Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Select one: a. was a child prodigy, learning music at an early age. b. preferred his government position to music. c. studied music theory and violin as a teenager. d. began to study music theory at the age of twenty-one.

The correct answer is letter D

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian romantic composer who lived in the middle of the 19th century and who, by the vigor and creativity of his work, became one of the most popular and recognized authors of classical music of all time.

In 1863, when he was over twenty years old, he began to study music with Anton Rubinstein, at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg and, due to great personal effort, he progressed rapidly in his studies. Three years later, he started teaching music theory and composition at the Moscow Conservatory. At that time he composed one of the first symphonies, which he called Winter Dreams. During his time at the Moscow Conservatory, he had the opportunity to meet other renowned authors of classical music, including Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz, Hungarian and French composers, respectively, who toured Russia.