Aleksandra Svyatlovskaya and Letter 1708: Difference between pages

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{{picture|file=Svyatlovskaya_Aleksandra.jpg|caption='''Aleksandra Svyatlovskaya''' (1855/6–1923)}}
{{letterhead
Russian singer (contralto/mezzo-soprano) and teacher (b. 26 April/8 May 1855 or 1856; d. 1923 in [[Petrograd]]), born '''''Aleksandra Vladimirovna Svyatlovskaya''''' (Александра Владимировна Святловская); also known after her marriage as '''''Aleksandra Vladimirovna Müller''''' (Александра Владимировна Миллер), or as '''''Madame de Swiatlowsky''''' in England.
|Date=11/23 March 1881
|To=[[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]]
|Place=[[Nice]]
|Language=Russian
|Autograph=[[Klin]] (Russia): {{RUS-KLč}} (a{{sup|3}}, No. 1345)
|Publication={{bib|1955/37|П. И. Чайковский. Письма к близким}} (1955), p. 267<br/>{{bib|1966/44|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том X}} (1966), p. 63–64<br/>{{bib|1981/81|Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Letters to his family. An autobiography}} (1981), p. 261 (English translation)
}}
==Text and Translation==
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Translator=Brett Langston
|Original text={{right|''Ницца''<br/>11/23 марта}}
Голубчик Толя! Я получил депешу от Юргенсона об отчаянном состоянии Н[иколая] Гр[игорьевича] и хотел тотчас ехать, но не попал бы на прямой поезд, и потому Кондратьевы уговорили меня уехать завтра утром. Между тем я телеграфировал в Grand Hôtel и только что получил ответ Третьяковой, в котором она называет состояние Рубинштейна безнадёжным. Нечего и говорить, до какой степени известие это тяжело. Не хочется больше ни о чем писать. Я совершенно здоров, но начинаю желать скорейшего возвращения в Россию и, по всей вероятности, в Париже долго не останусь. Кондратьев и Саша едут вместе со мной. Из Парижа сейчас же тебе напишу. Я приготовился не застать уже Ник[олая] Гр[игорьевича] в живых, но надежда всё-таки не покидает меня.


==Tchaikovsky and Svyatlovskaya==
Целую тебя крепко.
Svyatlovskaya became a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre in [[Moscow]] in 1875 and sang there until 1887. Tchaikovsky wrote favourably of her early performances in his music review articles (see [[TH 303]], [[TH 312]] and [[TH 313]]). In 1887, she created the role of Solokha in the opera ''[[Cherevichki]]''. In the following years her engagements took her to Germany and (in the 1890s) to [[London]]. At the turn of the century Svyatlovskaya also appeared as an oratorio and lieder singer, and in 1904 she set up her own private opera company in [[Moscow]]. Apart from Tchaikovsky, she corresponded with several other leading Russian composers ([[Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov]], Aleksandr Grechaninov, etc.).
{{right|Твой, П. Чайковский}}


She helped to organize many stagings of Russian operas in [[London]], and it is very likely that the first English-language production of Tchaikovsky's ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'' at the Olympic Theatre on 17 October 1892 {{NS}} was undertaken on her initiative.  
|Translated text={{right|''[[Nice]]''<br/>11/23 March}}
{{picture|file=Onegin London 1892.jpg|align=left|caption=Line illustration from the ''Daily Graphic'', October 1892, reproducing scenes from the first British performance of ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'' in [[London]]}}
Golubchik [[Tolya]]! I received a telegram from [[Jurgenson]] about [[Nikolay Grigoryevich]]'s desperate condition and I wanted to go at once, but I couldn't have caught a direct train, and so the [[Kondratyev]]s persuaded me to leave tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I telegraphed the Grand Hôtel and have just received a reply from Tretyakova, in which she calls [[Nikolay Rubinstein|Rubinstein]]'s condition hopeless. Needless to say, this is news is difficult in the extreme. I don't want to write any more about anything. I'm completely well, but starting to wish for a speedy return to Russia, and, in all probability, I won't stay long in [[Paris]]. [[Kondratyev]] and Sasha are going with me. I'll write to you from [[Paris]] forthwith. I've been preparing myself in case I don't find [[Nikolay Grigoryevich]] still alive, but I haven't lost hope all the same.


The libretto had been translated by Mrs Sutherland Edwards and the cast included: Fanny Moody (1866–1945) as Tatyana, the Franco-American baritone [[Eugène Oudin]] as Onegin, Charles Manners (1857–1935) as Prince Gremin, and Svyatlovskaya herself as the Nurse. On the conductor's rostrum was the young Henry Wood (1869–1944), who would later become such an influential force in British musical life.
I kiss you hard.
 
{{right|Yours, P. Tchaikovsky}}
This performance was not a success, as the English music critic [[Herman Klein]] (1856–1934) would explain to Tchaikovsky on 31 May/12 June 1893 when they happened to be in the same train carriage on the way from [[London]] to [[Cambridge]], where the Russian composer was due to receive his Honorary Doctorate from the university. Klein did, however, point out that [[Eugène Oudin]] had made a favourable impression as Onegin, and Tchaikovsky would later invite the American baritone, whom he seems to have met just before leaving England on 2/14 June 1893, to perform in Russia <ref name="note1"/>.
}}
 
==Dedications==
In 1893, Tchaikovsky dedicated his piano piece ''L'espiègle'' — No. 12 of the [[Eighteen Pieces, Op. 72]] — "à Mme. Aléxandrine Swétoslavsky".
 
==Correspondence with Tchaikovsky==
4 letters from Tchaikovsky to Aleksandra Svyatlovskaya have survived, dating from 1887 to 1893, all of which have been translated into English on this website:
* '''[[Letter 3231]]''' – 19 April/1 May 1887, from [[Maydanovo]]
* '''[[Letter 4914]]''' – 13/25 April 1893, from [[Klin]]
* '''[[Letter 4944]]''' – 27 May/8 June 1893, from [[London]]
* '''[[Letter 4978]]''' – 19/31 July 1893, from [[Klin]]
 
8 letters from Aleksandra Svyatlovskaya to the composer, dating from 1886 to 1893, are preserved in the {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]] (a{{sup|4}}, Nos. 3987–3994).
 
==External Links==
* [[wikipedia:ru:Святловская,_Александра_Владимировна|Wikipedia]] (Russian)
 
==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">An extract from Herman Klein's memoirs, in which he relates his conversation with Tchaikovsky on the train to [[Cambridge]], is included in {{bib|1993/33|Tchaikovsky Remembered}} (1993), p.188–189, and in {{bib|1999/93|Tchaikovsky Through Others' Eyes}} (1999), p. 157–161. However, the passage in which Klein described [[Eugène Oudin]]'s performance in the English premiere of ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'' and how Tchaikovsky had told him that he wanted to invite the singer to Russia, has been omitted there. It can be found (in Russian translation) in {{bib|1980/24|Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском}} (1980), p. 310–312. [[Oudin]] did indeed come to Russia later that year, and Tchaikovsky had promised to attend his début at a concert in [[Moscow]] (in a letter to [[Oudin]] which has unfortunately been lost), but the composer's fatal illness prevented him from keeping this promise. At the first concert held in [[Saint Petersburg]] in memory of Tchaikovsky (on 6/18 November 1893), [[Oudin]] would sing ''Onegin's Arioso'' and two of the composer's songs.</ref>
</references>
[[Category:People|Svyatlovskaya, Aleksandra]]
[[Category:Correspondents|Svyatlovskaya, Aleksandra]]
[[Category:Singers|Svyatlovskaya, Aleksandra]]
__NOTOC__

Latest revision as of 13:06, 23 March 2024

Date 11/23 March 1881
Addressed to Anatoly Tchaikovsky
Where written Nice
Language Russian
Autograph Location Klin (Russia): Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve (a3, No. 1345)
Publication П. И. Чайковский. Письма к близким. Избранное (1955), p. 267
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том X (1966), p. 63–64
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Letters to his family. An autobiography (1981), p. 261 (English translation)

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original) 		English translation
By Brett Langston
Ницца
11/23 марта

Голубчик Толя! Я получил депешу от Юргенсона об отчаянном состоянии Н[иколая] Гр[игорьевича] и хотел тотчас ехать, но не попал бы на прямой поезд, и потому Кондратьевы уговорили меня уехать завтра утром. Между тем я телеграфировал в Grand Hôtel и только что получил ответ Третьяковой, в котором она называет состояние Рубинштейна безнадёжным. Нечего и говорить, до какой степени известие это тяжело. Не хочется больше ни о чем писать. Я совершенно здоров, но начинаю желать скорейшего возвращения в Россию и, по всей вероятности, в Париже долго не останусь. Кондратьев и Саша едут вместе со мной. Из Парижа сейчас же тебе напишу. Я приготовился не застать уже Ник[олая] Гр[игорьевича] в живых, но надежда всё-таки не покидает меня.

Целую тебя крепко.

Твой, П. Чайковский
Nice
11/23 March

Golubchik Tolya! I received a telegram from Jurgenson about Nikolay Grigoryevich's desperate condition and I wanted to go at once, but I couldn't have caught a direct train, and so the Kondratyevs persuaded me to leave tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I telegraphed the Grand Hôtel and have just received a reply from Tretyakova, in which she calls Rubinstein's condition hopeless. Needless to say, this is news is difficult in the extreme. I don't want to write any more about anything. I'm completely well, but starting to wish for a speedy return to Russia, and, in all probability, I won't stay long in Paris. Kondratyev and Sasha are going with me. I'll write to you from Paris forthwith. I've been preparing myself in case I don't find Nikolay Grigoryevich still alive, but I haven't lost hope all the same.

I kiss you hard.

Yours, P. Tchaikovsky

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