 He graduated from the Imperial School of Jurisprudence with a degree in law.In 1876, Modest became the tutor to a deaf-mute boy Nikolai ("Kolya") Hermanovich Konradi (1868–1922) and, using a special teaching method, helped him to talk, write, and read.In his still unpublished Autobiography, broadly quoted by Alexander Poznansky, Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky mentions his homosexuality, as well as his brother Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's homosexuality.