ''Francesca da Rimini''". This letter is quoted in Brown, ''The Crisis Years'', 108.|group=n}} The late-Romantic trend for writing orchestral suites, begun by [[Franz Lachner]], [[Jules Massenet]], and [[Joachim Raff]] after the rediscovery of [[Bach]]'s works in that genre, may have influenced Tchaikovsky to try his own hand at them.<ref>Fuller, ''New Grove'' (2001), 24:681–662; Maes, 155.</ref>

Tchaikovsky's teacher Anton Rubinstein's opera ''[[The Demon (opera)|The Demon]]'' became a model for the final tableau of ''Eugene Onegin''.<ref>Taruskin, ''Grove Opera'', 4:664.</ref> So did [[Léo Delibes]]' ballets ''[[Coppélia]]'' and ''[[Sylvia (ballet)|Sylvia]]'' for ''[[The Sleeping Beauty (ballet)|The Sleeping Beauty]]''{{refn|While it is sometimes thought these two ballets also influenced Tchaikovsky's work on ''Swan Lake'', he had already composed that work before learning of them (Brown, ''The Crisis Years'', 77).|group=n}} and [[Georges Bizet]]'s opera ''[[Carmen]]'' (a work Tchaikovsky admired tremendously) for ''The Queen of Spades''.<ref>Brown, ''The Final Years'', 189; Maes, 131, 138, 152.</ref> Otherwise, it was to composers of the past that Tchaikovsky turned—[[Beethoven]], whose music he respected;<ref name="wiley_tchaik293" /> [[Mozart]], whose music he loved;<ref name="wiley_tchaik293">Wiley, ''Tchaikovsky'', 293–294.</ref> Glinka, whose opera ''[[A Life for the Tsar]]'' made an indelible impression on him as a child and whose scoring he studied assiduously;<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 34, 97.</ref> and [[Adolphe Adam]], whose ballet ''[[Giselle]]'' was a favorite of his from his student days and whose score he consulted while working on ''The Sleeping Beauty''.<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 39, 52; Brown, ''The Final Years'', 187.</ref> Beethoven's string quartets may have influenced Tchaikovsky's attempts in that medium.<ref>Wiley, ''New Grove'' (2001), 25:149.</ref> Other composers whose work interested Tchaikovsky included [[Hector Berlioz]], [[Felix Mendelssohn]], [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]], [[Gioachino Rossini]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Gioachino_Rossini#Tchaikovsky_and_Rossini|title=Gioachino Rossini|website=tchaikovsky-research.net}}</ref> [[Giuseppe Verdi]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Giuseppe_Verdi#Tchaikovsky_and_Verdi|title=Giuseppe Verdi|website=tchaikovsky-research.net}}</ref> [[Vincenzo Bellini]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Vincenzo_Bellini|title=Vincenzo Bellini|website=tchaikovsky-research.net}}</ref> [[Carl Maria von Weber]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Carl_Maria_von_Weber#Tchaikovsky_and_Weber|title=Carl Maria von Weber|website=tchaikovsky-research.net}}</ref> and [[Henry Litolff]].<ref>Brown, ''The Early Years'', 72.</ref>