Letter 3337
| Date | 3/15 September 1887 |
|---|---|
| Addressed to | Emiliya Pavlovskaya |
| Where written | Maydanovo |
| Language | Russian |
| Autograph Location | Moscow (Russia): Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum (Pavlovskaya collection) |
| Publication | Чайковский на Московской сцене (1940), p. 401 П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XIV (1974), p. 205–206 |
Text and Translation
| Russian text (original) |
English translation By Luis Sundkvist |
3 сентября [18]87 г[ода] Дорогая Эмилия Карловна!
Спасибо за милейшее письмо Ваше. Как бы ни хотелось отдохнуть, — а вижу, что съездить необходимо. Да кстати уж нужно 8-го числа быть на юбилее Петербургской консерватории. Я решил выехать 6-го числа вечером. Всё 7-ое число посвящу «Чародейке», т. е. решу все: недоразумения и, по мере возможности, сделаю те перемены, которые желательны для партий Князя и Княгини., а затем до начала репетиций уеду опять сюда. Решительно не понимаю, почему М. А. Славина не получила моего письма. Оно был заказное и было адресовано в Театральную контору. Если поискать, то и квитанция у меня найдётся. Впрочем, я хорошо помню все перемены и в понедельник сообщу их ей. 30-го числа я был уже здесь, а 29 был действительно в Петербурге, или, лучше сказать, в Петергофе, у жены моего умирающего друга. Вечером выехал. Я приехал в Россию 6 совсем больной и расстроенный, но достаточно было провести 3 дня в деревне, чтобы совершенно, выздороветь. До свиданья милая, дорогая благодетельница. Ваш, П. Чайковский Чтобы не беспокоить Вас, я приду к Вам в понедельник не ранее 4-х часов, а утром повидаю Эдуарда Франц[евича] к Ген[надия] Петр[овича]. |
3 September 1887 Dear Emiliya Karlovna!
Thank you for your ever so sweet letter. Although I had very much wanted to rest, I can see that is essential for me to come [to Saint Petersburg] [1]. Besides, on the 8th I have to be there anyway for the Petersburg Conservatory's jubilee [2]. I have decided to leave on the evening of the 6th. I shall devote the whole of the following day to "The Enchantress", that is, I will clear up all the misunderstandings and, as far as possible, make those modifications which are seen as desirable in the parts of the Prince and Princess. After that I shall come back here again until the start of the rehearsals. I really do not understand why M. A. Slavina has not received my letter [3]. It was a registered letter and was addressed to the Theatres' Office. If I were to look for the receipt, I am sure I would find it. Anyway, I remember all the modifications very well, and on Monday I'll tell her about them. On the 30th I was already back here, but on the 29th I was indeed in Petersburg [4], or rather, in Peterhof, where I visited the wife of my dying friend [5]. I left in the evening. I arrived in Russia quite sick and upset, but the three days I have now spent in the countryside have proved sufficient for me to recover completely. See you soon, my dear and cherished benefactress [6]. Yours, P. Tchaikovsky So as not to trouble you, I shall come to your place on Monday after 4 o'clock; in the morning I shall go and see Eduard Frantsevich and Gennady Petrovich. |
Notes and References
- ↑ In her letter to Tchaikovsky of 2/14 September 1887 Emiliya Pavlovskaya explained that the first rehearsals for The Enchantress had been postponed until the end of September, but that the chief director of the Imperial Theatres, Gennady Kondratyev, wanted Tchaikovsky to come to Saint Petersburg earlier to sort out some problems with the tessitura of the parts of the Prince and the Princess. Pavlovskaya's letter has been published in Чайковский на московской сцене (1940), p. 399–400.
- ↑ The 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
- ↑ See Letter 3314 to Mariya Slavina, 8/20 August 1887. In this letter Tchaikovsky outlined some possible modifications to the part of the Princess in The Enchantress, which Slavina, who was due to sing that role at the opera's premiere, had requested.
- ↑ At the end of her letter of 2/14 September 1887 Pavlovskaya had asked whether it was true that Tchaikovsky had been in Saint Petersburg on 30 August/11 September. She was evidently surprised that he had not called on her after his return to Russia from abroad.
- ↑ Mariya Kondratyeva, wife of Nikolay Kondratyev.
- ↑ From his earliest letters to Pavlovskaya Tchaikovsky had called her his "benefactress", thereby emphasizing how grateful he was to her for her enthusiastic attitude towards Mazepa (in which she created the role of Mariya at the opera's premiere), as well as towards Yevgeny Onegin, in which she sang Tatyana many times.
