Letter 361

Tchaikovsky Research
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Date 13/25 September 1874
Addressed to Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
Where written Moscow
Language Russian
Autograph Location unknown [1]
Publication П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 365
Notes Typed copy in Klin (Russia): Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Anna-Maria Leonard
Москва
13 сентября

Николай Андреевич, будьте так добры, пришлите в наискорейшем времени Вашу последнюю симфонию, которая стоит на программе здешних концертов и с нетерпением ожидается всеми нами. Как Вы поживаете и здорова ли Надежда Николаевна? Как идёт Ваше руководство и не сочинили ли Вы ещё что-нибудь новое, за исключением квартета, который, вероятно, уже давно кончен? Если бы Вы дали себе труд самым лаконическим образом на все означенные вопросы мне ответить, то весьма был бы благодарен. Правда ли, что Балакирев написал оперу? Очень жалею, что не живу с Вами в одном городе; в настоящее время о многом мне бы нужно с Вами побеседовать, — но никак не письменно.

Искренно Вам преданный,

П. Ч.

Moscow
13 September

Nikolay Andreyevich, please be so good as to send, as quickly as possible, your latest symphony, which is on the programme for the concerts here and which we are all waiting for impatiently [2]. How are you, and how is Nadezhda Nikolayevna's health? How is your guide going [3], and have you composed anything new, apart from the quartet [4], which was probably finished long ago? If you were to take the trouble to answer all these questions in the briefest way, I would be very grateful. Is it true that Balakirev has written an opera? I am very sorry that I do not live in the same city as you; there is so much that I would need to talk to you about at the moment — but not in writing.

Your sincerely devoted,

P. T.

Notes and References

  1. The autograph was sold by January 2013 by Lion Heart Autographs, New York. A scan of the autograph was kindly provided by David Lowenherz, the director of this company, to the Tchaikovsky Research project. Polina Vaidman, the senior curator of the Tchaikovsky House-Museum in Klin, confirmed its authenticity.
  2. Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 32, which would receive its first performance on 20 December 1874/1 January 1875 at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow — see Tchaikovsky's review in his article The Fifth Symphony Concert. The Second Quartet Series. The Italian Opera (1875).
  3. Tchaikovsky is referring to Rimsky-Korsakov's guide to orchestration, on which he had begun work in 1873, but abandoned the following year. The guide ultimately evolved into the book Principles of Orchestration (Основы оркестровки), which was completed and published after his death.
  4. Rimsky-Korsakov's String Quartet in F major, Op. 12 (1875).