Letter 173

Tchaikovsky Research
Date late December 1869/early January 1870 [1]
Addressed to Mily Balakirev
Where written Moscow
Language Russian
Autograph Location Saint Petersburg (Russia): National Library of Russia (ф. 834, ед. хр. 11, л. 35–36)
Publication Переписка М. А. Балакирева и П. И. Чайковского (1868-1891) [1912], p. 54
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 198
Милий Алексеевич Балакирев. Воспоминания и письма (1962), p. 150 (dated "last days of December 1869")

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
Мой милый друг!

Во-первых, поздравляю Вас с Новым годом, а во-вторых, по просьбе Рубинштейна уведомляю Вас, что концерт уже объявлен на 9-е число, а потому он просит Вас поскорее уведомить, когда Вас ожидать. «Сербскую фантазию» и Увертюру на чешские темы привезите с собой, — их у нас нет.

Обнимаю Вас.

П. Чайковский

My dear friend!

First of all, Happy New Year! Secondly, Rubinstein has requested me to inform you that the concert has already been announced for the 9th, and so he would like you to let us know as quickly as possible when we should be expecting you. Please bring the Serbian Fantasy and the Overture on Czech Themes with you—we don't have them here [2].

I embrace you.

P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. This letter has been approximately dated according to other letters from the period.
  2. Among the works which Balakirev had proposed to include in the Russian Musical Society concert that he had been invited to conduct in Moscow in January 1870 were Rimsky-Korsakov's Serbian Fantasy and his own Overture on Czech Themes. Balakirev did come to Moscow at the start of the new year, but he was unable to conduct the scheduled concert because he had to return to Saint Petersburg to fulfil another engagement.