View source for Vasily Bessel

{{picture|file=Bessel_Vasily.jpg|caption='''Vasily Bessel''' (1843–1907)}}
Russian music publisher, violist and music critic (b. 13/25 April 1843 in [[Saint Petersburg]]; d. 1 March 1907 {{NS}} at [[Zurich]]), born '''''Vasily Vasilyevich Bessel''''' (Василий Васильевич Бессель).

==Tchaikovsky and Bessel==
Bessel was a contemporary of Tchaikovsky's at the [[Saint Petersburg]] Conservatory, where he studied the violin with Wienawski and music theory with [[Nikolay Zaremba]], graduating from Ieronim Veikman's viola class in 1865. In November that same year, Bessel had performed the viola part at the premiere of Tchaikovsky's [[String Quartet in B-flat major]]. From 1866 to 1874 he played the viola in the ballet orchestra of the Imperial Theatres.

In 1869, together with his brother Ivan, he founded the firm V. Bessel & Co. (В. Бессель и Ко.), opening a music shop on the Nevsky Prospekt, which by 1871 had become a thriving publishing house. At this time Bessel commissioned Tchaikovsky to make piano duet arrangements of two orchestral works by [[Anton Rubinstein]] — ''[[Ivan the Terrible (Rubinstein)|Ivan the Terrible]]'' and ''[[Don Quixote (Rubinstein)|Don Quixote]]'' — and he also offered to publish Tchaikovsky's new opera ''[[The Oprichnik]]'' (1870–72), which had still not yet been performed; given the failures of his two previous operas, Tchaikovsky was only too happy to accept this proposal, and hastily signed an agreement transferring to Bessel all rights to the work (a move he would later regret).

In 1872, Bessel was granted permission to publish piano transcriptions of Tchaikovsky's overture-fantasia ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' (the full score having been printed by [[Bote & Bock]] in [[Berlin]]), and the [[Symphony No. 2]], Op. 17 (1872). The delay in issuing the full score of the latter work (which eventually appeared in 1881, after Tchaikovsky had revised the symphony), was one of the two main reasons for the breakdown in relations with Bessel, the other being the rights to ''[[The Oprichnik]]''. The only other of the composer's works to be issued by Bessel were the [[Six Romances, Op. 16]] (1872–73), [[Six Pieces on a Single Theme, Op. 21]] (1873), and [[Six Romances, Op. 25]] (1875). Thereafter Tchaikovsky's works in Russia were published almost exclusively by [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] in [[Moscow]].

Bessel also published and edited the journals ''Musical Leaflet'' (Музыкальный листок) from 1872 to 1877, and published the ''Music Review'' (Музыкальное обозрение) from 1885 to 1889. He contributed his own articles to both titles, and also to the German journals ''Neue allgemeine Musik-Zeitung'' and ''Neue Musik-Zeitung'' (1878–1887). In 1901, he brought out his own book on music publishing — ''Music matters'' (Нотное дело).

After Bessel's death in 1907, the firm was managed by his sons Vasily and Aleksandr, who moved the business to [[Paris]] in 1920 after the Russian revolution.

==Correspondence with Tchaikovsky==
56 letters from Tchaikovsky to Vasily Bessel have survived, dating from 1869 to 1891, all of which have been translated into English on this website:
* '''[[Letter 171]]''' – 21 December 1869/2 January 1870, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 216]]''' – 25 November/7 December 1870, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 225]]''' – 9/21 January 1871, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 284]]''' – 2/14 January 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 290]]''' – 21 February/5 March 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 292]]''' – 4/16 March 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 293]]''' – 7/19 March 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 295]]''' – around 20 March/1 April 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 296]]''' – 25 March/6 April 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 299]]''' – 21 April/3 May 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 303]]''' – 1/13 May 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 304]]''' – 1/13 May 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 305]]''' – by 11/23 May 1873, from [[Saint Petersburg]]
* '''[[Letter 308]]''' – 16/28 May 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 311]]''' – 24 May/5 June 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 317]]''' – 3/15 September 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 321]]''' – 10/22 October 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 322]]''' – 18/30 October 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 323]]''' – 30 October/11 November 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 324]]''' – 5/17 November 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 326]]''' – 28 November/10 December 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 332]]''' – 6/18 December 1873, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 335]]''' – early/mid-January 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 337]]''' – late January/early February or early/mid-February 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 338]]''' – between 4/16 and 10/22 February 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 339]]''' – 18 February/2 March 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 341]]''' – mid/late March 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 352]]''' – 18/30 May 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 353]]''' – 30 May/11 June 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 358]]''' – 4/16 September 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 360]]''' – 13/25 September 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 366]]''' – 19/31 October 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 369]]''' – 9/21 November 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 376]]''' – 17/29 December 1874, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 396]]''' – 22 March/3 April 1875, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 407]]''' – 8/20 July 1875, from [[Nizy]]
* '''[[Letter 511]]''' – between 2/14 and 10/22 November 1876, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 1386]]''' – 21 December 1879/2 January 1880, from [[Rome]]
* '''[[Letter 1413]]''' – 25 January/6 February 1880, from [[Rome]]
* '''[[Letter 1446]]''' – 13/25 March 1880, from [[Saint Petersburg]]
* '''[[Letter 1463]]''' – 1/13 April 1880, from [[Saint Petersburg]]
* '''[[Letter 1470]]''' – 7/19 April 1880, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 1595]]''' – 18/30 September 1880, from [[Kamenka]]
* '''[[Letter 1620]]''' – 29 October/10 November 1880, from [[Kamenka]]
* '''[[Letter 1635]]''' – between 1/13 December and 7/19 December 1880, from [[Saint Petersburg]]
* '''[[Letter 2573]]''' – 22 October/3 November 1884, from [[Saint Petersburg]]
* '''[[Letter 2763]]''' – between 10/22 and 13/25 September 1885 (?), from [[Maydanovo]]
* '''[[Letter 2786]]''' – 7/19 October 1885, from [[Maydanovo]]
* '''[[Letter 3052]]''' – 19 September/1 October 1886, from [[Maydanovo]]
* '''[[Letter 3084]]''' – 4/16 November 1886, from [[Saint Petersburg]]
* '''[[Letter 3123]]''' – 18/30 December 1886, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 3123a]]''' – 18/30 December 1886, from [[Moscow]] (addressed to Bessel in his capacity as editor of the ''Musical Review'')
* '''[[Letter 3124]]''' – 18/30 December 1886, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 3127]]''' – 21 December 1886/2 January 1887, from [[Moscow]]
* '''[[Letter 3138]]''' – 29 December 1886/10 January 1887, from [[Maydanovo]]
* '''[[Letter 4389]]''' – 2/14 June 1891, from [[Maydanovo]]
7 letters from Bessel to the composer, dating from 1880 to 1891, are preserved in the {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]] (a{{sup|4}}, Nos. 254–260).

==Bibliography==
* {{bib|1896/3}} (1896)
* {{bib|1898/4}} (1898)
* {{bib|1898/5}} (1898)
* {{bib|1923/16}} (1923)
* {{bib|1923/17}} (1923)
* {{bib|1938/25}} (1938)
* {{bib|1962/6}} (1962)
* {{bib|1994/16}} (1994)
* {{bib|1999/9}} (1999)

==External Links==
* [[wikipedia:Vasily_Bessel|Wikipedia]] 
* {{IMSLP|https://imslp.org/wiki/Bessel}}
* {{viaf|311428171}}

[[Category:People|Bessel, Vasily]]
[[Category:Correspondents|Bessel, Vasily]]
[[Category:Publishers|Bessel, Vasily]]
__NOTOC__