Letter 411

Tchaikovsky Research
Date 9/21 September 1875 [1]
Addressed to Sergey Taneyev
Where written Moscow
Language Russian
Autograph Location Moscow: Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (ф. 880)
Publication П. И. Чайковский. С. И. Танеев. Письма (1951), p. 6
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 411

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
Милый Серёжа! Я сегодня провожаю брата и поэтому и многим другим причинам не буду дома. Не сердитесь на меня, голубчик, за бесцеремонность. Я бы попросил Вас провести у меня вечер в пятницу или в субботу. Не найдёте ли Вы возможным завтра зайти в консерваторию, где я буду от 12 до 4 час[ов]; может быть, мы проиграли бы с Вами концерт.
Ваш П. Чайковский

Dear Serezha! Today I am seeing my brother off, and consequently, as well as for many other reasons too, I won't be at home. Don't be angry with me, golubchik, for my ungraciousness. I would like to ask you to spend the evening with me on Friday or Saturday. Would it be possible for you to drop in at the Conservatory tomorrow, where I shall be from 12 to 4 o'clock? Perhaps we could play through the concerto together [2].
Yours P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. Dated according to a note by Sergey Taneyev.
  2. Taneyev would eventually give the first performance in Moscow of the Piano Concerto No. 1 on 21 November/3 December 1875. The work had been premiered by Hans von Bülow in Boston on 25 October 1875 [N.S.], and by the time Taneyev came to play it in public it had already been performed in Saint Petersburg as well (by Gustav Kross on 1/13 November 1875).