Karl Albrecht
Cellist and teacher (b. 4 October 1836 [N.S.] in Elberfeld, Prussia; d. 14/26 June 1893 in Moscow), known in Russia as Konstantin Karlovich Albrekht (Константин Карлович Альбрехт).
Karl was the son of the German conductor and composer Karl Albrecht (1807–1863), and older brother to Eugen Albrecht (1842–1894). In 1838, the Albrecht family moved from Düsseldorf to Saint Petersburg, where they became naturalised Russian citizens. Karl's father conducted the premiere of Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Saint Petersburg Bolshoi Theatre in 1842.
The younger Karl followed in his father's musical footsteps, and became a cellist with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1854. Here he worked with Nikolay Rubinstein to help found the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society in 1860, becoming a teacher in the society's music classes. After the opening of the Moscow Conservatory in 1866, Albrecht was appointed as supervisor and instructor in choral singing and elementary theory, a position he held until 1889. It was at the Conservatory that Tchaikovsky and Albrecht first met as fellow tutors, and the two men remained good friends for the rest of their lives.
In 1878, Albrecht also helped to found the Russian Choral Society in Moscow, and while working at the Conservatory he also produced a Manual of Choral Singing after the Numerical Method of Chevé (Руководство к хоровому пению по цифирной методе Шеве) and Collections of Choral Pieces for Single and Mixed Voices (Сборники хоровых пьес, для однородных и смешанных голосов), to which Tchaikovsky contributed the choruses Spring, Evening, and Blessed is He Who Smiles. Albrecht also compiled and published catalogues of selected works by Beethoven, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and Glinka.
Tchaikovsky's letters show that he thought highly of Albrecht's musical abilities, and regretted that the latter had chosen not to develop them further.
Dedications
Two of Tchaikovsky's compositions were dedicated to Karl Albrecht:
- Modern Greek Song — No. 6 of the Six Romances, Op. 16 (1872–73)
- Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 48 (1880).
Correspondence with Tchaikovsky
97 letters from Tchaikovsky to Karl Albrecht have survived, dating from 1869 to 1892, all of which have been translated into English on this website:
- Letter 174 – December 1869, from Moscow
- Letter 175 – December 1869, from Moscow
- Letter 186 – March 1870, from Moscow
- Letter 220 – 1870, from Moscow
- Letter 221 – 1870, from Moscow
- Letter 222 – 1870, from Moscow
- Letter 223 – 1870 (?), from Moscow
- Letter 246 – November or December 1871, from Moscow
- Letter 246a – November or December 1871, from Moscow
- Letter 247 – 1871, from Moscow
- Letter 248a – between 1871 and 1877 (?), from Moscow
- Letter 272 – August–September 1872, from Moscow
- Letter 281 – 1872, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Albrecht and Nikolay Rubinstein)
- Letter 307 – 16/28 May 1873, from Moscow
- Letter 331 – by 6/18 December 1873, from Moscow
- Letter 342 – 24 March/5 April 1874, from Saint Petersburg
- Letter 343 – 25 March/6 April 1874, from Saint Petersburg
- Letter 344 – 25 March/6 April 1874, from Saint Petersburg
- Letter 357 – late August/early September 1874, from Usovo
- Letter 430 – 1875, from Moscow
- Letter 431 – 1875, from Moscow
- Letter 432a – 1875 (?), from Moscow (?)
- Letter 448 – February 1876, from Moscow
- Letter 458 – 28 March/9 April 1876 (?), from Moscow
- Letter 466 – 2/14 June 1876, from Kiev
- Letter 474 – 16/28 June 1876, from Kamenka
- Letter 477 – 2/14 July 1876, from Vichy
- Letter 530 – 1876, from Moscow
- Letter 547a – March or April 1877, from Moscow
- Letter 600 – between 11/23 September and 24 September/6 October 1877, from Moscow
- Letter 605 – 24 September/6 October 1877, from Moscow
- Letter 606 – 24 September/6 October 1877, from Moscow
- Letter 608 – 1/13 October 1877, from Saint Petersburg
- Letter 624 – 25 October/6 November 1877, from Clarens
- Letter 653 – 21 November/3 December 1877, from Vienna
- Letter 671 – 3/15 December 1877, from Venice
- Letter 687 – 12/24 December 1877, from Venice
- Letter 694 – 20 December 1877/1 January 1878, from San Remo
- Letter 720 – 8/20 January 1878, from San Remo
- Letter 731 – 17/29 January 1878, from San Remo
- Letter 748 – 3/15 February 1878, from San Remo
- Letter 760 – 14/26 February 1878, from Florence
- Letter 781 – 9/21 March 1878, from Clarens
- Letter 877 – 22 July/3 August 1878, from Verbovka
- Letter 905 – 31 August/12 September 1878, from Moscow
- Letter 990 – 29 November/10 December 1878, from Florence
- Letter 999 – 3/15 December 1878, from Florence
- Letter 1030 – 20 December 1878/1 January 1879, from Paris
- Letter 1158 – 19 April/1 May 1879, from Kamenka
- Letter 1398 – 6/18 January 1880, from Rome
- Letter 1518 – 24 June/6 July 1880, from Kamenka
- Letter 1569 – 24 August/5 September 1880, from Kamenka
- Letter 1630 – mid/late November 1880, from Moscow
- Letter 1633 – between 27 November/9 December and 2/14 December 1880, from Saint Petersburg
- Letter 1639 – between 8/20 December 1880 and 21 December 1880/2 January 1881, from Moscow
- Letter 1650 – 18/30 December 1880, from Moscow
- Letter 1663 – 3/15 January 1881, from Kamenka
- Letter 1675 – 7/19 February 1881, from Saint Petersburg
- Letter 2003 – 5/17 or 12/24 April 1882, from Moscow
- Letter 2094 – 1/13 September 1882, from Kamenka
- Letter 2327 – 11/23 August 1883, from Podushkino
- Letter 2368 – 17/29 October 1883, from Kiev
- Letter 2406 – 3/15 January 1884, from Moscow
- Letter 2476 – 26 April/8 May 1884, from Kamenka
- Letter 2634 – 1884, from Moscow
- Letter 2676 – 27 March/8 April 1885, from Moscow
- Letter 2706 – 9/21 May 1885, from Maydanovo
- Letter 2716 – 3/15 June 1885, from Maydanovo
- Letter 2780 – 30 September/12 October 1885, from Maydanovo
- Letter 2844 – 28 December 1885/9 January 1886, from Maydanovo
- Letter 2859 – 17/29–18/30 January 1886, from Maydanovo
- Letter 2883 – 13/25 February 1886, from Moscow
- Letter 3000 – 11/23 July 1886, from Maydanovo
- Letter 3021 – 2/14 August 1886, from Maydanovo
- Letter 3053 – 20 September/2 October 1886, from Maydanovo
- Letter 3125 – 20 December 1886/1 January 1887, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Albrecht and Sergey Taneyev)
- Letter 3145 – 14/26 January 1887, from Moscow
- Letter 3214 – 1/13 April 1887, from Maydanovo
- Letter 3238 – 24 April/6 May 1887, from Maydanovo
- Letter 3362 – 22 September/4 October 1887, from Moscow
- Letter 3403a – 17/29 November 1887 (?), from Moscow
- Letter 3428 – 2/14 December 1887, from Maydanovo
- Letter 3431 – 7/19 December 1887, from Maydanovo
- Letter 3852a – 11/23 May 1889 (?), from Moscow
- Letter 3853 – 12/24 May 1889, from Moscow
- Letter 3917a – 8/20 August 1889, from Moscow
- Letter 4141 – 12/24 June 1890, from Frolovskoye
- Letter 4313 – 23 January/4 February 1891, from Klin
- Letter 4411 – 16/28 June 1891, from Maydanovo
- Letter 4460 – 1/13 September 1891, from Moscow
- Letter 4485 – 27 September/9 October 1891, from Maydanovo
- Letter 4614 – 4/16 February 1892, from Maydanovo
- Letter 4636 – 9/21 March 1892, from Maydanovo
- Letter 4665 – 17/29 April 1892, from Moscow
- Letter 4669 – 22 April/4 May 1892, from Moscow
- Letter 4758 – 27 August/8 September 1892, from Klin
- Letter 4821 – 11/23 December 1892, from Saint Petersburg
27 letters from Albrecht to Tchaikovsky are also known, dating from 1877 to 1893, of which 26 are currently preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a4, Nos. 40–66), and one is held by the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (Ф-37-I-1112).
