Letter 4288a

Tchaikovsky Research
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Date 6/18 January 1891
Addressed to Louis Gallet
Where written Frolovskoye
Language French
Autograph Location Paris (France): Private collection
Publication Čajkovskijs Homosexualität und sein Tod. Legenden und Wirklichkeit (1998), p. 249–255

Text and Translation

Transcription of the French text and indication of errors given courtesy of Thomas Kohlhase [1].

French text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
6/18 Janvier 1891
Kline, près [de] Moscou

Cher Monsieur!

Votre lettre me procure l'occasion de Vous parler franchement sur un malentendu fatal qui existe entre le bon M[onsieu]r Détroyat, Vous et moi et que j'ai vainement taché d'eclaircir dans différentes lettres ecrites à M[onsieu]r Détroyat, qui dans son entrainement (infiniment flatteur pour moi) ne veut pas admettre, que malgré tout mon désir, toute ma reconnaissance pour son attention, — je suis forcé de remettre toujours à plus tard la mise en musique d'un libretto fait par lui et mis en vers par un poète aussi éminent, aussi parfait que Vous. Voici en quelques mots l'histoire de mes relations avec M. Détroyat. J'ai fait sa connaissance il y a 5 ans. Dès notre premiere entrevue il a eu l'extrème complaisance de manifester le désir de faire pour moi un poème d'opera. Il a commencé par m'envoyer la Circassienne, puis Marie Tudor[,] puis le scenario d'un grand ballet avec chant, puis encore un scenario dont j'ai oublié le sujet. Touts ces sujets ne convenant pas à ma nature musicale, j'ai dû renoncer à en faire la musique. Mais ce bon M[onsieu]r Détroyat n'en a été nullement blessé et, poussé par une foi peut ètre exagérée dans la mesure de mes moyens il a persévéré dans le desir de me faire faire un opera français et c'est alors que dans une de mes lettres je lui donnai l'idée de la ballade de Goethe Le Dieu et The Bayadere. Il en fit un scenario et … mais Vous savez le reste. Maintenant possédant le scenario et le premier acte d'un libretto qui me plait, dont les vers sont magnifiques, — il serait si simple et si naturel de se mettre à l'oeuvre! Mais ici commencent les empèchements. D'abord je ne puis pas composer toujours. J'avais une grande société de musique simphonique à administrer et diriger], j'ai des concerts en Russie et à l'etranger à conduire; de temps en temps l'excès de travail me force de me retirer et [de] rester oisif pendant plusieurs mois; mais l'obstacle principal sont les rapports qui existent entre moi et la Direction des Théatres Impériaux de Pétersbourg et Moscou. Il y a deux ans, juste quand j'allais commencer la musique de Sadia, la Direction Impériale me commanda un grand ballet en 4 actes; il y a un an cette même Direction me fit la commande d'un opera intitulé La Dame de Pique et qui déja a été representé; maintenant on veut que pour la saison prochaine je fasse un opera en un acte et un ballet en deux actes. Notez, cher Monsieur, que j'ai de grandes obligations vis à vis de la Direction Impériale, que c'est d'après les desirs formellement exprimés par l'Empereur que l'on m'adresse toutes ces commandes et qu'il est tout à fait impossible de refuser. Veuillez aussi prendre en considération la chose suivante. J'ai à ma pleine disposition deux magnifiques scènes lyriques: celle de Pétersbourg et celle de Moscou. On n'y demande que des oeuvres de moi. En écrivant pour ces Théatres, je suis dans mon élément car la scène lyrique russe a certaines traditions, certaines théories, pratiquées depuis longtemps, au quelles il m'est si facile et si naturel de me conformer! Puis-je, oubliant tout cela, — décliner les offres de la Direction Impériale et donner tout mon temps à un opera français, qui vraisemblablement ne sera representé sur aucune scène Parisienne, car jamais aucun Directeur n'a songe à m'adresser des propositions. Or, je ne suis pas à l'âge ou l'on fait des opéras dans le faible espoir que peu- ètre, Dieu sait quand, on les jouera. Si l'on etait sérieusement tenté de donner à Paris un opera de moi, que ne choisit-on pas un de mes operas russes tres faciles à traduire et qui offriraient pour les Parisiens l'intérèt de la couleur locale? Je ne sais pas ce que j'aurais fait si par exemple, le grand opera de Paris, me commandait une partition. Il est fort probable que[,] aiguilloné par l'ambition de se faire connaitre à Paris, flatté par l'honneur de mettre en musique des vers de Gallet, — je m'aurai arrangé de manière que l'acceptation de cete offre fut possible et que je me mette incontinent à composer pour Paris. Mais dans les conditions ou sont les choses maintenant, n'est-il pas naturel que je prefère travailler pour mon pays et que je remette toujours à plus tard la mise en musique de Sadia [?]

Oui, cher Monsieur, Sadia me plait, je veux bien en faire la musique[,] et si le bon Dieu me prète vie et santé je la ferai. Mais, jusqu'à présent je n'ai pas ecrit une note de cette partition future et Dieu sait quand je pourrai commencer. Tourmenté par l'idée que peut-ètre j'abusais de Votre grande condescendence et de la patience de M[onsieu]r Détroyat, je lui ecrivis il y a quelques mois que je lui suppliais de retirer de chez moi Sadia et de la donner à un musicien français qui serait on ne peut plus content de posséder un livret d'une aussi grand valeur, mais M. Détroyat me repondit qu'il ne voulait pas en entendre parler. Vous ne sauriez croire combien l'attention et la confiance inébranlable qu'a en moi M. Détroyat me touche et m'honore—mais vu les circonstances, je serais plus tranquille si dans Votre juste indignation, Vous me refusiez de continuer la mise en vers de Sadia. J'ai accepté l'offre de la Direction Impériale (qui doit ètre considéré par moi comme un ordre de l'Empereur) de faire les partitions d'opéra et de ballet dont je Vous ai fait mention plus haut et voila la musique de Sadia de nouveau remise aux calendes grecques! Résumons. Si, partageant avec M[onsieu]r Détroyat la confiance dont il m'honore, Vous me faites l'honneur de tenir à ce que je sois le musicien préféré pour Sadia, veuillez[,] cher et bon M[onsieu]r Gallet[,] continuer peu à peu, à terminer Votre tâche de manière que je possède tout le livret et que j'aie la possibilité de me mettre à l'oeuvre dès que je le pourrai; ou bien, pardonnez moi et retirez ce que Vous avez deja fait! Dans tous les cas sachez, très respecté Monsieur, que je sais combien je Vous suis redevable, que je ne suis pas un ingrat et que je serai fort malheureux si j'apprenais que Vous m'en vouliez. Ce que je puis formellement promettre, — c'est que [je] ferai la musique de Sadia dès que je le pourrai. Je tacherai dans tous les cas que pour la saison 1892-1893 l'on se passe de moi à Petersbourg, et j'espère que dans un an je pourrai enfin sérieusement me mettre à l'oeuvre et meriter l'honneur que Vous m'avez fait d'avoir consenti à collaborer avec moi. De grâce[,] pardonnez moi et veuillez croire à la haute estime et le grand respect qu'a pour Vous

P. Tschaïkovsky

PS. Mon opera la Dame de Pique que l'on vient de monter sur la scène de Pétersbourg est très scénique, très beau comme sujet (il est de Pouschkine), très interessant. On dit que j'ai réussi à le mettre en musique. M[onsieu]r Détroyat ne pourrait-il pas l'adapter pour la scène française, ne pourriez Vous pas le mettre en vers, et ne se trouverait-il pas un directeur qui à ses risques et périls le représentat à Paris? Je pourrai à chaque moment fournir la traduction littérale du texte russe. Qui sait, cet opera aurait peut-etre du succès, et alors, le sort de Sadia serait assuré. Si ce Post-scriptum est insensé, veuillez m'excuser!!!

6/18 January 1891
Klin, near Moscow

Dear Monsieur!

Your letter provides me with an opportunity to talk to you frankly about a fateful misunderstanding between good Monsieur Détroyat, yourself, and me, which I have in vain sought to clear up in various letters to Monsieur Détroyat, who in his (for me endlessly flattering) enthusiasm doesn't want to accept that, despite my own wishes and all my gratitude for his obligingness, I am forced to keep postponing over and over again the task of setting to music a libretto made by him and versified by so eminent and perfect a poet as you. Here in a few words is the story of my dealings with Monsieur Détroyat. I made his acquaintance five years ago [2]. From our first conversation he had the extreme kindness to manifest his wish to write an opera libretto for me. He started by sending me La Circassienne [3], then Marie Tudor, then the scenario for a grand ballet with singing [4], then another scenario whose subject I have forgotten. Since all these subjects did not suit my musical nature, I had to abstain from setting them to music. But the good Monsieur Détroyat did not feel hurt by this in any way, and, driven by a possibly exaggerated faith in the scope of my capacities, he persevered in his wish to make me write a French opera, and it was then that in one of my letters I gave him the idea of using Goethe's ballad Der Gott und die Bajadere [5]. He made a scenario out of it and … but you know the rest. Now that I have the scenario and the first act of a libretto which I like, and the verses of which are magnificent, it would be so simple and natural to set to work! Yet it is here that the obstacles begin. First of all, I cannot compose all the time. I had to prepare a large symphony concert, I have to conduct concerts in Russia and abroad; from time to time my excessive work forces me to retire and remain idle for several months; but the chief obstacle consists in the ties that subsist between me and the Directorate of Imperial Theatres in Petersburg and Moscow. Two years ago, precisely as I was about to make a start on the music to Sadia, the Imperial Directorate commissioned me to write a grand ballet in four acts [6]; a year ago, this same Directorate commissioned me to write an opera entitled The Queen of Spades, which has now already been staged; at present they want me to compose a one-act opera and a ballet in two acts [7] for the coming season. Please note, dear Monsieur, that I have great obligations with regard to the Imperial Directorate, that it is in accordance with the Emperor's formally expressed wishes that I am given all these commissions, and that it is utterly impossible to turn them down. Please also take into account the following. I have at my complete disposal two magnificent opera stages: that of Petersburg and that of Moscow. In both places they ask for no works other than mine. When writing for these theatres I am in my natural element, because the Russian opera stage has certain traditions, certain theories which have been observed for a long time, and to which it is so easy and natural for me to adapt myself! Can I, disregarding all this, turn down the offers from the Imperial Directorate and give up all my time to a French opera which will probably not be produced on any Parisian stage, since no director there has ever thought of making me an offer? Besides, I am no longer at such an age where one writes operas in the faint hope that perhaps, God knows when, they will be performed. If there is a genuine demand in Paris for producing an opera by me, why not choose one of my Russian operas, which are very easy to translate, and which would have the interest of local colour for the Parisians? I don't know what I would have done if, say, the Grand Opera of Paris had commissioned a score from me. It is very likely that, spurred on by the ambition of making myself known in Paris, flattered by the honour of setting to music verses by Gallet, I would have arranged matters so as to make it possible for me to accept such an offer, and I would have immediately set about composing for Paris. Given the present state of circumstances, however, is it not understandable that I should prefer to work for my country and that I keep postponing the task of setting Sadia to music?

Yes, dear Monsieur, I like Sadia, I very much want to write the music for it, and if God grants me life and good health, I shall do so. But so far I have not written a single note of this future score, and God knows when I will be able to make a start. Tormented by the thought that perhaps I was abusing your great obligingness and Monsieur Détroyat's patience, I wrote to him some months ago to say that I begged him to take back Sadia from me and to give her to a French musician who would be ever so happy to possess a libretto of such great value. Monsieur Détroyat, however, replied that he didn't want to hear anything of the sort. You cannot imagine how much the consideration and the unshakeable confidence which Monsieur Détroyat shows with respect to me touches and honours me, but in view of the circumstances it would set my mind at rest if, in your legitimate indignation, you were to refuse to continue to versify the libretto for Sadia. I have accepted the Imperial Directorate's offer (which I have to take as an order from the Emperor) to write the scores for the opera and ballet I mentioned to you earlier, and this means that yet again the music for Sadia has to be postponed indefinitely! Let us sum up: If you share the confidence with which Monsieur Détroyat honours me and yourself do me the honour of still preferring to have me as the composer for Sadia, then, dear and good Monsieur Gallet, please complete your task little by little, so that I can have the whole libretto, which would allow me to set to work on it as soon as I am able to; otherwise, forgive me and take back what you have already produced for me! In any case be assured, much respect Monsieur, that I know how much I am obliged to you, that I am not an ungrateful person, and that I would be very unhappy if I were to find out that you are angry with me. What I can formally promise is this: that I will write the music for Sadia as soon as I am able to. I shall in any case try to make sure that Petersburg has to do without me for the 1892-1893 season, and I hope that within a year I shall finally be able to set to work in earnest and to prove myself worthy of the honour which you have shown me by consenting to work with me. I beg your forbearance and forgiveness, and ask you to rest assured of the high esteem and great respect which I have for you.

P. Tchaikovsky

PS. My opera The Queen of Spades, which has just been produced in Petersburg, is very effective on the stage, has a very fine plot (it is by Pushkin), and is very interesting. People say that I have been successful in setting it to music. Couldn't Monsieur Détroyat adapt it for the French stage, couldn't you versify it accordingly, and would it not be possible to find a director willing to produce it in Paris at his own expense and risk? I could at any moment provide a literal translation of the Russian text. Who knows, this opera might perhaps be successful, and then the success of Sadia would be guaranteed. If this postscript is crazy, please do forgive me!!! [8]

Notes and References

  1. Published in Paris vaut bien une messe! Bisher unbekannte Briefe, Notenautographie und andere Čajkovskij-Funde (1998), p. 249–255. The following notes are also based on Professor Kohlhase's commentary in this publication.
  2. Tchaikovsky met Détroyat in Paris on 17 June 1886 [N.S.] at a soirée organized by the famous pianist and teacher Antoine François Marmontel. In the entry in Tchaikovsky's diary for 5/17 June 1886 we read: "Détroyat, the librettist, a stout jolly fellow offering me a libretto". Translated by Wladimir Lakond in The Diaries of Tchaikovsky (1973), p. 85.
  3. Détroyat's libretto was based on a short story entitled Les amours du Cosaque et de la Géorgienne (by an unidentified author) which appeared in the Revue Britannique in 1828, as he himself explained to Tchaikovsky in a letter from Paris on 3 June 1888 [N.S.]. See Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты (1970), p. 115. Tchaikovsky had soon rejected that libretto as unsuitable (see Letter 3563b to Détroyat, 10/22 May 1888).
  4. Mefistofela, based on Heine's poem Der Doktor Faust.
  5. Goethe's poem would serve as the basis for Détroyat's scenario for an opera that Tchaikovsky never got round to writing: La Courtisane, or Sadia.
  6. The Sleeping Beauty.
  7. Iolanta and The Nutcracker.
  8. Louis Gallet replied promptly to this letter from Tchaikovsky, and explained in his letter, dated 23 January 1891 [N.S.], that Détroyat had been unrealistic in his expectations and had even misinformed him (claiming that Tchaikovsky was already eagerly working on Sadia!). Gallet said that he understood Tchaikovsky was too busy at the time to take up the Sadia project, but that he was willing to complete the libretto if Tchaikovsky so wished; if not, he would abandon the idea altogether. He added that he would write to Détroyat, asking him to find an opera-house in Paris which would undertake to commission the score from Tchaikovsky and to stage the opera upon its completion. Gallet also said that he was very keen to adapt one of Tchaikovsky's existing operas, such as The Queen of Spades, for the French stage and offered him his services. Gallet's reply is to be found accompanying the first publication of this letter of Tchaikovsky's to him in Paris vaut bien une messe! Bisher unbekannte Briefe, Notenautographie und andere Čajkovskij-Funde (1998), p. 255–258.