https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/index.php?title=Letter_3687a&feed=atom&action=historyLetter 3687a - Revision history2024-03-28T15:22:34ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.38.2https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/index.php?title=Letter_3687a&diff=51938&oldid=prevBrett: 1 revision imported2022-07-12T12:43:54Z<p>1 revision imported</p>
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</td></tr></table>Bretthttps://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/index.php?title=Letter_3687a&diff=51937&oldid=prevBrett at 19:52, 20 November 20192019-11-20T19:52:23Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{letterhead<br />
|Date=5/17 October 1888<br />
|To=[[Adolf Čech]]<br />
|Place=[[Frolovskoye]]<br />
|Language=German<br />
|Autograph=Morlanwelz (Belgium): Musée royal de Mariemont <ref name="note1"/><br />
|Publication=Gérard Pinsart, {{und|Ces musiciens qui ont fait la musique: autographes et documents musicaux du XVIe au XXe siècle}} (Morlanwelz, Musée royal de Mariemont, 1985), p. 208-210 (in French translation, with facsimile)<br/>Malou Haine, {{und|400 lettres de musiciens: au Musée royal de Mariemont}}' (Liège, 1995), p. 417 (with French translation, p. 416)<br/>{{bib|2011/13|Tchaikovsky Research Bulletin No. 1}} (February 2011), p. 25-26 (with English translation, p. 26-27)<br/>{{bibx|2013/36|Чайковский. Новые материалы к творческой биографии}} (2013), p. 411-412 (with Russian translation, p. 412-414)<br />
|Notes=<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Text and Translation==<br />
{{Lettertext<br />
|Language=German<br />
|Translator=Luis Sundkvist<br />
|Original text={{right|Kline, bei Moskau<br/>5 / 17 {{sic|October|Oktober}}}}<br />
{{centre|Hochgeehrter Herr Capellmeister!}}<br />
Ihre {{sic|freundliche|freundlichen}} Zeilen habe ich gleich bekommen und beeile mich Ihnen gleich meinen wärmsten Dank zu {{sic|ausdrücken|auszudrücken}} für alles was Sie für mich schon gemacht haben und machen werden! Es ist mir besonders angenehm dass Sie eine so gute Meinung von meiner Oper haben! <br />
<br />
Seitdem ich Ihnen geschrieben habe, haben {{sic|Sie|sich}} die {{sic|Sache|Sachen}} ein {{sic|bischen|bisschen}} verändert. Man möchte mich in Petersburg in einem grossen Concerte dirigiren lassen (am 24 / 12 {{sic|October|Oktober}}) und in Warschau und anderen Städten Concerte mit meiner Mitwirkung arrangiren. Ich glaube sogar dass mein Vertreter Herr Zet aus Petersburg hat schon in Prag geschrieben ob {{sic|mann|man}} nicht ''Onéguine'' bis Januar aufschieben könnte. Aber, obgleich es mir auch sehr lieb wäre nur erst im Januar nach Prag zu gehen, aber bitte Sie sehr sich nicht {{sic|damit zu genieren|davon genieren zu lassen}}. Machen Sie es so wie es Ihnen am bequemsten ist. Gewiss wenn Sie anders {{sic|nich|nicht}} können, '' ich komme zum 20 November''. Aber bitte, lieber Herr Capellmeister mir gleich {{sic|einen|eine}} Antwort geben. Von Petersburg sind schon die ''{{sic|Costumbilder|Kostümbilder}}'' und die ''Mise en scène'' nach Prag geschickt.<br />
<br />
''Ich wünsche dass die Oper bei Ihnen mit den Petersburger {{sic|Streichen|Strichen}}'' geht. Dieselben sind alle von mir selbst, dem Rathe Naprawniks folgend, gemacht worden. Bitte, Herr Capellmeister, wenn Sie Frau ''Čerwinka-Rieger'' sehen, fragen Sie sie, ob sie meinen Brief erhalten hat. Ich habe sie nämlich um eine sehr wichtige Sache gebeten (ein '' Vorwort'' zu ''Onéguine'') und möchte sehr wissen ob sie die Güte haben wird meine Bitte zu erfüllen.<br />
<br />
Lassen Sie mich Ihnen noch einmal herzlich danken, mein hochgeehrter Herr und lieber Freund!<br />
<br />
Ihr ergebenster,<br />
{{right|P. Čajkovsky}}<br />
<br />
|Translated text={{right|[[Klin]], near [[Moscow]]<br/>5 / 17 October [1888]}}<br />
{{centre|Highly respected Herr Kapellmeister!}}<br />
I have just received your friendly lines and hasten to convey to you immediately my most fervent gratitude for everything that you have already done, and will be doing, for me! It is particularly gratifying to me that you have such a high opinion of my opera!<ref name="note2"/><br />
<br />
Things have changed slightly since I last wrote to you <ref name="note3"/>. There are plans to have me conduct at a big concert in [[Petersburg]] (on 24 / 12 October), as well as to arrange concerts with my participation in [[Warsaw]] and other cities <ref name="note4"/>. I even think that my agent Mr Zet <ref name="note5"/> in [[Petersburg]] has already sent a letter to [[Prague]] enquiring whether it might not be possible to postpone ''[[Onegin]]'' until January. However, even though I myself would prefer to come to [[Prague]] in January, I beg you not to feel constrained by this. Do what is most convenient for you. If everything else is impossible for you, ''I shall definitely come for the 20th of November''. However, dear Herr Kapellmeister, please do give me an immediate reply <ref name="note6"/>. The ''sketches of the costumes'' and the ''mise en scène'' have already been dispatched from [[Petersburg]] to [[Prague]].<br />
<br />
''I should like the opera to be staged in your city with the [[Petersburg]] cuts''. These were all made by me personally, following [[Nápravník]]'s advice <ref name="note7"/>. Please, Herr Capellmeister, when you see [[Marie Červinková-Riegrová|Frau ''Červinková-Riegrová'']], would you ask her if she has received my letter? For I have asked her to do me a very important favour (to write a ''Foreword'' to ''[[Onegin]]''), and I would very much like to know if she will be so kind as to fulfil my request <ref name="note8"/>.<br />
<br />
Let me thank you cordially once again, highly respected Sir and dear friend!<br />
<br />
Your most devoted,<br />
{{right|P. Tchaikovsky}}<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Notes and References==<br />
<references><br />
<ref name="note1">Acquired from the private collection of Fritz Donebauer ([[Berlin]]), 6 April 1908 {{NS}}.</ref><br />
<ref name="note2">Tchaikovsky is replying here to a letter written to him by [[Adolf Čech]] in [[Prague]] on 11 October 1888 {{NS}}. In this letter [[Čech]] had in turn replied to an earlier letter from the composer ([[Letter 3676]] of 22 September/3 October 1888), explaining that, as requested by Tchaikovsky himself, ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'' was to be staged in [[Prague]] on 30 November 1888 {{NS}}, and that he would soon be able to begin the rehearsals and "to devote myself entirely to your remarkable opera, which has completely (please don't take this for flattery) taken hold of my heart". It had been Tchaikovsky's own wish (when prompted by [[František Šubert]] during his first visit to the city earlier that year) to conduct ''[[Onegin]]'' in [[Prague]] (the first performance of this opera outside Russia), but the opening night would in fact take place six days later than planned (i.e. on 6 December 1888 {{NS}}). [[Čech]]'s letter has been published (in Russian translation) in {{bib|1970/6|Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты}} (1970), p. 188–189.</ref><br />
<ref name="note3">See [[Letter 3676]] to [[Adolf Čech]], 22 September/3 October 1888.</ref><br />
<ref name="note4">Tchaikovsky would in fact conduct at two major concerts in [[Saint Petersburg]] that autumn before his departure for [[Prague]]: a concert of the [[Saint Petersburg]] Philharmonic Society on 5/17 November 1888, whose programme was drawn exclusively from his own works, and which, among other things, featured the premiere of the [[ Symphony No. 5]]; and the second half of the Russian Musical Society's third symphonic concert of the season on 12/24 November 1888, which featured the premiere of the overture-fantasia ''[[Hamlet (overture-fantasia)|Hamlet]]'' and the second performance of the [[Symphony No. 5]]. Tchaikovsky's second concert tour as a conductor of his works, which again took him to various Western European cities, did not begin until late January/early February 1889. [[Warsaw]] was not included in the itinerary, and he did not conduct a concert there until January 1892.</ref><br />
<ref name="note5">Julius Zet (in Russia: Yuly Tset) was for many years secretary to the pianist [[Sophie Menter]], and it was through her that he met Tchaikovsky. In 1888 he became the composer's representative in his negotiations with Western European concert agents. Tchaikovsky thought very highly of Zet's personal qualities, but the latter did not have a good eye for business and many of his ambitious enterprises fell through. He left Russia in 1891 and never went back again. See {{bib|1997/96|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 3}} (1997), p. 229, n. 1.</ref><br />
<ref name="note6">[[Adolf Čech]] replied to this letter already on 22 October 1888 {{NS}}, and explained that after receiving it he had immediately gone to see [[František Šubert]] to discuss the possibility of postponing the production of ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'' at the [[Prague]] National Theatre, but it had turned out that it could at most be postponed by a few days, and not until January 1889, since [[Antonín Dvořák]]'s new opera ''The Jacobin'' was to be produced there at the start of the coming new year. [[Čech]]'s letter has been published (in Russian translation) in {{bib|1970/6|Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты}} (1970), p. 189, but note 3 accompanying this publication states incorrectly that it is a reply to Tchaikovsky's letter of 22 September/3 October ([[Letter 3676]]). This mistake is due to the fact that the editors of {{bib|1970/6|Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты}} (1970), and also those of the Soviet collected edition of Tchaikovsky's correspondence (1959–1981), were unaware of the existence of the above letter to [[Adolf Čech]] of 5/17 October, which was first published in 1985 (see the details above).</ref><br />
<ref name="note7">See, for example, [[Letter 3674]] to [[Eduard Nápravník]], 21 September/3 October 1888, in which Tchaikovsky discusses some of the cuts he made for the [[Saint Petersburg]] Mariinsky Theatre's production of ''[[Onegin]]'' in October 1884.</ref><br />
<ref name="note8">[[Marie Červinková-Riegrová]], who had met Tchaikovsky in [[Prague]] in February 1888, had recently sent him her translation into Czech of the libretto of ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'' together with a letter dated 15 September 1888 {{NS}}. See {{bib|1970/6|Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты}} (1970), p. 187–188. Tchaikovsky thanked her warmly on 12/24 September 1888 ([[Letter 3668]]) and also asked her if she could write a short text explaining the significance of [[Pushkin]]'s verse novel to the Czech public which could be distributed to the audience before performances of the opera in [[Prague]].</ref><br />
</references></div>Brett