Letter 4381 - Revision history

Brett: Text replacement - "unsympathetic" to "disagreeable"

2024-07-18T08:15:20Z

Text replacement - "unsympathetic" to "disagreeable"

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:15, 18 July 2024
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	\|Translated text={{right\|2/14 May 1891<br/>''[[New York]]''}}		\|Translated text={{right\|2/14 May 1891<br/>''[[New York]]''}}
	{{centre\|Dear [[Georgy Konyus\|Georgy Eduardovich]]!}}		{{centre\|Dear [[Georgy Konyus\|Georgy Eduardovich]]!}}
	I received your letter here a whole week ago, and until now I haven't found a moment to reply. I wanted to go into all the particulars and details with you, — but, it seems that I'll have such a heartfelt conversation with you only when I return, and in person. What a fine, dear person you are! Until now I had vaguely sensed that you were a cut above — now I know this. Your letter was very, very moving, and delighted me. Although you need not have taken my comical review of your activities as a critic to heart. It is true that you seem to have overdone your praise for ''[[Safonov]]'' in that article, the story of which you recounted and which I read. But, firstly, the case you make in your defence, and the sincerity with which you acknowledge a certain excessive zeal in celebrating Safonian virtues, wholly reconciles me with you — and secondly, I am not, as you seem to have supposed, at all opposed to ''[[Safonov]]'' being lauded in the press. Safonov is an ''businessman'', something which the Musical Society has long needed. Much of his activities and his personality is ~~unsympathetic~~ to me, but I cannot but recognise he has energy, skill and talent, which I consider, in the absence of anything else, must be appreciated. In a town where caricatures such as ''Shostakovsky'' acquire admirers and are taken seriously, I must consider it fortunate for myself that ''[[Safonov]]'' has shown up, and he is in any case an important and serious person.		I received your letter here a whole week ago, and until now I haven't found a moment to reply. I wanted to go into all the particulars and details with you, — but, it seems that I'll have such a heartfelt conversation with you only when I return, and in person. What a fine, dear person you are! Until now I had vaguely sensed that you were a cut above — now I know this. Your letter was very, very moving, and delighted me. Although you need not have taken my comical review of your activities as a critic to heart. It is true that you seem to have overdone your praise for ''[[Safonov]]'' in that article, the story of which you recounted and which I read. But, firstly, the case you make in your defence, and the sincerity with which you acknowledge a certain excessive zeal in celebrating Safonian virtues, wholly reconciles me with you — and secondly, I am not, as you seem to have supposed, at all opposed to ''[[Safonov]]'' being lauded in the press. Safonov is an ''businessman'', something which the Musical Society has long needed. Much of his activities and his personality is disagreeable to me, but I cannot but recognise he has energy, skill and talent, which I consider, in the absence of anything else, must be appreciated. In a town where caricatures such as ''Shostakovsky'' acquire admirers and are taken seriously, I must consider it fortunate for myself that ''[[Safonov]]'' has shown up, and he is in any case an important and serious person.

	When I return home, I will ask you to visit me and bring your overture with you.		When I return home, I will ask you to visit me and bring your overture with you.

Brett: 1 revision imported

2022-07-14T20:31:51Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 22:31, 14 July 2022
(No difference)

Brett at 23:30, 31 December 2019

2019-12-31T23:30:29Z

New page

{{letterhead
|Date=2/14 May 1891
|To=[[Georgy Konyus]]
|Place=[[New York]]
|Language=Russian
|Autograph=[[Moscow]] (Russia): {{RUS-Mcm}} (Ф. 88, No. 328)
|Publication={{bib|1902/25|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 3}} (1902), p. 473–474 (abridged)<br/>{{bib|1978/54|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том XVI–А}} (1976), p. 113–114
}}
==Text and Translation==
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Translator=Brett Langston
|Original text={{right|2/14 мая 1891<br/>''New-York''}}
{{centre|Дорогой Георгий Эдуардович!}}
Вот уж целую неделю как я получил Ваше письмо и до сих пор не мог найти ни минуты для ответа. Мне хотелось побеседовать с Вами обстоятельно и подробно, — но, по-видимому, такую беседу по душе я буду иметь с Вами лишь по возвращении, зато устно. Какой Вы хороший, милый человек! До сих пор я смутно чувствовал, что Вы выше уровня, — теперь я это знаю. Письмо Ваше очень, очень тронуло и восхитило меня. Только напрасно Вы так приняли к сердцу шуточный мой отзыв о Вашей критической деятельности. Правда, что Вы в похвалах ''Сафонову'', кажется, пересолили в той статье, историю которой Вы рассказываете и которую я читал. Но, во-1-х, то, что Вы приводите в своё оправдание, и искренность, с которою Вы признаете некоторый излишек усердия в воспевании сафоновских доблестей, вполне примиряет меня с Вами, — а во-2-х, я, чего Вы, кажется, не предполагаете, вовсе не против того, чтобы ''Сафонова'' пресса поддерживала. Сафонов — ''делец'', в каком Муз[ыкальное] общ[ество] давно уже нуждалось. Многое в его деятельности и в его личности мне несимпатично, но я не могу не признать в нем энергии, умелости, талантливости и нахожу, что, за неимением другого, приходится дорожить и им. Город, где карикатурные деятели вроде ''Шостаковского'' находят почитателей и принимаются всерьёз, должен почитать для себя счастием, что в нем явился ''Сафонов'', человек во всяком случае выдающийся и серьёзный.

Когда возвращусь восвояси, попрошу Вас посетить меня и привезти с собой увертюру.

Jules a été pour moi à Paris mon soutien, ma joie, ma consolation. Je Vous aime bien tous les deux.

Bien à Vous,
{{right|P. Tschaïkovsky}}
Письмо Грингмута (какой он шут гороховый) и расписки привезу с собой.

|Translated text={{right|2/14 May 1891<br/>''[[New York]]''}}
{{centre|Dear [[Georgy Konyus|Georgy Eduardovich]]!}}
I received your letter here a whole week ago, and until now I haven't found a moment to reply. I wanted to go into all the particulars and details with you, — but, it seems that I'll have such a heartfelt conversation with you only when I return, and in person. What a fine, dear person you are! Until now I had vaguely sensed that you were a cut above — now I know this. Your letter was very, very moving, and delighted me. Although you need not have taken my comical review of your activities as a critic to heart. It is true that you seem to have overdone your praise for ''[[Safonov]]'' in that article, the story of which you recounted and which I read. But, firstly, the case you make in your defence, and the sincerity with which you acknowledge a certain excessive zeal in celebrating Safonian virtues, wholly reconciles me with you — and secondly, I am not, as you seem to have supposed, at all opposed to ''[[Safonov]]'' being lauded in the press. Safonov is an ''businessman'', something which the Musical Society has long needed. Much of his activities and his personality is unsympathetic to me, but I cannot but recognise he has energy, skill and talent, which I consider, in the absence of anything else, must be appreciated. In a town where caricatures such as ''Shostakovsky'' acquire admirers and are taken seriously, I must consider it fortunate for myself that ''[[Safonov]]'' has shown up, and he is in any case an important and serious person.

When I return home, I will ask you to visit me and bring your overture with you.

[[Yuly Konyus|Jules]] has been my moral support, my joy, my consolation in [[Paris]]. I love you both.

Yours ever,
{{right|P. Tchaikovsky}}
I'll bring with me Gringmut's letter (what a buffoon he is) and the receipts.
}}