Letter 132

Tchaikovsky Research
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Date between 16/28 February and 22 February/6 March 1869 [1]
Addressed to Mily Balakirev
Where written Moscow
Language Russian
Autograph Location Saint Petersburg (Russia): National Library of Russia (ф. 834, ед. хр. 11, л. 11–12)
Publication Переписка М. А. Балакирева и П. И. Чайковского (1868-1891) [1912], p. 23
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 157
Милий Алексеевич Балакирев. Воспоминания и письма (1962), p. 125 ("between 15 and 22 February 1869")

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
Добрейший Милий Алексеевич!

Посылаю Вам мою Фантазию. Если Вы найдёте возможным сыграть её в каком-нибудь концерте (разумеется, не иначе, как под Вашим управлением), то доставите мне большое удовольствие.

Эту вещь я хотел бы посвятить Вам, но для того мне нужно сначала знать, что она Вам не безусловно не нравится.

Тороплюсь ужасно; виноват, что пишу мало.

Кланяйтесь крепко Н. А. Корс[акову].

П. Чайковский

Most kind Mily Alekseyevich!

I am sending you my Fantasia [2]. If you think it is possible to have it performed at a concert (it goes without saying that the concert must be one conducted by you), then you would give me great pleasure.

I would like to dedicate this piece to you, but for that I first need to be sure that you do not dislike it altogether.

I am in an awful hurry. I apologize for writing so little.

Give N. A. Korsakov my warm regards.

P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. This letter is dated between 16/28 February and 22 February/6 March on the following basis: the score of the symphonic fantasia Fatum was sent to Saint Petersburg after its first performance in Moscow on 15/27 February 1869. In a letter to Nikolay Rubinstein on 23 February/7 March 1869, Mily Balakirev confirmed that he had received the score (see: М. А. Балакирев. Переписка с Н. Г. Рубинштейном и М. П. Беляевым (Moscow, 1956), p. 26).
  2. The symphonic fantasia Fatum (published posthumously as Op. 77).