Letter 5004a

Tchaikovsky Research
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Date 8/20 August 1893
Addressed to Sophie Menter
Where written Klin
Language Russian
Autograph Location unknown [1]
Publication Tchaikovsky Research Bulletin No. 1 (February 2011), p. 64 (incomplete; with English translation)
Чайковский. Новые материалы к творческой биографии (2013), p. 302 (incomplete; with Russian translation, p. 302-303)

Text and Translation

Based upon the (possibly incomplete) transcription published in Stargardt's 1974 auction catalogue [2], which may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.

German text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
Liebe Gnädigste!

Meine Concerte (dass heisst diejenige wo ich dirigiere) in Petersburg, mit Ihnen und Wassil, sind am 15 und 19 Januar 1894, Russischen Stils.

Ist Wassil noch in Itter? Sagen [Sie] ihm dass mit Ihnen und ihm gehe ich sehr gern überall wo Sie auch gehen! Bin zu müde wegen der Simphonie, kann nicht mehr schreiben. Küsse Ihre Hand!

P. Tschaikowsky
(Doctor)

My dear lady!

My concerts (that is, those in which I am conducting) in Petersburg, with your participation and Vasily's, are on 15 and 19 January 1894, Russian style [3].

Is Vasily still in Itter? Tell him that with you and with him I am very glad to go wherever you go too! I'm too tired because of the symphony [4], I can't write any more. I kiss your hand!

P. Tchaikovsky
(Doctor) [5]

Notes and References

  1. The autograph was sold in 1974 by J. A. Stargardt, Marburg.
  2. J. A. Stargardt, Autographen aus allen Gebieten (Marburg, 1974), p. 149, item no. 555.
  3. In an undated letter from early/mid August 1893, Sophie Menter told the composer which works she wanted to play under his direction at a forthcoming Russian Musical Society concert in Saint Petersburg, scheduled for January 1894, but asked him to give her the exact dates in January so that she could fit her other engagements around those. She also added: "I've received an enquiry from Copenhagen asking whether it might not be possible for me or Sapelnikov to convince Tchaikovsky to go there together with us. I do not dare to extend to us this understandable wish of the Danes, since you already know how happy we would be to be there together with you.
  4. The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Pathètique.
  5. As in the case of the 'English' Letter 5006a to Yekaterina Laroche of 11/23 August 1893, Tchaikovsky added beneath the signature of this letter to Sophie Menter the honorary title which he had recently been awarded at the University of Cambridge. Again, he did so for humorous effect, because in her letter to the composer of early/mid August 1893 Menter had teased him about it, warning him to be careful when walking across the drawbridge at her castle during his next visit to Itter: "After so many distinctions it is easy to lose one's sense of balance....".