Letter 417 - Revision history

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{{letterhead
|Date=12/24 November 1875
|To=[[Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov]]
|Place=[[Moscow]]
|Language=Russian
|Autograph=[[Saint Petersburg]] (Russia): {{RUS-SPsc}} (ф. 640, оп. 1, No. 1015, л. 4–5)
|Publication={{bib|1900/35|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 1}} (1900), p. 471–472 (abridged)<br/>{{bibx|1945/29|Советская музыка. 3-и сборник статей}} (1945), p. 128 <br/>{{bib|1959/50|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том V}} (1959), p. 417–418
}}
==Text and Translation==
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Translator=Anna-Maria Leonard
|Original text={{right|''12 ноября 1875 г[ода]''}}
{{centre|Добрейший Николай Андреевич!}}
Только сегодня нашёл свободную минуточку, чтобы хотя вкратце побеседовать с Вами. Прежде всего о делах:

1) Нечего и говорить, что Рубинштейн будет Вам очень благодарен, если Вы пришлёте сюда «''Антара''». Мы будем ожидать его с величайшим нетерпением, точно так же, как и квартет, который меня страх как интересует. Вчера состоялось в Питере его исполнение. Как бы мне хотелось знать, хорошо ли оно было и как отнеслась к квартету публика и музыканты.

2) Юргенсон будет Вам весьма благодарен, если Вы отдадите ему квартет. Так ли я передал ему Ваши условия? Я сказал, что Вы желаете 50 р[ублей] гонорария и клавираусцуг должен быть сделан на его счёт. У нас есть здесь девица, очень хорошо сделавшая переложение моего 2-го квартета, и если Надежда Николаевна не расположена этим заняться, то означенная девица охотно возьмёт на себя труд переложения. Вот именно насчёт клавираусцуга я не совсем помню, что Вы мне сказали: должен ли Ю[ргенсон] заказать переложение и напечатать или же только напечатать уже сделанный клавираусцуг. Впрочем, он во всяком случае весьма рад приобрести квартет.

Я попал с железной дороги прямо на репетицию моей симфонии, которая была исполнена 7-го числа. Сколько мне кажется, симфония эта не представляет никаких особенно удачно изобретённых идей, — но по части фактуры она шаг вперёд. Всего более я доволен 1-ю частью и обоими скерцо, из коих второй труден и был сыгран далеко не так хорошо, как бы оно было возможно, если б репетиций было больше. Дело в том, что наши репетиции длятся всего 2 часа; правда, их три, но что можно сделать в два часа? Впрочем, общим исполнением я остался доволен. Но что, если Направник в Петербурге так же небрежно будет дирижировать ею, как и концертом?

Я погибаю от наплыва занятий. Кроме балета, который я тороплюсь окончить как можно скорее, чтобы приняться за оперу, — у меня масса корректур и, что всего ужаснее, — обязанность писать музыкальные фельетоны. Вот работа, которая для меня невыносимо тяжела!

Я получил на днях от Бюлова письмо с целой кучей вырезок из американских газет о моем концерте. Одна из них прелестна. В ней говорится, что «''первая часть страдает от отсутствия центральной мысли, около которой должны создаваться те рои музыкальных фантазий, которые составляют эфирную, воздушную часть всего целого''». В финале автор этой статьи нашёл «''синкопы на трелях, спазмодические перерывы темы и потрясающие пассажи в октавах''»!!! Представьте, какой у американцев аппетит: при каждом исполнении моего концерта, Бюлов финал, должен повторять. Вот чего у нас никогда не бывает.

Передайте мой нижайший поклон Надежде Николаевне. Крепко жму Вашу руку.
{{right|Ваш, П. Чайковский}}

|Translated text={{right|''12 November 1875''}}
{{centre|Most kind Nikolay Andreyevich!}}
It is only today that I have found a spare moment to converse with you at least briefly. To begin with, about business matters:

1) It goes without saying that [[Nikolay Rubinstein|Rubinstein]] will be very grateful to you if you could send "''Antar''" here <ref name="note1"/>. We shall await it with the greatest impatience, just like the quartet which interests me very much. It was performed yesterday in [[Piter]]. How I would love to know whether the performance was good and how the audience and musicians reacted to the quartet <ref name="note2"/>.

2) [[Jurgenson]] will be most grateful to you if you give him the quartet. Did I pass on your terms to him correctly? I said that you want a fee of 50 rubles and that the piano score must be done at his expense. There is a girl here who arranged my 2nd quartet very well <ref name="note3"/>, and if [[Nadezhda Nikolayevna]] is not inclined to do it, this girl would gladly take on the task of arranging it. It is regarding the piano score that I don't quite remember what you said to me: should [[Jurgenson]] commission the arrangement and print it, or is he only to print the piano score once it is done? However, he will be very glad to acquire the quartet in any case.

I went straight from the railway to the rehearsal of my symphony, which was performed on the 7th <ref name ="note4"/>. As far as I can tell, this symphony does not have any particularly successful new ideas, but in terms of craftsmanship it is a step forward. I am most pleased with the 1st movement and with both scherzos, of which the second is difficult and was played not nearly as well as would have been possible if there had been more rehearsals. The thing is that our rehearsals last only 2 hours; it is true that there are three of them but what can you do in two hours? However, I was satisfied with the general performance. But what if [[Nápravník]] conducts it in [[Petersburg]] just as carelessly as the concerto?<ref name="note5"/>

I am drowning in the influx of work. Besides the ballet <ref name="note6"/>, which I am rushing to finish as soon as possible so that I can start working on an opera <ref name="note7"/>, I have a mass of proofreading and - what is the worst of all – the obligation to write musical reviews. That is work that I find unbearably burdensome!<ref name="note8"/>

The other day I received a letter from [[Bülow]] with a whole stack of cuttings from American newspapers about my concerto <ref name="note9"/>. One of them is charming. It says that "''the first movement suffers from the lack of a central idea, around which should arise those swarms of musical fantasies that constitute the ethereal, airy part of the whole''". In the finale the author of the article discovered "''syncopations on trills; spasmodic interruptions of the theme and brilliant octave passages''"!!! Just imagine what appetite Americans have: at every performance of my concerto [[Bülow]] has to repeat the finale. That never happens here.

Please give my deepest regards to [[Nadezhda Nikolayevna]]. I shake your hand warmly.
{{right|Yours, P. Tchaikovsky}}
}}
==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">[[Rimsky-Korsakov]]'s symphonic suite ''Antar'' would be first performed at the ninth Russian Musical Society concert in [[Moscow]] on 12/24 March 1876, conducted by [[Nikolay Rubinstein]].</ref>
<ref name="note2">[[Rimsky-Korsakov]]'s String Quartet in F major, Op. 12 (1875) had been performed on 11/23 November 1875 at the third RMS quartet concert in [[Saint Petersburg]].</ref>
<ref name="note3">[[Anna Avramova]] made a solo piano arrangement of Tchaikovsky's [[String Quartet No. 2]] in F major, Op. 22 (1874).</ref>
<ref name="note4">The premiere of [[Symphony No. 3]] in D major, Op. 29 (1875) took place in [[Moscow]] on 7/19 November 1875, at the first symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society, conducted by [[Nikolay Rubinstein]].</ref>
<ref name="note5">In [[Saint Petersburg]], the Third Symphony was performed for the first time on 24 January/5 February 1876, at the fifth symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society, conducted by [[Eduard Nápravník]], who on 1/13 November 1875 had unsuccessfully directed the Russian premiere of Tchaikovsky's [[Piano Concerto No. 1]] at the first symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society, with Gustav Kross as soloist.</ref>
<ref name="note6">The ballet ''[[Swan Lake]]''.</ref>
<ref name="note7">Tchaikovsky's next opera would be ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'', begun in May 1877, but at the time of writing this letter he was considering ''[[Ephraim]]'' as a possible opera, for which his friend [[Konstantin Shilovsky]] had written a libretto.</ref>
<ref name="note8">After more than three years as music critic for the ''Russian Register'' ((Русские ведомости), Tchaikovsky's last regular review article was published on 10/22 December 1875 (see [[TH 313]]).</ref>
<ref name="note9">The first performance of the [[Piano Concerto No. 1]] took place on 13/25 October 1875 at the Music Hall in Boston, played by [[Hans von Bülow]] (conductor Benjamin Johnson Lang). [[Bülow]]'s performance of the concerto was enthusiastically received by the Boston audience, for whom it was repeated with the same participants on 18/30 October 1875. [[Bülow]] then moved on to [[New York]], where on 10/22 November and 15/27 November he gave further performances of the concerto under the direction of Leopold Damrosch.</ref>
</references>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 0417}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:38, 11 March 2024
Line 36:		Line 36:
	2) [[Jurgenson]] will be most grateful to you if you give him the quartet. Did I pass on your terms to him correctly? I said that you want a fee of 50 rubles and that the piano score must be done at his expense. There is a girl here who arranged my 2nd quartet very well <ref name="note3"/>, and if [[Nadezhda Nikolayevna]] is not inclined to do it, this girl would gladly take on the task of arranging it. It is regarding the piano score that I don't quite remember what you said to me: should [[Jurgenson]] commission the arrangement and print it, or is he only to print the piano score once it is done? However, he will be very glad to acquire the quartet in any case.		2) [[Jurgenson]] will be most grateful to you if you give him the quartet. Did I pass on your terms to him correctly? I said that you want a fee of 50 rubles and that the piano score must be done at his expense. There is a girl here who arranged my 2nd quartet very well <ref name="note3"/>, and if [[Nadezhda Nikolayevna]] is not inclined to do it, this girl would gladly take on the task of arranging it. It is regarding the piano score that I don't quite remember what you said to me: should [[Jurgenson]] commission the arrangement and print it, or is he only to print the piano score once it is done? However, he will be very glad to acquire the quartet in any case.

	I went straight from the railway to the rehearsal of my symphony, which was performed on the 7th <ref name ="note4"/>. As far as I can tell, this symphony does not have any particularly successful new ideas, but in terms of craftsmanship it is a step forward. I am most pleased with the 1st movement and with both scherzos, of which the second is difficult and was played not nearly as well as would have been possible if there had been more rehearsals. The thing is that our rehearsals last only 2 hours; it is true that there are three of them but what can you do in two hours? However, I was satisfied with the general performance. But what if [[Nápravník]] conducts it in [[Petersburg]] just as carelessly as the concerto?<ref name="note5"/>		I went straight from the railway to the rehearsal of my symphony, which was performed on the 7th <ref name ="note4"/>. As far as I can tell, this symphony does not have any particularly successful new ideas, but in terms of craftsmanship it is a step forward. I am most pleased with the 1st movement and with both scherzos, of which the second is difficult and was played not nearly as well as would have been possible if there had been more rehearsals. The thing is that our rehearsals last only 2 hours; it is true that there are three of them but what can you do in two hours? However, I was satisfied with the general performance. But what if [[Nápravník]] conducts it in [[Petersburg]] just as carelessly as the concerto? <ref name="note5"/>

	I am drowning in the influx of work. Besides the ballet <ref name="note6"/>, which I am rushing to finish as soon as possible so that I can start working on an opera <ref name="note7"/>, I have a mass of proofreading and - what is the worst of all – the obligation to write musical reviews. That is work that I find unbearably burdensome!<ref name="note8"/>		I am drowning in the influx of work. Besides the ballet <ref name="note6"/>, which I am rushing to finish as soon as possible so that I can start working on an opera <ref name="note7"/>, I have a mass of proofreading and - what is the worst of all – the obligation to write musical reviews. That is work that I find unbearably burdensome! <ref name="note8"/>

	The other day I received a letter from [[Bülow]] with a whole stack of cuttings from American newspapers about my concerto <ref name="note9"/>. One of them is charming. It says that "''the first movement suffers from the lack of a central idea, around which should arise those swarms of musical fantasies that constitute the ethereal, airy part of the whole''". In the finale the author of the article discovered "''syncopations on trills; spasmodic interruptions of the theme and brilliant octave passages''"!!! Just imagine what appetite Americans have: at every performance of my concerto [[Bülow]] has to repeat the finale. That never happens here.		The other day I received a letter from [[Bülow]] with a whole stack of cuttings from American newspapers about my concerto <ref name="note9"/>. One of them is charming. It says that "''the first movement suffers from the lack of a central idea, around which should arise those swarms of musical fantasies that constitute the ethereal, airy part of the whole''". In the finale, the author of the article discovered "''syncopations on trills; spasmodic interruptions of the theme and brilliant octave passages''"!!! Just imagine what appetite Americans have: at every performance of my concerto, [[Bülow]] has to repeat the finale. That never happens here.

	Please give my deepest regards to [[Nadezhda Nikolayevna]]. I shake your hand warmly.		Please give my deepest regards to [[Nadezhda Nikolayevna]]. I shake your hand warmly.
Line 53:		Line 53:
	<ref name="note5">In [[Saint Petersburg]], the Third Symphony was performed for the first time on 24 January/5 February 1876, at the fifth symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society, conducted by [[Eduard Nápravník]], who on 1/13 November 1875 had unsuccessfully directed the Russian premiere of Tchaikovsky's [[Piano Concerto No. 1]] at the first symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society, with Gustav Kross as soloist.</ref>		<ref name="note5">In [[Saint Petersburg]], the Third Symphony was performed for the first time on 24 January/5 February 1876, at the fifth symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society, conducted by [[Eduard Nápravník]], who on 1/13 November 1875 had unsuccessfully directed the Russian premiere of Tchaikovsky's [[Piano Concerto No. 1]] at the first symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society, with Gustav Kross as soloist.</ref>
	<ref name="note6">The ballet ''[[Swan Lake]]''.</ref>		<ref name="note6">The ballet ''[[Swan Lake]]''.</ref>
	<ref name="note7">Tchaikovsky's next opera would be ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'', begun in May 1877, but at the time of writing this letter he was considering ''[[Ephraim]]'' as a possible opera, for which his friend [[Konstantin Shilovsky]] had written a libretto.</ref>		<ref name="note7">Tchaikovsky's next opera would be [[Yevgeny Onegin]], begun in May 1877, but at the time of writing this letter he was considering ''[[Ephraim]]'' as a possible opera, for which his friend [[Konstantin Shilovsky]] had written a libretto.</ref>
	<ref name="note8">After more than three years as music critic for the ''Russian Register'' ((Русские ведомости), Tchaikovsky's last regular review article was published on 10/22 December 1875 (see [[TH 313]]).</ref>		<ref name="note8">After more than three years as music critic for the ''Russian Register'' ((Русские ведомости), Tchaikovsky's last regular review article was published on 10/22 December 1875 (see [[TH 313]]).</ref>
	<ref name="note9">The first performance of the [[Piano Concerto No. 1]] took place on 13/25 October 1875 at the Music Hall in Boston, played by [[Hans von Bülow]] (conductor Benjamin Johnson Lang). [[Bülow]]'s performance of the concerto was enthusiastically received by the Boston audience, for whom it was repeated with the same participants on 18/30 October 1875. [[Bülow]] then moved on to [[New York]], where on 10/22 November and 15/27 November he gave further performances of the concerto under the direction of Leopold Damrosch.</ref>		<ref name="note9">The first performance of the [[Piano Concerto No. 1]] took place on 13/25 October 1875 at the Music Hall in Boston, played by [[Hans von Bülow]] (conductor Benjamin Johnson Lang). [[Bülow]]'s performance of the concerto was enthusiastically received by the Boston audience, for whom it was repeated with the same participants on 18/30 October 1875. [[Bülow]] then moved on to [[New York]], where on 10/22 November and 15/27 November he gave further performances of the concerto under the direction of Leopold Damrosch.</ref>
	</references>		</references>
	{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 0417}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 0417}}