Vladimir Stasov

Vladimir Stasov (1824-1906), in an 1873 portrait by Ilya Repin

Russian art historian and critic (b. 2/14 January 1824 in Saint Petersburg; d. 10/23 October 1906 in Saint Petersburg), born Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov (Владимир Васильевич Стасов).

Tchaikovsky and Stasov

The son of the architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov (1769–1848), he graduated from the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in 1843, and was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1859. He sought to rid art and music of western influences, and was a mentor to the group of nationalistic composers known as "The Five". He considered Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 (1872) to be "one of the most important creations of the entire Russian school", and encouraged the young composer to write his fantasia The Tempest (1873), which is dedicated to Stasov. Although the two men retained a deep mutual respect, Stasov was disappointed that Tchaikovsky continued to follow western traditions in many of his compositions.

From 1872 Stasov was director of the arts section of the Saint Petersburg Public Library, and in 1884 he asked Tchaikovsky to donate the manuscripts of his works to that institution (a suggestion welcomed by the composer, but thwarted by his publisher, Pyotr Jurgenson).

Stasov was made an honorary fellow of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1900. He died on 10/23 October 1906 in Saint Petersburg, and is buried in the city's Aleksandr Nevsky cemetery.

Dedications

As noted above, Tchaikovsky dedicated his symphonic fantasia The Tempest, Op. 18 (1873), to Vladimir Stasov.

Correspondence with Tchaikovsky

22 letters from Tchaikovsky to Vladimir Stasov have survived, dating from 1873 to 1893, of which those highlighted in bold have been translated into English on this website:

• Letter 286 – 15/27 January 1873, from Moscow
• Letter 287 – 27 January/8 February 1873, from Moscow
• Letter 365 – 28 September/10 October 1874, from Moscow
• Letter 370 – 16/28 November 1874, from Moscow
• Letter 520 – 11/23 December 1876, from Moscow
• Letter 525 – 1931 December 1876, from Moscow
• Letter 541 – 9/21 February 1877, from Moscow
• Letter 548 – 8/20 April 1877, from Moscow
• Letter 552 – 29 April/11 May 1877, from Moscow
• Letter 1072 – 18/30 January 1879, from Clarens
• Letter 1087 – 29 January/10 February 1879, from Clarens
• Letter 2595 – 17/29 November 1884, from Davos
• Letter 2603 – 23 November/5 December 1884, from Paris
• Letter 2604 – 23 November/5 December 1884, from Paris
• Letter 2609 – 30 November/12 December 1884, from Paris
• Letter 2616 – 3/15 December 1884, from Paris
• Letter 2822 – 27 November/9 December 1885, from Maydanovo
• Letter 2827 – 5/17 or 6/18 December 1885 (?), from Maydanovo
• Letter 3114 – 2/14 December 1886, from Moscow
• Letter 3193 – 8/20 March 1887, from Saint Petersburg
• Letter 3246 – 29 April/11 May 1887, from Maydanovo
• Letter 4869 – 16/28 February 1893, from Moscow

21 letters from Stasov to Tchaikovsky have survived, dating from 1874 to 1893, of which 19 are preserved in the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg, and 2 in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a⁴, Nos. 4205–4206).

Bibliography

• Хроника (1869)
• В. В. Стасов и П. И. Чайковский. Неизданные письма (1909)
• Стасов и Чайковский (1927)
• Письма В. В. Стасова к А. Н. Молас (1949)
• Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-93) (1965)
• М. Чайковский—В. Комаровой-Стасовой (1965)
• Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-93) (1966)
• Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-93) (1978)
• Nationalism, modernism and personal rivalry in nineteenth-century Russian music (1981)
• Tschaikowsky. Ein Anhänger der Religion bedingungsloser Schönheit (1994)
• Peter ljitsch Tschaikowsky. Ein Fazit (1994)
• Čajkovskij und das Mächtige Häuflein (1995)

External Links

• Wikipedia
• VIAF