Tchaikovsky began quite early in life to frequent the Italian Opera in St. Petersburg; consequently his musical tastes developed far earlier on the dramatic than on the symphonic side. He knew and loved the operatic masterpieces of the Italian and French schools long before he knew the Symphonies of Beethoven or any of Schumann's works. His first opera, _The Voyevode_, was composed about a year after he left the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, in 1866. He had just been appointed professor of harmony at Moscow, but was still completely unknown as a composer. At this time he was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of the great dramatist Ostrovsky, who generously offered to supply his first libretto. In spite of the prestige of the author's name, it was not altogether satisfactory, for Ostrovsky had originally written _The Voyevode_ as a comedy in five acts, and in adapting it to suit the requirements of conventional opera many of its best features had to be sacrificed. The music was pleasing and quite Italian in style. The work coincides with Tchaikovsky's orchestral fantasia "Fatum" or "Destiny," and also with the most romantic love-episode of his life--his fascination for Madame Désiré-Artôt, then the star of Italian Opera in Moscow. Thus all things seemed to combine at this juncture in his career to draw him to dramatic art, and especially towards Italianised opera. _The Voyevode_, given at the Grand Opera, Moscow, in January, 1869, provoked the most opposite critical opinions. It does not seem to have satisfied Tchaikovsky himself for, having made use of some of the music in a later opera (_The Oprichnik_), he destroyed the greater part of the score. The composer's second operatic attempt was made with _Undine_. This work, submitted to the Director of the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg in 1869, was rejected, and the score mislaid by some careless official. When, after some years, it was discovered and returned to the composer, he put it in the fire without remorse. Neither of these immature efforts are worth serious consideration as affecting the development of Russian opera.