What career did Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s parents originally plan for him?

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s parents did not originally consider a musical career for their son, as formal music education was not available in Russian institutions at the time. Instead, they intended for him to pursue a career in the civil service. To prepare him for this path, they enrolled him in the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg in 1850, where he studied for nine years.1