Brett: 1 revision imported

2022-07-12T10:56:21Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 12:56, 12 July 2022
(No difference)

Brett at 14:08, 10 December 2019

2019-12-10T14:08:05Z

New page

{{letterhead
|Date=5/17 February 1893
|To=[[Francis Arthur Jones]]
|Place=[[Klin]]
|Language=French
|Autograph={{locunknown}} <ref name="note1"/>
|Publication=Richard Reilly, {{und|Promise Kept. The Story of the James S. Copley Library}} (1983), p. 115–116 (English translation; addressee not identified) {{bibx|1990/80|Советская музыка}} (1990), No. 6. p. 92–93 (addressee's name given as "Francis Arthur Jameson") {{bib|2011/13|Tchaikovsky Research Bulletin No. 1}} (February 2011), p. 73-74 (with English translation, p. 74-75) {{bibx|2013/36|Чайковский. Новые материалы к творческой биографии}} (2013), p. 262-263 (with Russian translation, p. 264-265)
|Notes=Includes an autograph musical quotation from the finale of ''[[The Queen of Spades]]''
}}

==Text and Translation==
{{Lettertext
|Language=French
|Translator=Luis Sundkvist
|Original text={{right|5/17 Février 1893 Klin, nearly Moscow}}
{{centre|Monsieur,}}
Je viens de rentrer chez moi après un voyage de plusieurs mois, — ce qui Vous expliquera le retard involontaire de ma réponse. Veuillez {{sic|m'éxcuser|m'excuser}} aussi de ce que je Vous réponds en français, car quoique je le comprenne — je n'écris pas en anglais.

Voici donc ma réponse.

1) Je compose toutes les {{sic|ésquisses|esquisses}} de mes compositions en faisant ma proménade {{sic|quotidiénne|quotidienne}} de deux heures; je les écris sur un petit calepin et je les mets en ordre, rentré chez moi.

2) Le piano ne m'est pas absolument nécessaire et j'ai composé bien de choses sans en avoir un à ma disposition (par exemple en voyage, pendant les grandes traversées maritimes), mais cet instrument facilite quelquefois le développement de mes idées musicales.

3) Ma meilleure œuvre selon moi est mon opéra ''"La Dame de Pique"''.

4) Certainement que je crois possible des compositions ''commandées'', et d'ailleurs l'histoire nous enseigne que bien des chefs d'œuvres ont été faites par commande.

5) Je n'ai jamais songé aux raisons qui expliquent pourquoi l'Angleterre qui a produit de grands poètes, n'a que très peu de grands musiciens, mais il me semble que l'opinion que la race anglosaxone est peu douée pour la musique, ne peut être considerée comme définitive. Qui sait si elle ne {{sic|produera|produira}} pas un Shakespeare musical? Vous avez {{sic|déja|déjà}} en ce moment un musicien qui promet énormément et dont le talent est très sérieux, — c'est ''C. V. Stanford''.

6) La faculté créatrice est un don précieux de la nature. Elle ne peut être obtenue par le travail et l'étude, mais seulement perfectionnée et {{sic|eclairée|éclairée}} par la science musicale, d'ailleurs purement empirique;

7) Je travaille depuis 9 jusqu'à 1 et depuis 5 jusqu'à 8½, jamais la nuit.

Voici, Monsieur, les réponses, que je m'empresse de Vous donner en Vous priant de m'éxcuser d'avoir été peut-être un peu trop bref, mais je n'ai pas malheureusement le temps de Vous écrire plus longuement.

Vous me demandez de Vous envoyer ''two or three bars''. Je ne sais pas au juste ce que veut dire ''bar'': ligne ou page? Probablement c'est de ''lignes'' qu'il s'agit, et je Vous les envoie très volontiers.

Recevez, Monsieur, l'expression de mes meilleurs sentiments.
{{right|P. Tschaïkovsky}}
Veuillez excuser ma mauvaise écriture, — je suis très pressé.
----
[[File:4856a ex1.jpg|center]]

|Translated text={{right|5/17 February 1893 [[Klin]], near [[Moscow]]}}
{{centre|Sir,}}
I have just returned home after travels lasting several months <ref name="note2"/>, which accounts for the involuntary delay of my reply. Would you also excuse me for replying to you in French: for, although I understand English, I cannot write in that language.

Here, then, is my reply:<ref name="note3"/>

1) I compose all the sketches of my compositions while taking my daily walk of two hours; I write them down in a little note-book and put them into order once I get back home.

2) The piano isn't absolutely essential for me, and I have composed a great deal of things without having one at my disposal (for example, while travelling, during long sea-crossings<ref name="note4"/>); still, this instrument does sometimes facilitate the development of my musical ideas.

3) My best work, as I see it, is my opera ''[[The Queen of Spades]]''.

4) I certainly do believe that ''commissioned'' works are possible, and, moreover, history teaches us that a great many masterpieces were in fact made to order.

5) I have never thought about the reasons as to why England, which has produced several great poets, has only a few great composers, but it does seem to me that the view according to which the Anglo-Saxon race has little talent for music, cannot be considered a definitive one <ref name="note5"/>. Who knows if it will not perhaps bring forth a musical [[Shakespeare]]? As it is, you already now have a musician of enormous promise and whose talent is very significant—namely, ''[[Charles Villiers Stanford|C. V. Stanford]]''.

6) The creative faculty is a precious gift of Nature. It cannot be acquired by work or study, but can only be perfected and enlightened by musical learning, which, moreover, is purely empirical;

7) I work from 9 am to 1 pm and from 5 pm to 8.30 pm; never at night.

So here, Sir, are the replies which I hasten to give to you, whilst also apologizing for having been perhaps a little too concise: the fact is that I unfortunately do not have the time to write to you at greater length.

You ask me to send you ''two or three bars''. I do not know exactly what ''bar'' means: a line or a page? It probably refers to ''lines'', and I send you these most gladly.

Please accept, Sir, my best regards.
{{right|P. Tchaikovsky}}
Please excuse my poor handwriting: I am in a great rush <ref name="note6"/>.
----
[[File:4856a ex1.jpg|center]]
}}

==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">The autograph was auctioned on 17 June 2010 by Sotheby's, [[New York]][https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/the-james-s-copley-library-arts-sciences-including-the-mark-twain-collection-n08698/lot.429.html]. It had formerly been held at the James S. Copley Library, La Jolla, California (No. 2521).</ref>
<ref name="note2">Tchaikovsky had left [[Klin]] on 26 October/7 November 1892, travelling to [[Saint Petersburg]] for the final rehearsals and premieres of ''[[Iolanta]]'' and ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' on 6/18 December. Six days later, he had left for Europe, travelling to [[Montbéliard]] in Switzerland to visit [[Fanny Dürbach]]; then, via [[Paris]], to [[Brussels]], where he conducted a concert of his works on 2/14 January 1893; and from there he had travelled to [[Odessa]], where in the course of a fortnight he conducted a series of concerts. After a short visit to [[Kamenka]] he finally returned to [[Klin]] on 3/15 February, i.e. two days before he wrote this letter.</ref>
<ref name="note3">In a letter to Tchaikovsky dated 16 January 1893 {{NS}} [[Francis Arthur Jones]] explained that he was writing an article on how composers worked, and he asked Tchaikovsky to answer a series of questions which he had already put to a number of composers, including [[Grieg]], [[Saint-Saëns]], [[Massenet]], and [[Gounod]]. [[Jones]]'s questions were as follows: "What method do you use when composing? Which of your compositions do you consider the best? Do you believe there can be composers who write music to order or under compulsion? Do you consider the English a musical nation? If not, what in your view is the reason for this? Do you consider the composing of music an art which can be developed or acquired? Which part of the day do you prefer for working?". [[Jones]]'s questions are cited here not from the original, but, rather, translated back from the Russian translation given in {{bib|1990/80|Советская музыка}} (1990), No. 6. p. 92.</ref>
<ref name="note4">Thus, Tchaikovsky, for example, made a number of sketches for his abortive [[Symphony in E-flat major]] during the return voyage from America in May 1891.</ref>
<ref name="note5">In the nineteenth century, and later too, England was often referred to by the Germans, in particular, as "''das Land ohne Musik''" ("the land without music").</ref>
<ref name="note6">Tchaikovsky had just begun composing his [[Symphony No. 6]].</ref>
</references>
[[Category:Letters with Autograph Musical Quotations]]

Letter 4856a - Revision history

Brett: 1 revision imported

Brett at 14:08, 10 December 2019