As he recalled in this Autobiography: "It was a pure revelation to me.
However, as Tchaikovsky himself admitted in his brief Autobiography (1889), there was a period in his early adolescence when his enthusiasm for Italian bel canto opera, combined with his lack of exposure to the classical canon of German music, had made him suspicious even of Mozart. It was then that at the age of 16 or 17 he happened to attend a performance of Don Giovanni almost by chance. As he recalled in this Autobiography: "It was a pure revelation to me. It is impossible for me to describe the enthusiasm, the delight and intoxication which I was seized by. During several weeks I did nothing but play this opera through from the piano score; even as I fell asleep I could not part with this divine music, which pursued me long into my happy dreams [...] Amongst the great masters, Mozart is the one to whom I feel most attracted; it has been so ever since that day and it will always be like that" [2]. This "revelation" of the music of Don Giovanni on the threshold of adulthood was a crucial factor in his decision a few years later to leave behind him the security of a career in the civil service and to aspire to become a composer. As he later confessed to Nadezhda von Meck in a letter from 1878 (quoted in more detail below): "The music of Don Giovanni was the first music which produced a tremendous impression on me. It awoke a holy enthusiasm in me which would later bear fruit. Through this music I entered that world of artistic beauty inhabited only by the greatest geniuses [...] It is to Mozart that I am obliged for the fact that I have dedicated my life to music. He gave the first impulse to my musical powers and made me love music more than anything else in the world" [3].