Anna Brodsky and Letter 40: Difference between pages

Tchaikovsky Research
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{{picture|file=Grieg-Brodsky.jpg|size=400px|caption=''Photograph of the Brodskys' visit in the summer of 1906 to Grieg's family home in Troldhaugen, near Bergen. From left to right, the figures standing in the foreground are: [[Adolph Brodsky]], his wife Anna, Nina Hagerup Grieg, and [[Edvard Grieg]]''}}
{{letterhead
Wife of the Russian violinist [[Adolph Brodsky]] (b. 1853 in Kherson; d. 2 October 1929 at Bowdon, near Manchester), born '''''Anna Lvovna Skadovskaya''''' (Анна Львовна Скадовская); also known as '''''Anna Skadovsky Brodsky'''''.
|Date=18/30 November 1851
|To=[[Aleksandra Tchaikovskaya]] and [[Ilya Tchaikovsky]]  
|Place=[[Saint Petersburg]]
|Language=French
|Autograph=[[Saint Petersburg]] (Russia): {{RUS-SPsc}} (ф. 834, ед. хр. 33, л. 57–58)
|Publication={{bib|1940/210|П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным ; том 1}} (1940), p. 36–37 <br/>{{bib|1959/50|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том V}} (1959), p. 42
|Notes=Dated on the basis of a postscript added to this letter by [[Nikolay Tchaikovsky]], which bears the date "18 November 1851" <ref name="note1"/>
}}
==Text and Translation==
Spelling and punctuation errors in the original text have not been indicated.
{{Lettertext
|Language=French
|Translator=Luis Sundkvist
|Original text={{centre|Chers Papa et Maman!}}
Je vous ai déja ecrit que j'étais retenu deux fois pour le Dimanche. Je ne sais pas moi-méme ce qui m'est arrivé. Il m'est difficile dans la premiére sexion. Je vous en prie ne vous chagrinez pas parceque quand vous viendrez ici tout vous sera raconté.


The daughter of a Russian nobleman who owned estates in southern Russia, Anna married at [[Sevastopol]] in 1882, and accompanied her husband to the United States in 1891, eventually settling with him in Manchester, England.
Je vous attend avec la plus grande impatience parcequ'alors je serais toujours tout-à-fait en repos. Mais aprèsent je ne sais pas pourquoi nous ne recevons pas si longtemps de vos lettres. Aujourd'hui il est déja Novembre de sorte que si vous avez ténu votre promesse il ne nous reste qu'un moi.  


Tchaikovsky was introduced to Anna Brodsky during his tour of [[Leipzig]] in 1888, and it was at their home that he met [[Edvard Grieg]] and [[Johannes Brahms]] on New Year's Day 1888 {{NS}}. Anna Brodsky would later write a fascinating account of life on the road with her husband, whom she accompanied on his many tours, as well as of this memorable meeting between the three composers <ref name="note1"/>:
Je vous attend avec une telle impatience que je serais le plus heureux de touts les hommes quand vous viendrez.  


{{quote|In the winter of 1887 the Gewandhaus Committee invited Tschaikovsky to conduct some of his own compositions, and as he had received similar invitations from other towns in Germany, he decided to accept them and so, for the first time, came abroad to conduct his own works. He arrived in Leipzig on Christmas Eve: it was a cold frosty evening, and the snow lay thick on the ground. My husband went to the station to meet Tschaikovsky, and my sister Olga and her little son who were our guests at that time helped me to prepare our Christmas tree. We wished it to be quite ready before Tschaikovsky arrived, and to look as bright as possible as a welcome for him. As we were lighting the candles we heard the sound of a sledge, and soon after Tschaikovsky entered the room followed by [[Siloti]] and my husband.
Je baise Zina et tout le monde.


I had never seen him before. Either the sight of the Christmas tree or our Russian welcome pleased him greatly, for his face was illuminated by a delightful smile, and he greeted us as if he had known us for years. There was nothing striking or artistic in his appearance, but everything about him — the expression of his blue eyes, his voice, especially his smile, spoke of great kindliness of nature. I never knew a man who brought with him such a warm atmosphere as Tschaikovsky. He had not been an hour in our house before we quite forgot that he was a great composer. We spoke to him of very intimate matters without any reserve, and felt that he enjoyed our confidence.
Je prie votre bénédiction.
{{right|Pierre de Tschaikovsky }}


The supper passed in animated conversation, and, notwithstanding the fatigues of his journey, Tschaikovsky remained very late before returning to his hotel. He promised to come to us whenever he felt inclined, and kept his word.
|Translated text={{centre|Dear [[Papa]] and [[Mama]]!}}
I have already written to you that I was punished twice with detention on Sunday <ref name="note2"/>. I myself do not know what has happened to me. I am finding it difficult in the first section <ref name="note3"/>. I ask you not to be upset because when you come here, you will be told about everything.  


Among his many visits one remains especially memorable. It was on New Year's Day. We invited Tschaikovsky to dinner, but, knowing his shyness with strangers, did not tell him there would be other guests. [[Brahms]] was having a rehearsal of his trio in our house that morning with Klengel and [[Adolph Brodsky|A. B.]] — a concert being fixed for the next day. [[Brahms]] was staying after the rehearsal for early dinner. In the midst of the rehearsal I heard a ring at the bell, and expecting it would be Tschaikovsky, rushed to open the door. He was quite perplexed by the sound of music, asked who was there, and what they were playing. I took him into the room adjoining and tried to break, gently, the news of [[Brahms]]' presence. As we spoke there was a pause in the music; I begged him to enter, but he felt too nervous, so I opened the door softly and called by husband. He took Tschaikovsky with him and I followed.
I am awaiting you with the greatest impatience, because only then shall I be entirely at rest. But at the moment I don't know why we haven't received any letters from you for such a long time. Today it is already November, which means that if you have kept your promise, we only have a month left to wait <ref name="note4"/>.  


Tschaikovsky and [[Brahms]] had never met before. It would be difficult to find two men more unlike. Tschaikovsky, a nobleman by birth, had something elegant and refined in his whole bearing and the greatest courtesy of manner. [[Brahms]] with his short, rather square figure and powerful head, was an image of strength and energy; he was an avowed foe to all so-called "good manners". His expression was often slightly sarcastic. When [[Adolph Brodsky|A. B.]] introduced them, Tschaikovsky said, in his soft melodious voice: "Do I not disturb you?"
I am awaiting you with such impatience that I shall be the happiest of all men when you arrive.  


"Not in the least", was Brahms' reply, with his peculiar hoarseness. "But why are you going to hear this? It is not at all interesting".
I kiss [[Zina]] and everyone else.


Tschaikovsky sat down and listened attentively. The personality of [[Brahms]], as he told us later, impressed him very favourably, but he was not pleased with the music. When the trio was over I noticed that Tschaikovsky seemed uneasy. It would have been natural that he should say something, but he was not at all the man to pay unmeaning compliments. The situation might have become difficult, but at that moment the door was flung open, and in came our dear friends — [[Grieg]] and his wife, bringing, as they always did, a kind of sunshine with them. They knew [[Brahms]], but had never met Tschaikovsky before. The latter loved [[Grieg]]'s music, and was instantly attracted by these two charming people, full as they were of liveliness, enthusiasm, and unconventionality, and yet with a simplicity about them that made everyone feel at home. Tschaikovsky with his sensitive nervous nature understood them at once. After the introductions and greetings were over we passed to the dining room. Nina Grieg was seated between [[Brahms]] and Tschaikovsky, but we had only been a few moments at the table when she started from her seat exclaiming: "I cannot sit between these two. It makes me feel so nervous".
I ask for your blessing.
 
{{right|Pyotr Tchaikovsky }}
[[Grieg]] sprang up, saying, "But I have the courage"; and exchanged places with her. So the three composers sat together, all in good spirits. I can see [[Brahms]] now taking hold of a dish of strawberry jam, and saying he would have it all for himself and no one else should get any. It was more like a children's party than a gathering of great composers. My husband had this feeling so strongly that, when dinner was over and our guests still remained around the table smoking cigars and drinking coffee, he brought a conjurer's chest — a Christmas present to my little nephew — and began to perform tricks. All our guests were amused, and [[Brahms]] especially, who demanded from [[Adolph Brodsky|A. B.]] the explanation of each trick as soon as it was performed [...]
 
We were sorry when our guests had to go. Tschaikovsky remained till the last. As we accompanied him part of the way home [[Adolph Brodsky|A. B.]] asked how he liked [[Brahms]]' trio.
 
"Don't be angry with me, my dear friend", was Tschaikovsky's reply, "But I did not like it".
 
[[Adolph Brodsky|A. B.]] was disappointed, for he had cherished a hope that a performance of the trio in which [[Brahms]] himself took part, might have had a very different effect and have opened Tschaikovsky's eyes to the excellence of [[Brahms]]' music as a whole. Tschaikovsky had very few opportunities of hearing it, and that was perhaps one reason why it affected him so little.
 
During Tschaikovsky's frequent visits to [[Leipzig]] we saw him in every possible mood, in all his ups and downs, and always loved him more as we knew him better.
 
Being of an exceedingly nervous temperament, he passed from one mood to another very rapidly. One night I remember well. It was the evening before his début in [[Leipzig]]. [[Adolph Brodsky|A. B.]] was absent, playing at [[Cologne]]. My sister Olga and I had finished our supper some time before when Tschaikovsky suddenly called on us, apologising for being so late. We were struck by the sadness of his expression and thought he must have heard some bad news. We gave him a warm welcome without asking any questions, and did out utmost to cheer him. We soon succeeded, and he told us that it was the thought of tomorrow's concert which had depressed him so greatly, and that, if he could, he would have been glad to give up all his engagements and return to Russia immediately.
 
Such excitements were often more than he could bear; they brought on moods of terrible depression in which he seemed to see death in the form of an old woman standing behind his chair and waiting for him. Tschaikovsky often spoke of death and still more often thought of it.
 
He was greatly attached to life and loved many things passionately: people he knew, natural beauty, and works of art. He had no firm belief in a future life and could never be reconciled to the thought of parting with all that was beautiful and dear to him.
 
On another occasion his extreme sensitiveness revealed itself in a different way.  A telephone wire had just been laid between [[Berlin]] and [[Leipzig]]. Tschaikovsky and [[Brodsky]] arranged to speak through the telephone, the former from [[Berlin]] and the latter from [[Leipzig]]. At the appointed time [[Brodsky]] went to the telephone office hoping to have a chat with his friend, but he had only uttered a few words when he heard Tschaikovsky say in a trembling voice, "Dear friend! Please let me go. I feel so nervous".
 
"I have not got you by the buttonhole", said [[Adolph Brodsky|A. B.]], "You can go when you please".
 
Later on Tschaikovsky explained to us that as soon as he heard his friend's voice and realised the distance between them his heart began to beat so violently that he could not endure it.
 
Sometimes Tschaikovsky would send us a telegram from [[Berlin]], or any other town where he happened to be, to this effect: "I am coming to see you. Please keep it secret". We knew well what this meant: that he was tired and homesick and in need of friends. Once after such a telegram Tschaikovsky arrived just in time for dinner; at first we had him quite to ourselves, but after dinner, as he was sitting in the music room with his head leaning on his hand as was his custom, the members of the Brodsky Quartet quietly entered the room bringing their instruments with them as had been previously arranged. They sat down in silence and played Tschaikovsky's own [[String Quartet No. 3]], which they had just carefully prepared for a concert. Great was Tschaikovsky's delight! I saw the tears roll down his cheek as he listened, and then, passing from one performer to the other, he expressed again and again his gratitude for the happy hour they had given him. Then turning to [[Brodsky]] he said in his naïve way: "I did not know I had composed such a fine quartet. I never liked the finale, but now I see it is really good".
 
This time he did not reproach us for having disobeyed his wish about the incognito.
 
He was very fond of meeting the Griegs at our house and, knowing this, we arranged it as often as possible. The dinners were usually followed by music. Madame Grieg would sing her husband's beautiful songs and he himself would accompany her at the piano. She always put great enthusiasm in her singing and stirred us deeply. It was a treat to hear her, and Tschaikovsky never failed to express his delight.
 
The composers soon became intimate friends and, as a token of his great esteem, Tschaikovsky dedicated to [[Grieg]] his Overture to "[[Hamlet (overture-fantasia)|Hamlet]]", a tribute which the latter highly esteemed. }}
 
==Correspondence with Tchaikovsky==
3 letters from Tchaikovsky to Anna Brodsky have survived, dating from 1888 to 1891, all of which have been translated into English on this website:
* '''[[Letter 3688]]''' – 8/20 October 1888, from [[Frolovskoye]]
* '''[[Letter 3793]]''' – 13/25 February 1889, from [[Berlin]]
* '''[[Letter 4488]]''' – 30 September/12 October 1891, from [[Moscow]] (addressed jointly to Anna and her husband [[Adolph Brodsky]]).
 
6 letters from Anna Brodsky to the composer, dating from 1888 to 1892, are preserved in the {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]] (Nos. 317–320 and 3358–3359).
 
==Bibliography==
* {{bib|1904/1}} (1904)
* {{bib|1904/2}} (1904)
* {{bib|1985/44}} (1985)
* {{bib|1990/30}} (1990)
* {{bib|1993/27}} (1993)
* {{bib|2006/51}} (2006)
 
==External Links==
* {{viaf|228563657}}


}}
==Notes and References==
==Notes and References==
<references>
<references>
<ref name="note1">{{bib|1904/1}} (1904), p. 157-171; also available [http://archive.org/details/recollectionsofr00broduoft online].</ref>
<ref name="note1">Note by Vladimir Zhdanov in {{bib|1940/210|П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным ; том 1}} (1940), p. 661.</ref>
<ref name="note2">See [[Letter 39]]. The Imperial School of Jurisprudence was a boarding-school, but on Sundays pupils were allowed to visit their families — in young Pyotr's case, the family of his guardian Platon Alekseyevich Vakar (1826-1899) — unless they had obtained low marks or misbehaved otherwise during the week.</ref>
<ref name="note3">Tchaikovsky had joined the preparatory class of the School of Jurisprudence in September 1850. Pupils who made sufficient progress in their studies moved up into the "first section" of the former and from there they could take the entrance exams into the school proper. Tchaikovsky would pass these exams in May 1852 and in September he entered the school's junior form. For more information on the School of Jurisprudence and the years which Tchaikovsky spent in it, see {{bib|1993/186|Tchaikovsky. The quest for the inner man}} (1993), chapters 2-3, and {{bib|2009/16|Пётр Чайковский. Биография ; vol. 1}} (2009), chapters 2-3.</ref>
<ref name="note4">During his visit to [[Saint Petersburg]] in September 1851, [[Ilya Tchaikovsky]] seems to have explained to Pyotr and his brother [[Nikolay]], who was also attending a boarding-school there, that the whole family would be moving from [[Alapayevsk]] to [[Saint Petersburg]] the following spring, and that prior to that he (and apparently their mother too) would visit Pyotr and [[Nikolay]] around Christmas or in January. [[Ilya]] and [[Aleksandra Tchaikovskaya|Aleksandra]] did not in fact come to [[Saint Petersburg]] in January, but in early/mid-May 1852 the Tchaikovskys finally made the move from [[Alapayevsk]] to the Imperial capital.</ref>
</references>
</references>
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 0040}}
[[Category:People|Brodsky, Anna]]
[[Category:Correspondents|Brodsky, Anna]]
__NOTOC__

Latest revision as of 12:31, 13 January 2024

Date 18/30 November 1851
Addressed to Aleksandra Tchaikovskaya and Ilya Tchaikovsky
Where written Saint Petersburg
Language French
Autograph Location Saint Petersburg (Russia): National Library of Russia (ф. 834, ед. хр. 33, л. 57–58)
Publication П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным (1940), p. 36–37
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 42
Notes Dated on the basis of a postscript added to this letter by Nikolay Tchaikovsky, which bears the date "18 November 1851" [1]

Text and Translation

Spelling and punctuation errors in the original text have not been indicated.

French text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
Chers Papa et Maman!

Je vous ai déja ecrit que j'étais retenu deux fois pour le Dimanche. Je ne sais pas moi-méme ce qui m'est arrivé. Il m'est difficile dans la premiére sexion. Je vous en prie ne vous chagrinez pas parceque quand vous viendrez ici tout vous sera raconté.

Je vous attend avec la plus grande impatience parcequ'alors je serais toujours tout-à-fait en repos. Mais aprèsent je ne sais pas pourquoi nous ne recevons pas si longtemps de vos lettres. Aujourd'hui il est déja Novembre de sorte que si vous avez ténu votre promesse il ne nous reste qu'un moi.

Je vous attend avec une telle impatience que je serais le plus heureux de touts les hommes quand vous viendrez.

Je baise Zina et tout le monde.

Je prie votre bénédiction.

Pierre de Tschaikovsky

Dear Papa and Mama!

I have already written to you that I was punished twice with detention on Sunday [2]. I myself do not know what has happened to me. I am finding it difficult in the first section [3]. I ask you not to be upset because when you come here, you will be told about everything.

I am awaiting you with the greatest impatience, because only then shall I be entirely at rest. But at the moment I don't know why we haven't received any letters from you for such a long time. Today it is already November, which means that if you have kept your promise, we only have a month left to wait [4].

I am awaiting you with such impatience that I shall be the happiest of all men when you arrive.

I kiss Zina and everyone else.

I ask for your blessing.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. Note by Vladimir Zhdanov in П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным (1940), p. 661.
  2. See Letter 39. The Imperial School of Jurisprudence was a boarding-school, but on Sundays pupils were allowed to visit their families — in young Pyotr's case, the family of his guardian Platon Alekseyevich Vakar (1826-1899) — unless they had obtained low marks or misbehaved otherwise during the week.
  3. Tchaikovsky had joined the preparatory class of the School of Jurisprudence in September 1850. Pupils who made sufficient progress in their studies moved up into the "first section" of the former and from there they could take the entrance exams into the school proper. Tchaikovsky would pass these exams in May 1852 and in September he entered the school's junior form. For more information on the School of Jurisprudence and the years which Tchaikovsky spent in it, see Tchaikovsky. The quest for the inner man (1993), chapters 2-3, and Пётр Чайковский. Биография, том I (2009), chapters 2-3.
  4. During his visit to Saint Petersburg in September 1851, Ilya Tchaikovsky seems to have explained to Pyotr and his brother Nikolay, who was also attending a boarding-school there, that the whole family would be moving from Alapayevsk to Saint Petersburg the following spring, and that prior to that he (and apparently their mother too) would visit Pyotr and Nikolay around Christmas or in January. Ilya and Aleksandra did not in fact come to Saint Petersburg in January, but in early/mid-May 1852 the Tchaikovskys finally made the move from Alapayevsk to the Imperial capital.