Letter 224

Tchaikovsky Research
Date between 1867 and 1870 (?)
Addressed to Herman Laroche (?) [1]
Where written Moscow
Language Russian
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Russian National Museum of Music
Publication П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 246

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Brett Langston
Милый друг! Чтобы не очень Вас испугать видом телеграммы, я пишу Вам эти строки, дабы предупредить, что Ваша старая бабушка скончалась. Мне очень жаль, что я не застал Вас дома и не мог к этому неожиданному известию Вас приготовить.
П. Чайковский

Dear friend! In order not to alarm you by sending a telegram, I am writing you these lines to inform you that your elderly grandmother has died. I am very sorry not to have found you at home, and could not prepare you for this unexpected news.
P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. The date of this note and identity of its addressee were tentatively established by the editors of П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959) on the grounds that it was written on the reverse side of a sheet containing a translation of a poem on which Herman Laroche is believed to have worked while at the Moscow Conservatory, sometime between 1867 and 1870.