From an inauspicious early life in a Ural Mountain mining town, Tchaikovsky grew up to become one of the most known composers of the Russian Empire. How? And what made his career outstanding? In part, good fortune: interest in his music from civic officials, Slavophile ideologues, Tsar Alexander III and his court in St Petersburg. Tchaikovsky became an imperial composer, borrowing from and contributing to the musical traditions of Ukraine, Poland and Georgia. Still, he was not a nationalist; that is what made him special. His “Russia” was cosmopolitan, encompassing the music and culture of France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. His “Russia” pursued the beautiful, while "the real Russia" – the Russia of brutal conquests, subjugations, and expulsions – did not. The Russia of the composer existed only in his art.