Letter 447

Tchaikovsky Research
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Date 11/23 February 1876
Addressed to Konstantin Zvantsev
Where written Moscow
Language Russian
Autograph Location Moscow: Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (ф. 763, оп. 1, ед. хр. 29, л. 119) [1]
Publication П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том VI (1961), p. 27

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Brett Langston
Многоуважаемый!
Константин Иванович!

«Франческа» находится в цензурном комитете, и Бог знает, когда Ларош её оттуда заполучит и перешлёт мне. Поэтому решаюсь обеспокоить Вас просьбой сделать для меня новую копию Вашего прелестного либретто. Боюсь, что это Вас затруднит, но мне страх как хочется поскорее ознакомиться во всех подробностях с Вашим произведением. Простите мою назойливость.

Искренно уважающий Вас,

П. Чайковский

Most respected
Konstantin Ivanovich!

"Francesca" finds herself in the hands of the censorial committee, and God knows when Laroche might wrest her and send her to me. Therefore I venture to ask if you could make a fresh copy of your charming libretto for me [2]. I am afraid that this will be tiresome for you, but it would be desirable for me to become thoroughly acquainted with your work as soon as possible. Pardon my importunity.

Your sincerely respectful,

P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. The autograph letter was stolen from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art in the 1990s, but returned in June 2013 [1].
  2. The idea of a projected opera on Dante's Francesca remained unrealised, but later the same year Tchaikovsky wrote his orchestral fantasia based upon the same subject.