Letter 2046 - Revision history

Tony: "recognize" to "recognise" for consistency

2024-12-14T11:46:58Z

"recognize" to "recognise" for consistency

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:46, 14 December 2024
Line 28:		Line 28:
	[[Anya]], for God's sake, forgive me!		[[Anya]], for God's sake, forgive me!

	I am surprised by what you write to me about my brother [[Nikolay Tchaikovsky\|Kolya]] and [[Lizaveta Mikhaylovna]], though, as a matter of fact, I am more upset than surprised <ref name="note2"/>! Over the years I have become convinced that the human race is so infected with egoism and self-love that even good people cannot resist casting stones at their neighbour at the first convenient opportunity, if the slightest pretext for that has presented itself, be it just in the form of slander, which they don't really believe in anyway. We all find it so pleasant to consider ourselves better than our neighbour: we are so glad when we imagine ourselves to be entitled to accuse another person of something, and in such cases we inwardly set ourselves up on a pedestal of unassailable moral purity and virtue! We are such zealous Christians when it is simply a matter of observing ceremonies, and such Pharisees when we are called upon to demonstrate the essence of Christ's teaching! Still, might there not have been some misunderstanding here? Perhaps they didn't ~~recognize~~ you. I shall clarify all this as soon as I see them.		I am surprised by what you write to me about my brother [[Nikolay Tchaikovsky\|Kolya]] and [[Lizaveta Mikhaylovna]], though, as a matter of fact, I am more upset than surprised <ref name="note2"/>! Over the years, I have become convinced that the human race is so infected with egoism and self-love that even good people cannot resist casting stones at their neighbour at the first convenient opportunity, if the slightest pretext for that has presented itself, be it just in the form of slander, which they don't really believe in anyway. We all find it so pleasant to consider ourselves better than our neighbour: we are so glad when we imagine ourselves to be entitled to accuse another person of something, and in such cases we inwardly set ourselves up on a pedestal of unassailable moral purity and virtue! We are such zealous Christians when it is simply a matter of observing ceremonies, and such Pharisees when we are called upon to demonstrate the essence of Christ's teaching! Still, might there not have been some misunderstanding here? Perhaps they didn't recognise you. I shall clarify all this as soon as I see them.

	You probably want to know where I am writing to you from? I have come here to visit [[Modest]], who is living on the estate of his pupil. Poor [[Modya]] has been ill, and he was also very upset morally as a result of the great deal of trouble, unpleasant things, and intrigues that arose after the death of [[Herman Konradi\|Mr Konradi]], his pupil's father. Now, thank God, everything is starting to sort itself out, and very soon I shall head back for [[Kamenka]]. If you feel like writing to me, address your letter there. Forgive me, darling, for writing so little today. I have been working all day long, and because the post is due to be collected today I have had to write lots of letters in one go. I kiss your hands warmly. Yours.		You probably want to know where I am writing to you from? I have come here to visit [[Modest]], who is living on the estate of his pupil. Poor [[Modya]] has been ill, and he was also very upset morally as a result of the great deal of trouble, unpleasant things, and intrigues that arose after the death of [[Herman Konradi\|Mr Konradi]], his pupil's father. Now, thank God, everything is starting to sort itself out, and very soon I shall head back for [[Kamenka]]. If you feel like writing to me, address your letter there. Forgive me, darling, for writing so little today. I have been working all day long, and because the post is due to be collected today I have had to write lots of letters in one go. I kiss your hands warmly. Yours.

Brett: Text replacement - "a sympathetic" to "an agreeable"

2024-07-18T10:42:39Z

Text replacement - "a sympathetic" to "an agreeable"

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:42, 18 July 2024
Line 24:		Line 24:

	\|Translated text={{right\|''[[Grankino]]''<br/>18th July 1882}}		\|Translated text={{right\|''[[Grankino]]''<br/>18th July 1882}}
	Darling [[Anya]]! Yesterday, your letter was forwarded to me from [[Kamenka]]. As is always the case with your letters, it afforded me the greatest pleasure. I am glad that you are in ~~a sympathetic~~ milieu, among people who love you. However, when I reached that passage in your letter in which you talk about the pretty ''stand'' you had bought for the imaginary statuette, I was at first so overcome by shame that I almost fainted, but then I burst into Homeric laughter <ref name="note1"/>. Indeed, in this whole episode with the statuette there is something vaudevillian and comic, even if the role which I am playing in this vaudeville is by no means honourable. Oh, what a swine I am, really!.. I would very much like to promise you now not one, but two, three, ten, nay a hundred statuettes, but I am afraid lest you dash off and buy stands for them all, so I shall shut up.		Darling [[Anya]]! Yesterday, your letter was forwarded to me from [[Kamenka]]. As is always the case with your letters, it afforded me the greatest pleasure. I am glad that you are in an agreeable milieu, among people who love you. However, when I reached that passage in your letter in which you talk about the pretty ''stand'' you had bought for the imaginary statuette, I was at first so overcome by shame that I almost fainted, but then I burst into Homeric laughter <ref name="note1"/>. Indeed, in this whole episode with the statuette there is something vaudevillian and comic, even if the role which I am playing in this vaudeville is by no means honourable. Oh, what a swine I am, really!.. I would very much like to promise you now not one, but two, three, ten, nay a hundred statuettes, but I am afraid lest you dash off and buy stands for them all, so I shall shut up.

	[[Anya]], for God's sake, forgive me!		[[Anya]], for God's sake, forgive me!

Brett: Text replacement - "in the Klin House-Museum Archive" to "in the {{RUS-KLč}} at Klin"

2023-09-23T15:29:17Z

Text replacement - "in the Klin House-Museum Archive" to "in the {{RUS-KLč}} at Klin"

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:29, 23 September 2023
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Text and Translation==		==Text and Translation==
	Based on a handwritten copy in the [[Klin]] ~~House-Museum Archive~~, which may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.		Based on a handwritten copy in the {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]], which may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.
	{{Lettertext		{{Lettertext
	\|Language=Russian		\|Language=Russian

Brett: 1 revision imported

2022-07-14T20:31:09Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 21:31, 14 July 2022
(No difference)

Brett at 13:26, 9 February 2020

2020-02-09T13:26:24Z

New page

{{letterhead
|Date=18/30 June 1882
|To=[[Anna Merkling]]
|Place=[[Grankino]]
|Language=Russian
|Autograph={{locunknown}}
|Publication={{bib|1901/24|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 2}} (1901), p. 340 (abridged)<br/>{{bib|1951/49|П. И. Чайковский. С. И. Танеев. Письма}} (1951), p. 213–214<br/>{{bib|1966/43|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том XI}} (1966), p. 150–151
|Notes=Manuscript copy in [[Klin]] (Russia): {{RUS-KLč}} (signature omitted)
}}

==Text and Translation==
Based on a handwritten copy in the [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive, which may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Translator=Luis Sundkvist
|Original text={{right|''Гранкино''<br/>18-го июня 1882 г[ода]}}
Голубушка Аня! Вчера мне переслали из Каменки твоё письмо. Как и всегда твои письма, оно мне доставило величайшее удовольствие; радуюсь, что ты находишься в симпатичной среде, между любящими тебя людьми. Но когда я дошёл до того места письма, где ты рассказываешь о купленном тобой хорошеньком ''support'' для воображаемой статуэтки, — то сначала от стыда чуть не упал в обморок, а потом перешёл к гомерическому смеху. В самом деле, в этом эпизоде с статуэткой есть что-то водевильно-комическое, хотя роль, которую я в этом водевиле играю, вовсе не почётна. Ах, какая же, однако, свинья!.. Ужасно хочется обещать тебе теперь [вместо] одной — две, три, десять, сто статуэток, — но боюсь, что ты полетишь за support'ами, и умолкаю.

Аня, ради Бога, прости!

То, что ты мне пишешь о брате Коле и Лизав[ете] Михайловне, — удивляет меня, — но, впрочем, более огорчает, чем удивляет! С летами я убедился, что человеческая порода так заражена эгоизмом и себялюбием, что даже добрые люди не могут удержаться, чтобы при первом удобном случае не бросить камнем в ближнего, — если к тому представляется хоть малейший повод, хотя бы клевета, которой, в сущности, они не верят. Так приятно нам считать себя лучше ближнего: мы так рады, когда воображаем себя вправе в чём-нибудь обвинить другого, причём внутренно себя возводим на пьедестал недосягаемой нравственной чистоты и добродетели! Мы такие ревностные христиане, когда всё дело в исполнении обряда, и такие фарисеи, когда приходится проявить сущность Христова учения! А впрочем, нет ли тут недоразумения? Может быть они не узнали тебя. Je tirerai tout cela au clair dès que je les verrai

Ты, вероятно, желаешь знать, откуда тебе пишу? Я приехал сюда к Модесту, жившему в имении своего воспитанника. Модя, бедный, был болен и очень расстроен нравственно, вследствие множества хлопот, неприятностей и интриг, происшедших по смерти г. Конради, — отца его воспитанника. Теперь, слава Богу, всё начинает улаживаться, и в скором времени я отправлюсь в Каменку. Если вздумаешь писать, адресуй туда. Прости, голубушка, что пишу сегодня так мало. Целый день работал, а теперь по случаю отхода почты пришлось разом написать множество писем. Целую крепко твои ручки. Твой

|Translated text={{right|''[[Grankino]]''<br/>18th July 1882}}
Darling [[Anya]]! Yesterday, your letter was forwarded to me from [[Kamenka]]. As is always the case with your letters, it afforded me the greatest pleasure. I am glad that you are in a sympathetic milieu, among people who love you. However, when I reached that passage in your letter in which you talk about the pretty ''stand'' you had bought for the imaginary statuette, I was at first so overcome by shame that I almost fainted, but then I burst into Homeric laughter <ref name="note1"/>. Indeed, in this whole episode with the statuette there is something vaudevillian and comic, even if the role which I am playing in this vaudeville is by no means honourable. Oh, what a swine I am, really!.. I would very much like to promise you now not one, but two, three, ten, nay a hundred statuettes, but I am afraid lest you dash off and buy stands for them all, so I shall shut up.

[[Anya]], for God's sake, forgive me!

I am surprised by what you write to me about my brother [[Nikolay Tchaikovsky|Kolya]] and [[Lizaveta Mikhaylovna]], though, as a matter of fact, I am more upset than surprised <ref name="note2"/>! Over the years I have become convinced that the human race is so infected with egoism and self-love that even good people cannot resist casting stones at their neighbour at the first convenient opportunity, if the slightest pretext for that has presented itself, be it just in the form of slander, which they don't really believe in anyway. We all find it so pleasant to consider ourselves better than our neighbour: we are so glad when we imagine ourselves to be entitled to accuse another person of something, and in such cases we inwardly set ourselves up on a pedestal of unassailable moral purity and virtue! We are such zealous Christians when it is simply a matter of observing ceremonies, and such Pharisees when we are called upon to demonstrate the essence of Christ's teaching! Still, might there not have been some misunderstanding here? Perhaps they didn't recognize you. I shall clarify all this as soon as I see them.

You probably want to know where I am writing to you from? I have come here to visit [[Modest]], who is living on the estate of his pupil. Poor [[Modya]] has been ill, and he was also very upset morally as a result of the great deal of trouble, unpleasant things, and intrigues that arose after the death of [[Herman Konradi|Mr Konradi]], his pupil's father. Now, thank God, everything is starting to sort itself out, and very soon I shall head back for [[Kamenka]]. If you feel like writing to me, address your letter there. Forgive me, darling, for writing so little today. I have been working all day long, and because the post is due to be collected today I have had to write lots of letters in one go. I kiss your hands warmly. Yours.
}}

==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">In [[Letter 1935]] to [[Anna Merkling]] from [[Rome]] on 15/27 January 1882, Tchaikovsky had promised his cousin that he would bring her a miniature replica of some classical statue, but he failed to keep his promise.</ref>
<ref name="note2">[[Anna Merkling]] had written in her letter that at a concert in [[Saint Petersburg]] Tchaikovsky's brother, [[Nikolay]], and his stepmother, [[Yelizaveta Tchaikovskaya]], had demonstratively ignored her. This had greatly hurt her feelings — note by Vladimir Zhdanov in {{bib|1951/49|П. И. Чайковский. С. И. Танеев. Письма}} (1951), p. 214.</ref>
</references>