Lev Davydov

Lev Davydov (1837–1896) with his first wife Aleksandra (b. Tchaikovskaya, 1842–1891)

Estate manager and brother-in-law of the composer (b. 1837; d. 1896), born Lev Vasilyevich Davydov (Лев Васильевич Давыдов).

Lev was the sixth son of landowner Vasily Lvovich Davydov (1792–1855) and his wife Aleksandra Ivanovna (b. Potapova, 1802–1895). His father was a participant in the unsuccessful "Decembrist uprising" of 1825 which unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the Russian Emperor Nicholas I.

Lev managed the family's extensive estates at Verbovka and Kamenka (near Kiev). On 6/18 November 1860 he married for the first time to the composer's sister Aleksandra (1842–1891), and they had seven children: Tatyana (1861–1887); Vera (1863–1888); Anna (1864–1942); Natalya (1868–1956); Dmitry (1870–1929); Vladimir (1871–1906); and Yury (1876–1965).

In 1893, two years after Aleksandra's death, Lev married a cousin of his late wife — Yekaterina Nikolayevna Olkhovskaya (1859–1930) — and this union opened a rift with some family members (but not the composer). Lev had a son by his second marriage, also called Lev (b. 1893).

Correspondence with Tchaikovsky

37 letters from Tchaikovsky to Lev Davydov have survived, dating from 1866 to 1885, of which those highlighted in bold have been translated into English on this website:

• Letter 80 – 15/27 January 1866, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Lev and his wife Aleksandra Davydova)
• Letter 90 – 8/20 April 1866, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Lev and his wife Aleksandra Davydova)
• Letter 188 – between 10/22 and 18/30 April 1870, from Moscow
• Letter 410 – 30 August/11 September 1875, from Usovo
• Letter 495 – 12/24 September 1876, from Moscow
• Letter 523 – 18/30 December 1876, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Lev and his wife Aleksandra Davydova)
• Letter 566 – 19/31 May 1877, from Moscow
• Letter 575 – 5/17 July 1877, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Lev and his wife Aleksandra Davydova)
• Letter 667 – 2/14 December 1877, from Venice (addressed jointly to Lev and his wife Aleksandra Davydova)
• Letter 757 – 12/24 February 1878, from Florence
• Letter 908 – 8/20 September 1878, from Saint Petersburg (addressed jointly to Lev and his wife Aleksandra Davydova)
• Letter 932 – 7/19 October 1878, from Moscow
• Letter 1017 – 12/24 December 1878, from Florence
• Letter 1117 – 22 February/6 March 1879, from Paris
• Letter 1135 – 12/24 March 1879, from Saint Petersburg
• Letter 1279 – 31 August/12 September 1879, from Simaki
• Letter 1378 – 14/26 December 1879, from Rome
• Letter 1395 – 4/16 January 1880, from Rome
• Letter 1522 – 3/15 July 1880, from Brailov
• Letter 1530 – 8/20 July 1880, from Simaki
• Letter 1547 – 22 July/3 August 1880, from Simaki
• Letter 1714 – 17/29 March 1881, from Paris
• Letter 1717 – 19/31 March 1881, from Paris
• Letter 1853 – 9/21 September 1881, from Kiev
• Letter 2052 – 26 June/8 July 1882, from Grankino
• Letter 2058 – 11/23 July 1882, from Grankino
• Letter 2065 – 17/29 July 1882, from Grankino
• Letter 2177 – 25 December 1882/6 January 1883, from Saint Petersburg
• Letter 2214 – 31 January/12 February 1883, from Paris
• Letter 2278 – 28 April/10 May 1883, from Paris
• Letter 2301 – 15/27 June 1883, from Podushkino
• Letter 2306 – 28 June/10 July 1883, from Podushkino
• Letter 2508 – 23 June/5 July 1884, from Grankino
• Letter 2516 – 11/23 July 1884, from Grankino
• Letter 2588 – 9/21 November 1884, from Munich
• Letter 2605a – 24 November/6 December 1884, from Paris
• Letter 2693 – 26 April/8 May 1885, from Maydanovo

40 letters from Lev Davydov to the composer, dating from around 1866 to 1886, are preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a⁴, Nos. 791–830) .

Bibliography

• П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным (1940)
• Ein bisher unbekannter Brief Čajkovskijs — Paris, 24. November/6. Dezember 1884 — an seinen Schwager Lev V. Davydov (2010)