Letter 923 and Cinderella: Difference between pages

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{{letterhead
'''''Cinderella''''' (Сандрильона) ([[TH]] 209 ; [[ČW]] 465) <ref name="note1"/> was to have been Tchaikovsky's first ballet score. However, for reasons which remain unknown, the project came to a halt shortly after it was begun in the autumn of 1870.
|Date=27 September/9 October 1878
|To=[[Eduard Nápravník]]
|Place=[[Moscow]]
|Language=Russian
|Autograph=[[Saint Petersburg]] (Russia): {{RUS-SPtm}} (Гик. 17195/12)
|Publication={{bibx|1924/2|Чайковский. Воспоминания и письма}} (1924), p. 119<br/>{{bib|1959/20|Е. Ф. Направник. Автобиографические, творческие материалы, документы, письма}} (1959), p. 102–103<br/>{{bib|1962/102|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том VII}} (1962), p. 409–410
}}
==Text and Translation==
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Translator=Brett Langston
|Original text={{right|''Москва''<br/>27 сент[ября] 1878}}
{{centre|Многоуважаемый Эдуард Францович!}}
Завтра я высылаю в контору Музык[ального] Общ[ества] партитуру и голоса моей последней симфонии. Партитуру Вы получите покамест неполную. В ней недостаёт скерцо и начала последней части. Это произошло оттого, что Рубинштейн брал с собой скерцо симфонии в Париж, так как он имел в виду исполнить её в одном из русских концертов. Между тем все ноты, которые находились у него в Париже, до сих пор ещё находятся на пути сюда. Как только они получатся, я немедленно вышлю Вам недостающие стр[аницы] партитуры.


Пользуюсь этим случаем, чтоб поблагодарить Вас от души за превосходное исполнение в прошлом сезоне фантазии «''Франческа''». Я забыл это сделать при свиданий с Вами в театре. Спасибо Вам, Эдуард Францович!
"Just imagine", Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother [[Modest]] on 5/17 October 1870, "that I've undertaken to write the music for a ballet ''Cinderella'', and that this vast four-act score must be ready by the middle of December! {{OS}}" <ref name="note2"/>. The same information was conveyed in a letter to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], in which the composer added: "... since I have concluded an agreement, I can't go back on my word, although there are only two months remaining, and I've only just started" <ref name="note3"/>.


Искренно уважающий и преданный Вам,
Yet there are no further references to the ballet, and no musical sketches have come to light. It is likely that Tchaikovsky's involvement in the project fell through because he was unable to fulfil his commission in such a limited time <ref name="note4"/>.
{{right|П. Чайковский}}
На днях я вышлю Вам экземпляр «''Онегина''».


|Translated text={{right|''[[Moscow]]''<br/>27 September 1878}}
It is only known that a year later, on 4/16 October 1871, the Board of the Imperial Theatres in [[Moscow]] planned to stage the ballet ''The Magic Shoe'', or ''Cinderella'', and approached the [[Leipzig]] ballet-master Julius Reisinger to do the choreography, "composed to music for this new ballet commissioned from Mr Gerber" <ref name="note5"/>. However, the music for the ballet in 5 acts and 13 scenes was eventually provided not by Yury Gerber, but instead by the German composer Wilhelm Carl Mühldorfer, to a libretto fashioned by [[Karl Valts]]. The first production took place on 14/26 December 1871.
{{centre|Most respected [[Eduard Frantsovich]]!}}
Tomorrow I'm sending the full score and parts of my latest symphony to the Musical Society offices. In the meantime you will receive an incomplete score, lacking the scherzo and the start of the last movement. This has happened because [[Nikolay Rubinstein|Rubinstein]] took the symphony's scherzo with him to [[Paris]], since he had intended to perform at at one of the Russian concerts. Since then all the music he had in his possession in [[Paris]] has still not found its way here. As soon as they are received, I will immediately send you the missing pages from the score.


Permit me to take this opportunity to give you my heartfelt thanks for last season's splendid performance of the "''[[Francesca]]''" fantasia. I forgot to to do this when we met at the theatre. Thank you, [[Eduard Frantsovich]]!
==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">Entitled ''Magic Shoe, or Cendrillon'' in [[ČW]].</ref>
<ref name="note2">[[Letter 209]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 5/17 October 1870.</ref>
<ref name="note3">[[Letter 210]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], (?)5/17 October 1870.</ref>
<ref name="note4">See {{bib|2002/22|The Tchaikovsky Handbook, vol. 1}} (2002), p. 398.</ref>
<ref name="note5">See {{bib|1958/14|Музыкальное наследие Чайковского}} (1958), p. 185.</ref>
</references>


Your sincerely respectful and devoted,
[[Category:Projected Works]]
{{right|P Tchaikovsky}}
[[Category:Ballets]]
The other day I sent you the proofs of "''[[Onegin]]''".
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 0923}}

Latest revision as of 22:12, 23 February 2023

Cinderella (Сандрильона) (TH 209 ; ČW 465) [1] was to have been Tchaikovsky's first ballet score. However, for reasons which remain unknown, the project came to a halt shortly after it was begun in the autumn of 1870.

"Just imagine", Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother Modest on 5/17 October 1870, "that I've undertaken to write the music for a ballet Cinderella, and that this vast four-act score must be ready by the middle of December! [O.S.]" [2]. The same information was conveyed in a letter to Anatoly Tchaikovsky, in which the composer added: "... since I have concluded an agreement, I can't go back on my word, although there are only two months remaining, and I've only just started" [3].

Yet there are no further references to the ballet, and no musical sketches have come to light. It is likely that Tchaikovsky's involvement in the project fell through because he was unable to fulfil his commission in such a limited time [4].

It is only known that a year later, on 4/16 October 1871, the Board of the Imperial Theatres in Moscow planned to stage the ballet The Magic Shoe, or Cinderella, and approached the Leipzig ballet-master Julius Reisinger to do the choreography, "composed to music for this new ballet commissioned from Mr Gerber" [5]. However, the music for the ballet in 5 acts and 13 scenes was eventually provided not by Yury Gerber, but instead by the German composer Wilhelm Carl Mühldorfer, to a libretto fashioned by Karl Valts. The first production took place on 14/26 December 1871.

Notes and References

  1. ↑ Entitled Magic Shoe, or Cendrillon in ČW.
  2. ↑ Letter 209 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 5/17 October 1870.
  3. ↑ Letter 210 to Anatoly Tchaikovsky, (?)5/17 October 1870.
  4. ↑ See The Tchaikovsky Handbook. A guide to the man and his music, vol. 1 (2002), p. 398.
  5. ↑ See Музыкальное наследие Чайковского. Из историй его произведений (1958), p. 185.
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