Letter 382 and Letter 3820a: Difference between pages

Tchaikovsky Research
(Difference between pages)
m (1 revision imported)
 
No edit summary
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{letterhead  
{{letterhead  
|Date=1/13 January 1875
|Date=9/21 March 1889
|To=[[Eduard Nápravník]]  
|To=[[Josef Sittard]]  
|Place=[[Moscow]]  
|Place=[[Paris]]  
|Language=Russian
|Language=German
|Autograph=[[Saint Petersburg]] (Russia): {{RUS-SPtm}} (Гик 17195/7)
|Autograph=Tübingen (Germany): {{priv}}  
|Publication={{bibx|1924/2|Чайковский. Воспоминания и письма}} (1924), p. 115–116 <br/>{{bib|1959/50|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том V}} (1959), p. 386–387
|Publication={{bib|1979/101|Musiker der Spätromantik}} (1979), p. 77<br/>{{bib|1981/80|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том XVII}} (1981), p. 250–251<br/>{{bib|2006/6|Tschaikowsky in Hamburg. Eine Dokumentation}} (2006), p. 98-99, p. 264-265 (facsimile)
}}
}}
==Text and Translation==
==Text and Translation==
{{Lettertext
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Language=German
|Translator=Brett Langston
|Translator=Luis Sundkvist
|Original text={{right|''1-го января 1875 г[ода]''<br/>''Москва''.}}
|Original text={{right|Paris<br/>21 März '89}}
Эдуард Францевич! Извините, что надоедаю Вам своими письмами и певицей ''Ильиной''. Я вижу из последних слов Вашего письма, что Вы, кажется, считаете меня обижающимся на Ваш отзыв о моей недобросовестности в деле с Ильиной. Если бы Вы даже и в самом деле выразились так, я бы нисколько не обиделся, а только пожалел бы о недоразумении, которое трудно разъяснить письменно. Но дело в том, что я теперь ясно вижу, что ''Ильина'' не поняла меня и вообразила, что я послал её к Вам в качестве первой примадонны. Соблазнившись красивым звуком её голоса и осмысленностью, с которою она мне спела арию Глинки, я подумал, что, быть может, она пригодится Вам, как второстепенная примадонна, вроде Андроновой и Калгиной. Я спросил её, может ли она съездить в Петербург на свой счёт, чтобы явиться к Вам; она ответила, что это нисколько не отяготит её, — и я тогда дал ей рекомендательное письмо, предупредив, что немедленный приём на Мариинскую сцену совсем не будет непременным последствием её поездки, а что это только ''возможно''. Оказывается, что она у Вас осрамилась как музыкантша, и я нисколько этому не удивляюсь. Во всяком случае, я виноват кругом тем, что пришёл в не умеренный восторг, выслушавши её только в одной хорошо выученной арии. Очень жалею, что не удалось оказать Вам услугу, но ещё больше жалею, что принял участие в деле Ильиной. Если бы Вы знали, до чего она мне теперь надоедает и до чего мне тягостно выслушивать её жалобы, в которых она косвенно упрекает меня в ''надувательстве''!
{{centre|Verehrter Freund!}}
Ihre Kritik über meine Simphonie, die beiden Artikel über Berlioz und Ihre {{sic|freundliche|freundlichen}} Zeilen habe ich erhalten. Danke Ihnen herzlich für die ''Kritik'' und nicht nur für das, was gedruckt ist, aber auch für das, was ich zwischen [den] Zeilen lese und fühle, d. h. {{sic|Freundligkeit|Freundlichkeit}} und Sympathie für meine musicalische Thätigkeit. Ich möchte noch vieles darüber sagen, aber wirklich kann [ich] es deutsch nicht. Kann ich Ihnen in solch einer {{sic|Gelegenheit|Angelegenheit}} französisch schreiben? In dieser Sprache bin ich nicht so dumm wie in Ihriger.  
 
Ich bin diese ganze Zeit unwohl und verbleibe schon einige Tage in meinem Zimmer.  
 
Noch einmal danke Ihnen herzlich!
 
Auf Wiedersehen!


Как бы та ни было, а мне была бы очень неприятно, если б Вы вообразили, что я вследствие этой истории могу питать к Вам неприязненное чувство, как Вы, кажется, полагаете, судя по последним строкам Вашего письма. Такие пустяки никоим образом не могут расстроить то уважение и глубокую симпатию, которую Вы мне внушаете и как человек и как артист.
Ergebenster,
{{right|P. Tschaikovsky}}


Искренно преданный Вам,
|Translated text={{right|[[Paris]]<br/>21 March 1889}}
{{right|П. Чайковский}}
{{centre|Dear friend!}}
Поздравляю Вас и Вашу супругу с Новым годом.
I have received your review of my symphony <ref name="note1"/>, the two articles on [[Berlioz]] and your friendly lines <ref name="note2"/>. I thank you cordially for the ''review'', and not just for what is printed in it, but also for what I can read and feel between the lines, that is, friendliness and sympathy for my musical activity. I would like to say a lot more about this, but, truly, I cannot do so in German. May I write to you in French regarding this matter? In that language I am not as stupid as in yours.  


|Translated text={{right|''1st January 1875''<br/>''[[Moscow]]''}}
I have been feeling unwell all this time, and for several days now I have been keeping to my room <ref name="note3"/>.  
[[Eduard Frantsevich]]! Forgive me for bothering you with letters about the singer ''[[Ilyina]]''. I see from the last words of your letter that you seem to think I am offended by your assessment of my unscrupulousness in my dealings with [[Ilyina]]. Even if you had actually expressed it in that manner, I should not have been at all offended, and would only regret a misunderstanding that is difficult to explain by letter. But in point of fact I now see clearly that ''[[Ilyina]]'' misconstrued me, and imagined that I had sent her to you in the role of leading primadonna. Enticed by the beautiful sound of her voice and the expressiveness with which she sang [[Glinka]]'s aria for me, I though that, perhaps, she could serve you as a second-rank primadonna, much the same as Andronova and Kalgina. I advised her, provided she could to go to [[Petersburg]] on her own account, to present herself to you; she replied that this would present no hindrance at all for her — and I then gave her a letter of recommendation, cautioning that immediate engagement by the Mariinsky Theatre would not be an inevitable consequence of her journey, and this was merely a ''possibility''. In the event she disgraced herself as a musician before you, and I am not in the least surprised. At any rate, I am roundly to blame for my unrestrained rapture, after hearing her only in one well-rehearsed aria. I am very sorry to have done you a disservice, but even more sorry for my involvement with [[Ilyina]]. If you only knew how tiresome she is to me now, and how painful it is to hear her grumbling and indirectly accusing me of ''skulduggery''!


Be that as it may, I should be most discomfited if you imagine that as a consequence of this episode I might harbour any ill feelings towards you, which you seem to think, judging by the last line of your letter. Such nonsense can by no means diminish the respect and deep sympathy you inspire in me both as a person and as an artist.
Once again I thank you sincerely!


Your sincerely devoted,
Until we meet!
 
Most devoted,
{{right|P. Tchaikovsky}}
{{right|P. Tchaikovsky}}
Congratulations to you and your wife on the New Year.
}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 0382}}
 
==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">In his review of the concert in [[Hamburg]] on 3/15 March 1889 at which Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance in Germany of his [[Symphony No. 5]], [[Sittard]] had spoken very positively of that work: "Even if the invention is not always original, even if the composer sometimes (as, for example, in the development section of the ''Andante cantabile'') comes close to the style of lyrical opera, all four movements nonetheless contain so much that is beautiful, interesting, and distinctive, that we may certainly call the E minor symphony one of the most significant symphonic works of modern times. This applies also to the thematic development, as well as to the brilliant, albeit often too dense, instrumentation. Some of the motifs as such may perhaps not be able to lay claim to outstanding musical interest, yet Tchaikovsky knows how to shape them meaningfully and to lead them to a culmination which is as powerful as it is effective. No less deserving of praise is his sense for formal beauty, for the harmonic symmetry in which the individual sections of the movements are related to one another". [[Sittard]]'s review, which appeared in the 16 March 1889 {{NS}} issue of the ''Hamburgischer Correspondent'', is quoted in full in {{bib|2006/6| Tschaikowsky in Hamburg. Eine Dokumentation}} (2006), p. 91–94.</ref>
<ref name="note2">Tchaikovsky had left [[Hamburg]] on the day after his concert, travelling first to [[Hanover]], where he stayed for a few days before heading for [[Paris]]. He arrived in the French capital on 8/20 March 1889, and it seems that [[Sittard]] had sent him a copy of his review to [[Paris]].</ref>
<ref name="note3">Tchaikovsky was suffering from a dental abscess. See the diary entries for 7/19 and 8/20 March 1889 translated by Wladimir Lakond in {{bib|1973/106|The Diaries of Tchaikovsky}} (1973), p. 265–266.</ref>
</references>

Revision as of 13:22, 5 March 2020

Date 9/21 March 1889
Addressed to Josef Sittard
Where written Paris
Language German
Autograph Location Tübingen (Germany): Private collection
Publication Musiker der Spätromantik. Unbekannte Briefe aus dem Nachlass von Josef und Alfred Sittard (1979), p. 77
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XVII (1981), p. 250–251
Tschaikowsky in Hamburg. Eine Dokumentation (2006), p. 98-99, p. 264-265 (facsimile)

Text and Translation

German text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
Paris
21 März '89

Verehrter Freund!

Ihre Kritik über meine Simphonie, die beiden Artikel über Berlioz und Ihre freundliche Zeilen habe ich erhalten. Danke Ihnen herzlich für die Kritik und nicht nur für das, was gedruckt ist, aber auch für das, was ich zwischen [den] Zeilen lese und fühle, d. h. Freundligkeit und Sympathie für meine musicalische Thätigkeit. Ich möchte noch vieles darüber sagen, aber wirklich kann [ich] es deutsch nicht. Kann ich Ihnen in solch einer Gelegenheit französisch schreiben? In dieser Sprache bin ich nicht so dumm wie in Ihriger.

Ich bin diese ganze Zeit unwohl und verbleibe schon einige Tage in meinem Zimmer.

Noch einmal danke Ihnen herzlich!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Ergebenster,

P. Tschaikovsky

Paris
21 March 1889

Dear friend!

I have received your review of my symphony [1], the two articles on Berlioz and your friendly lines [2]. I thank you cordially for the review, and not just for what is printed in it, but also for what I can read and feel between the lines, that is, friendliness and sympathy for my musical activity. I would like to say a lot more about this, but, truly, I cannot do so in German. May I write to you in French regarding this matter? In that language I am not as stupid as in yours.

I have been feeling unwell all this time, and for several days now I have been keeping to my room [3].

Once again I thank you sincerely!

Until we meet!

Most devoted,

P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. In his review of the concert in Hamburg on 3/15 March 1889 at which Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance in Germany of his Symphony No. 5, Sittard had spoken very positively of that work: "Even if the invention is not always original, even if the composer sometimes (as, for example, in the development section of the Andante cantabile) comes close to the style of lyrical opera, all four movements nonetheless contain so much that is beautiful, interesting, and distinctive, that we may certainly call the E minor symphony one of the most significant symphonic works of modern times. This applies also to the thematic development, as well as to the brilliant, albeit often too dense, instrumentation. Some of the motifs as such may perhaps not be able to lay claim to outstanding musical interest, yet Tchaikovsky knows how to shape them meaningfully and to lead them to a culmination which is as powerful as it is effective. No less deserving of praise is his sense for formal beauty, for the harmonic symmetry in which the individual sections of the movements are related to one another". Sittard's review, which appeared in the 16 March 1889 [N.S.] issue of the Hamburgischer Correspondent, is quoted in full in Tschaikowsky in Hamburg. Eine Dokumentation (2006), p. 91–94.
  2. Tchaikovsky had left Hamburg on the day after his concert, travelling first to Hanover, where he stayed for a few days before heading for Paris. He arrived in the French capital on 8/20 March 1889, and it seems that Sittard had sent him a copy of his review to Paris.
  3. Tchaikovsky was suffering from a dental abscess. See the diary entries for 7/19 and 8/20 March 1889 translated by Wladimir Lakond in The Diaries of Tchaikovsky (1973), p. 265–266.