Impromptu-Caprice and Letter 21: Difference between pages

Tchaikovsky Research
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Tchaikovsky's piano piece '''''Impromptu-Caprice''''', in G major ([[TH]] 144 ; [[ČW]] 181), was composed in September 1884 at [[Pleshcheyevo]].
{{letterhead
|Date=22 April/4 May 1851
|To=[[Aleksandra Tchaikovskaya]] and [[Ilya Tchaikovsky]]
|Place=[[Saint Petersburg]]  
|Language=Russian
|Autograph=[[Saint Petersburg]] (Russia): {{RUS-SPsc}} (ф. 834, ед. хр. 33, л. 25–26)
|Publication={{bib|1940/210|П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным ; том 1}} (1940), p. 23 <br/>{{bib|1959/50|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том V}} (1959), p. 26
|Notes=Spelling and punctuation errors in the original text have not been indicated. }}
==Text and Translation==
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Translator=Luis Sundkvist
|Original text={{right|22 апреля 1851 года}}
{{centre|Милые Папаша и Мамаша!}}
Сегодня мы у добрейшего Ив[ана] Ив[ановича] Вейца и останемся может быть до завтраго вечера.  


==Movements and Duration==
В Среду я был на балу в дворянском собрании с господином Berrard. Там было очень весело и я выиграл на фартунке маленькую статую, изобра[жа]ющую солдата в трехугольной шляпе и ризинку обделанную слоновой костью.  
There is one movement: Andantino (G major, 58 bars), lasting around two minutes in performance.


==Composition==
Третьего дня я получил от вас письмо, в котором вы верно помните, что вы писали мои Ангельчики и от которого я делал то же и что вы моя душичка Мамаша! и постараюсь исполнить то что вы мне писали.


On 3/15 September 1884, [[Louis de Fourcaud]], music critic of the French newspaper ''Gaulois'', approached Tchaikovsky in a letter he had also sent to a wide range of famous composers <ref name="note1"/>. Tchaikovsky related this to [[Nadezhda von Meck]] on 18/30 September 1884:  "I received from the editor of the [[Paris]] newspaper ''Gaulois'' a request to contribute to the publication of an album in aid of poor musicians. To refuse would have been awkward, and I spent the whole of today on composing a piece for this album" <ref name="note2"/>. The same day he sent the completed piano piece, named ''Impromptu-Caprice'', to [[Fourcaud]]  <ref name="note3"/>, who on 2/14 October 1884 thanked Tchaikovsky in very warm words  <ref name="note4"/>. The composer answered in rather short terms:
На балу я много танцовал и видел государя так близко как Папашин диван стоит от его конторки в кабинете; видите, как я все хорошо помню; я встретился также с Ф. С. Чернышевым, которой шел с нашим директором т. е. Языков[ым] — они друзья. Я узнал его сейчас но не хотел сказать; а он меня потом узнал и долго со мной говорил.
{{quote|Sir, I hope you will excuse me for being so tired by the rehearsals of my opera that I can only send you these few lines in response to your good and kind letter. I am deeply touched by your kindness towards me, and I thank you from my heart for your good wishes. As it is likely that in a fortnight I will have left for [[Moscow]], it is to there that the proofs of my piece should be sent. I promise you that I shall correct and return them to you forthwith <ref name="note5"/>.}}


In a subsequent letter to [[Nadezhda von Meck]] of 9/21 September 1886, Tchaikovsky described the ''Impromptu-Caprice'' and his other piano piece ''[[Dumka]]'' (composed in February 1886), as "trifles, written for special occasions" <ref name="note6"/>, and in his own words, not meriting serious consideration.
Прощайте милые и прекрасные мои Ангелы, целую вас с ног до головы и прошу вашего благословления! Ваш сын,
{{right|Пётр Чайковский}}


==Publication==
|Translated text={{right|22 April 1851}}
Arthur Meyer, the chief editor of ''Gaulois'', announced the new ''Album'' to his readers on 24 November 1884 {{NS}} and invited them to order it in time as a Christmas and New Year gift <ref name="note7"/>.  The album was advertised for sale from 15 December 1884  <ref name="note8"/>.  This date also appears in Meyer's preface to the album, and so the year of publication of the ''Impromptu-Caprice'' was 1884, rather than 1885 (as has often been stated).  
{{centre|Dear [[Papasha]] and [[Mamasha]]!}}
Today we are at the house of most kind Ivan Ivanovich Veits and we shall perhaps stay here until tomorrow evening <ref name="note1"/>.  


The cover title of the album was ''A ses abonnés—le Gaulois'', and inside: ''Album du Gaulois. Prime 1885''. A copy of the elegant volume is preserved in the composer's personal library at [[Klin]]. Tchaikovsky's contribution was published as No. 4, following piano pieces by [[Franz Liszt]], [[Anton Rubinstein]] and [[Giovanni Sgambati]], which shows his high ranking among 61 composers from all over Europe. He was introduced to the Parisian public by a not entirely accurate, but very cordial biographical note:
On Wednesday, I was at a ball in the Assembly of Nobility with Mr Bérard <ref name="note2"/>. It was very merry there, and at the tombola I won a small statuette depicting a soldier with a three-cornered hat, and an eraser set in ivory.


{{quote|We recall the remarkable effect produced, at the first Russian concert given at the Trocadéro palace, during the Universal Exposition of 1878, of Monsieur Tchaikovsky's [[Piano Concerto No. 1|piano concerto]], played by [[Nikolay Rubinstein]]. The author was already known for a range of instrumental compositions performed by Monsieur Pasdeloup and by Monsieur [[Colonne]]; but his concerto was a great sensation with the public. Since then the author's reputation has increased still further. Unfortunately we are unfamiliar with his dramatic scores, which are, it seems, his most important. Monsieur Tchaikovsky is currently the director of the [[Moscow]] Conservatory; he has just had a new opera, ''[[Yevgeny Onegin|Eugène Onéguine]]'', played in [[Saint Petersburg]], which we hear has many admirable pages <ref name="note9"/>.}}
The day before yesterday, I received a letter from you, in which you probably remember what you wrote, my little Angels, and as a result of which I did the same as you, my darling [[Mamasha]]! And I shall try to carry out everything that you wrote to me.


The ''Impromptu-Caprice'' appears to be the only one of Tchaikovsky's compositions to have received its first publication in [[Paris]]. The score was reprinted by [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] in August 1886. Since the autograph score of the piece is lost, the version in the ''Album du Gaulois'' deserves attention as primary source of this work. Compared with the edition offered by [[Jurgenson]], the French score has fewer misprints <ref name="note10"/>.  
At the ball I danced a lot and saw the sovereign [Nicholas I] as closely as Papa's divan is from the writing-desk in his study (see how I remember all that so well). I also met F. S. Chernyshev <ref name="note3"/>, who was walking [in the ball-room] with our director, that is, Yazykov <ref name="note4"/>: they are friends. I recognized him immediately but didn't want to say so; he did recognize me afterwards, and he spoke to me a long time.  


The score was reprinted by [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] in August 1886, and it appears in volume 53 of Tchaikovsky's ''[[Complete Collected Works]]'' (1949), edited by Anatoly Drozdov.
Goodbye, my dear and wonderful Angels; I kiss you from head to toe and ask for your blessing. Your son,
 
{{right|Pyotr Tchaikovsky }}
==Autographs==
}}
The manuscript score of the ''Impromptu-Caprice'' has been lost.
 
==Recordings==
{{reclink}}
 
==Dedications==
In Russian editions by [[Jurgenson]] the piece is dedicated to the publisher's wife, [[Sofiya Jurgenson]].
 
==External Links==
* {{imslpscore|Impromptu-Caprice_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr)|Impromptu-Caprice}}


==Notes and References==
==Notes and References==
<references>
<references>
<ref name="note1">Klin House-Museum archive (a{{sup|4}}, No. 4556). The letter is almost identical to that directed to [[Edvard Grieg]] — see {{bib|2011/14}} (2011), p. 45.</ref>
<ref name="note1">After their first guardian, Modest Alekseyevich Vakar (a friend of their father's), left [[Saint Petersburg]] in April 1851 to settle elsewhere, young Pyotr and his brother [[Nikolay]], two years his senior, were briefly under the tutelage of Ivan Ivanovich Veits, another close friend of [[Ilya Tchaikovsky]]'s. Pyotr and [[Nikolay]] were both boarders at their respective institutions — the School of Jurisprudence and the Mining College — but on Sundays and other holidays they were allowed to stay at their guardian's house.</ref>
<ref name="note2">[[Letter 2549]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 13/25–18/30 September 1884. The two main themes also appear in Tchaikovsky's sketchbook for 1884, under the heading "[[Imitation Russian Song]]". We are extremely grateful to Mr Simone Mantelli for this observation.</ref>
<ref name="note2">Joseph Bérard (known in Russia as Iosif Iosifovich Berar; 1800-1883) taught literature and French at the School of Jurisprudence, including in the preparatory class which Pyotr was attending at the time. He was the latter's favourite teacher. See {{bib|2009/16|Пётр Чайковский. Биография ; том. 1}} (2009), p. 46.</ref>
<ref name="note3">[[Letter 2550a]] to [[Louis de Fourcaud]], 18/30 September 1884.</ref>
<ref name="note3">Fyodor Sergeyevich Chernyshev (1805-1869), general in the imperial army and author of ''A Soldier's Tale'' (Солдатская сказка), which was very popular at the time — note based on information in {{bib|1940/210|П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным ; том 1}} (1940), p. 751.</ref>
<ref name="note4">See Lucinde Braun, {{bib|2014/3}} (2014), p. 183.</ref>
<ref name="note4">Major General Aleksandr Petrovich Yazykov (1802-1878), director of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence from 1849 to 1877; he had formerly been police commissioner in Riga and introduced strict disciplinary measures into the school. For more information on him and on the School of Jurisprudence generally, see {{bib|1993/186|Tchaikovsky. The quest for the inner man}} (1993), chapter 2, and the same author's more recent Russian book, {{bib|2009/16|Пётр Чайковский. Биография ; том. 1}} (2009), chapter 2.</ref>
<ref name="note5">[[Letter 2567]] to [[Louis de Fourcaud]], 12/24 October 1884.</ref>
<ref name="note6">[[Letter 3042]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 9/21 September 1886.</ref>
<ref name="note7">Arthur Meyer, 'L'Album-prime du Gaulois', in ''Le Gaulois'', 24 November 1884 {{NS}}, p. 1.</ref>
<ref name="note8">''Le Gaulois'', 15 December 1884 {{NS}}, p. 1.</ref>
<ref name="note9">''Album du Gaulois'' (Paris, 1884), p. 2. See also {{bib|2014/3}} (2014), p. 178-185.</ref>
<ref name="note10">See {{bib|2014/3}} (2014), p. 183.</ref>
</references>
</references>
[[Category:Piano Music]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 0021}}

Revision as of 16:15, 10 January 2024

Date 22 April/4 May 1851
Addressed to Aleksandra Tchaikovskaya and Ilya Tchaikovsky
Where written Saint Petersburg
Language Russian
Autograph Location Saint Petersburg (Russia): National Library of Russia (ф. 834, ед. хр. 33, л. 25–26)
Publication П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным (1940), p. 23
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 26
Notes Spelling and punctuation errors in the original text have not been indicated.

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original) 		English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
22 апреля 1851 года

Милые Папаша и Мамаша!

Сегодня мы у добрейшего Ив[ана] Ив[ановича] Вейца и останемся может быть до завтраго вечера.

В Среду я был на балу в дворянском собрании с господином Berrard. Там было очень весело и я выиграл на фартунке маленькую статую, изобра[жа]ющую солдата в трехугольной шляпе и ризинку обделанную слоновой костью.

Третьего дня я получил от вас письмо, в котором вы верно помните, что вы писали мои Ангельчики и от которого я делал то же и что вы моя душичка Мамаша! и постараюсь исполнить то что вы мне писали.

На балу я много танцовал и видел государя так близко как Папашин диван стоит от его конторки в кабинете; видите, как я все хорошо помню; я встретился также с Ф. С. Чернышевым, которой шел с нашим директором т. е. Языков[ым] — они друзья. Я узнал его сейчас но не хотел сказать; а он меня потом узнал и долго со мной говорил.

Прощайте милые и прекрасные мои Ангелы, целую вас с ног до головы и прошу вашего благословления! Ваш сын,

Пётр Чайковский
22 April 1851

Dear Papasha and Mamasha!

Today we are at the house of most kind Ivan Ivanovich Veits and we shall perhaps stay here until tomorrow evening [1].

On Wednesday, I was at a ball in the Assembly of Nobility with Mr Bérard [2]. It was very merry there, and at the tombola I won a small statuette depicting a soldier with a three-cornered hat, and an eraser set in ivory.

The day before yesterday, I received a letter from you, in which you probably remember what you wrote, my little Angels, and as a result of which I did the same as you, my darling Mamasha! And I shall try to carry out everything that you wrote to me.

At the ball I danced a lot and saw the sovereign [Nicholas I] as closely as Papa's divan is from the writing-desk in his study (see how I remember all that so well). I also met F. S. Chernyshev [3], who was walking [in the ball-room] with our director, that is, Yazykov [4]: they are friends. I recognized him immediately but didn't want to say so; he did recognize me afterwards, and he spoke to me a long time.

Goodbye, my dear and wonderful Angels; I kiss you from head to toe and ask for your blessing. Your son,

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. ↑ After their first guardian, Modest Alekseyevich Vakar (a friend of their father's), left Saint Petersburg in April 1851 to settle elsewhere, young Pyotr and his brother Nikolay, two years his senior, were briefly under the tutelage of Ivan Ivanovich Veits, another close friend of Ilya Tchaikovsky's. Pyotr and Nikolay were both boarders at their respective institutions — the School of Jurisprudence and the Mining College — but on Sundays and other holidays they were allowed to stay at their guardian's house.
  2. ↑ Joseph Bérard (known in Russia as Iosif Iosifovich Berar; 1800-1883) taught literature and French at the School of Jurisprudence, including in the preparatory class which Pyotr was attending at the time. He was the latter's favourite teacher. See Пётр Чайковский. Биография, том I (2009), p. 46.
  3. ↑ Fyodor Sergeyevich Chernyshev (1805-1869), general in the imperial army and author of A Soldier's Tale (Солдатская сказка), which was very popular at the time — note based on information in П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным (1940), p. 751.
  4. ↑ Major General Aleksandr Petrovich Yazykov (1802-1878), director of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence from 1849 to 1877; he had formerly been police commissioner in Riga and introduced strict disciplinary measures into the school. For more information on him and on the School of Jurisprudence generally, see Tchaikovsky. The quest for the inner man (1993), chapter 2, and the same author's more recent Russian book, Пётр Чайковский. Биография, том I (2009), chapter 2.
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