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| German acquaintance of the composer (b. '''''Mathilde Hilb''''').
| | <includeonly>Театральное эхо. Иоланта</includeonly><noinclude> {{bibitem |id=1892/6 |Contributors=Baskin, Vladimir Sergeyevich, 1855-1919 (author) |Title=Театральное эхо. Иоланта |In=Петербургская газета [Saint Petersburg] |Edition=8 December 1892 {{OS}} |Imprint=1892 |Format=Article |Language=Russian |Notes=The first production of the opera [[Iolanta]], on 6/18 December 1892 in Saint Petersburg }} [[Category:Bibliography (1892)]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Bibliography (1892/006)}}</noinclude> |
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| The daughter of a merchant from Karlsruhe, she married the cellist [[Bernhard Cossmann]] (1822–1910), who from 1866 to 1870 had taught at the [[Moscow]] Conservatory (where Tchaikovsky was his colleague) before he decided to return to Germany with his family. They had settled first in Baden-Baden, but in 1878 they moved to [[Frankfurt-am-Main]], where [[Bernhard Cossmann|Cossmann]] became one of the co-founders of the Hoch Conservatory. Mathilde and her husband had at least two children: a son, [[Paul Cossmann|Paul]] (1869–1942), and a daughter, [[Lulu Cossmann|Lulu]], both of whom were close friends of the composer Hans Pfitzner (1869–1949) in his early years.
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| In 1889, while in [[Frankfurt]], Tchaikovsky met the elder Cossmann at rehearsals for his concert, and the composer was invited to dine with his former colleague later that evening. The two men had evidently not met since [[Bernhard Cossmann|Cossmann]]'s departure from Russia in 1870. An entry in Tchaikovsky's diary for 2/14 February 1889 reads: "Dinner at [[Bernhard Cossmann|Cossmann]]'s. He has aged awfully. Pleasing wife and daughters. [...] Home. Unpleasant realization of failure. At [[Bernhard Cossmann|Cossmann]]'s. Supper" <ref name="note1"/>. The cellist and his wife had also seen Tchaikovsky off on the day of his departure from [[Frankfurt]] on 4/16 February, as he duly recorded in his diary: "With Madame Cossmann to the railroad station. Lunch. Knorr, he and his wife, and old [[Bernhard Cossmann|Cossmann]]" <ref name="note2"/>. The composer is known to have written to Mathilde Cossmann on at least one occasion soon after this meeting. | |
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| ==Correspondence with Tchaikovsky==
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| One letter from Tchaikovsky to Mathilde Cossmann has survived, dating from 1889, and has been translated into English on this website:
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| * '''[[Letter 3819a]]''' – 5/17 March 1889, from [[Hannover]].
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| ==Notes and References==
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| <references>
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| <ref name="note1">Diary entry for 2/14 February 1889. Here quoted from {{bib|1973/106|The Diaries of Tchaikovsky}} (1973), p. 258.</ref>
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| <ref name="note2">Diary entry for 4/16 February 1889. Here quoted from {{bib|1973/106|The Diaries of Tchaikovsky}} (1973), p. 259.</ref>
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| </references> | |
| [[Category:People|Cossmann, Mathilde]]
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| [[Category:Correspondents|Cossmann, Mathilde]]
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