Letter 4527
| Date | 27 October/8 November 1891 |
|---|---|
| Addressed to | Anatoly Tchaikovsky |
| Where written | Moscow |
| Language | Russian |
| Autograph Location | Klin (Russia): Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve (a3, No. 1432) |
| Publication | Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 3 (1902), p. 509–510 (dated "31 October" [O.S.]) (abridged) П. И. Чайковский. Письма к близким. Избранное (1955), p. 503 П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XVI-А (1976), p. 253 Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Letters to his family. An autobiography (1981), p. 503 (English translation) |
Text and Translation
| Russian text (original) |
English translation By Brett Langston |
Москва 27 окт[ября] Милый Толя! Очень трудно мне писать письма. Происходит обычная при постановках оперы суета, от которой голова кругом ходит. Репетиции идут хорошо. Лизу поёт Сионицкая (по-моему, лучше Медеи); Герман — Медведев будет, конечно, похуже Фигнера. Остальное все на том же уровне. Постановка беднее, — но недурна. Концерт мой в Петербурге состоится не 23 ноября, а 14 декабря. Поэтому я изменила свои прожекты. 7-го ноября я еду в Петербург, а 9 или 10-го приеду к вам дня на 3, чтобы повидаться, — уж очень хочется повидаться с вами. Ради Бога, устрой мне проклятый инкогнито, по крайней мере насколько это ввиду приличия возможно. Затем поеду в деревню работать недели на 3, а потом опять увидимся. Крепко обнимаю, не пишу больше, ибо бегу на репетицию. П. Чайковский |
Moscow 27 October Dear Tolya! It's very hard for me to write letters. There's all the usual fuss that goes with the staging of an opera, from which my head is spinning. Rehearsals are going well [1]. Sionitskaya [2] is singing Liza (in my opinion, better than Medea [3]); Medvedev [4] is Herman, certainly worse than Figner. The rest are of a similar standard. The staging is poorer, but not too bad. My concert in Petersburg will take place on 14 December, rather than 23 November. Consequently I've altered my plans. On 7th November I'm going to Petersburg, and on 9th or 20th I'll come to you for 3 days in order to see you—I very much want to see you. For God's sake, make sure I'm damned well incognito, at least so far as as respectably possible. Then I'll return to the country to work for 3 weeks, and then we'll see each other again. I hug you tightly. I'm not writing any more because I'm rushing to a rehearsal. P. Tchaikovsky |
Notes and References
- ↑ Tchaikovsky was attending rehearsals for a new production of The Queen of Spades at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
- ↑ Mariya Adrianovna Deysha-Sionitskaya (1859-1932), soprano at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg from 1883 to 1891, and at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre from 1891 to 1908.
- ↑ Medea Ivanovna Figner (b. Mey, 1859-1952), soprano with the Imperial Theatres in Saint Petersburg from 1887 to 1912, who had premiered the role of Liza in The Queen of Spades.
- ↑ Mikhail Yefimovich Figner (b. Bernstein, 1852-1925), tenor serving with various opera companies throughout Russia.
