Letter 170

Tchaikovsky Research
Date 20 December 1869/1 January 1870
Addressed to Mily Balakirev
Where written Moscow
Language Russian
Autograph Location Saint Petersburg (Russia): National Library of Russia (ф. 834, ед. хр. 11, л. 31–32)
Publication Переписка М. А. Балакирева и П. И. Чайковского (1868-1891) [1912], p. 53
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 197
Милий Алексеевич Балакирев. Воспоминания и письма (1962), p. 149

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
20 декабря 1869 г[ода]

Пишу Вам несколько строк по поручению Н. Рубинштейна. Он желает наверно знать, когда Вы будете. Назначьте одно из следующих чисел: 2-е, 9-ое, 16-ое, 22-ое, т. е. по пятницам. Играть в Вашем концерте он никак не может, так как Лауб обиделся бы ужасно. Хоры готовы. Ответ ему нужен как можно скорее.

Прощайте, голубчик; увертюра моя переписывается.

П. Чайковский

20 December 1869

I am writing you a few lines at the request of N. Rubinstein. He wants to know for sure when you will be here. Please could you fix one of the following dates: 2nd, 9th, 16th, 22nd, i.e. these are all Fridays. There is just no way that he can play in your concert, because Laub would feel terribly offended. The choruses are ready. He needs a reply as soon as possible [1].

Goodbye, golubchik. My overture [2] is in the process of being copied.

P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. This letter refers to the plans for a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow at which Balakirev would conduct. Balakirev had hoped that Nikolay Rubinstein would appear as a soloist at this concert. The date eventually chosen was 9/21 January 1870, but it was then postponed until 16/28 January. However, as a Free Music School concert to raise funds for the Slavic Benevolent Committee was due to take in place in Saint Petersburg on 15/27 January, and Balakirev had agreed to conduct at that concert, he could not stay in Moscow, and the concert there on 16/28 January went ahead without his participation.
  2. The first version of Romeo and Juliet (TH 42).