Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Daily Routine

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and the 1812 Overture. His daily routine turned on a 2-hour walk he would not cut short by even 5 minutes, as if returning early would make him ill. His musical memory was weak, so he carried a notebook, and most of his ideas came on the walk.

At Klin, according to his brother Modest, he rose in the morning for tea, a cigarette and the Bible or Spinoza. He took a short morning walk, dealt with letters and composed at the piano until lunch. The long walk came right after, in any weather, as Mason Currey tells it in Slate. Tea and the newspapers followed, then composing again from 5:00 PM for 2 hours, and an evening of dinner, guests, cards and duets.

It suits people who think best while moving. It also suits anyone who sits all day and wants a creative job with a firm, repeatable shape.

You get 4 hours of composing in 2 sittings, a daily walk that doubles as idea time and an evening among friends. Start with a 30-minute walk and a pocket notebook, and guard your morning, since a long chat at breakfast cost him his composing for the day. The midnight bedtime, the 30-minute morning walk and a day that repeats all week are our estimates.