Letter 1020a

Tchaikovsky Research
Date 13/25 December 1878
Addressed to Anton Door
Where written Florence
Language French
Autograph Location unknown [1]
Publication Čajkovskijana aus alten Auktionskatalogen (2015), p. 102 (extracts only)

Text and Translation

This incomplete text is based on the fragments published in Sotheby's 1990 catalogue [2], and may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.

French text
(original)
English translation
By Brett Langston
[...] Le porteur de cette lettre est un jeune musicien polonais-russe [...] qui voudrait profiter de ce temps pour étudier avec un bon musicien la théorie de la fugue [...]

J'ai quitté le Conservatoire et ne le regrette nullement quoique je suis resté avec tout le monde dans les meilleurs termes [...]

[...] The bearer of this letter is a young Polish-Russian musician [...] who wishes to take advantage of this time to study the theory of fugue with a good musician [...]

I have left the Conservatory and have no regrets whatsoever, although I have remained on the best of terms with everyone [...]

Notes and References

  1. ↑ The autograph was auctioned in 1990 by Sotheby's, London.
  2. ↑ Sotheby's, Fine Printed and Manuscript Music. Wednesday 21st November 1990 (London, 1990), Lot 300. The letter is described as "a letter of introduction for a Polish/Russian musician who wishes to learn Fugue, giving news of his time in Florence, informing him of his resignation from the Conservatoire in St. Petersburg [sic] and sending his best wishes, 3 pages, small 8vo, some fraying at the edges, a postcard photograph mounted on the blank page, Florence, 25 December, no year [1878].