Letter 1935

Tchaikovsky Research
Date 15/27 January 1882
Addressed to Anna Merkling
Where written Rome
Language Russian
Autograph Location unknown
Publication П. И. Чайковский. С. И. Танеев. Письма (1951), p. 212
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XI (1966), p. 26–27.
Notes Manuscript copy in Klin (Russia): Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve (signature omitted)

Text and Translation

Based on a handwritten copy in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin, which may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
15/27 января 1882 г[ода]

Милая Аня! Получил твоё письмо и, прочтя его, ещё твёрже прежнего остаюсь при мнении о том, что ты человек с сильным и внушающим серьёзное уважение характером. И поверь, Аня, что когда-нибудь ты будешь вознаграждена за то мужество, с которым перенесла и переносишь свои невзгоды. Мне бы очень хотелось распространиться по поводу всего этого, — но я сегодня нездоров, простудился, и писать мне трудно, а вместе с тем хочется отозваться тебе на милейшее письмо и ответить по поводу просьбы о «Прозерпине». Я постараюсь исполнить твоё желание и непременно привезу тебе или Прозерпину, или если не найду, то что-нибудь другое. Но, Боже мой, Аня, как ты низко стала в мнении Модеста в качестве ценительницы искусства! Я подобно тебе, когда бываю в вилле Людовизи, всего более восхищаюсь Галлом и Прозерпиной. Но знатоки не признают за Бернини никаких достоинств, ненавидят его за изуродование Петра и за всю массу его действительно манерных произведений. Я сам нахожу смешными всех его изломанных святых в Петре, и большинство его вещей мне противны, — но, по-моему, это всё-таки был человек с талантом, и Прозерпина его прелестна. Модя ахнул, когда я ему передал твою просьбу. Он ведь большой знаток и ценитель. В самом деле, не хочешь ли что-нибудь другое? Не лучше ли будет привезти тебе снимок с какой-нибудь классической статуи? Не предоставишь ли выбор Модесту? Об деньгах не беспокойся. Напиши, голубушка, насчёт этого. Прости, что так мало пишу сегодня. До другого раза. Целую крепко пауков.

Твой,

15/27 January 1882

Dear Anya! I got your letter and, after reading through it, I adhere even more firmly to the opinion that you are a person with a strong character that awakens serious respect. And believe me, Anya, that one day you will be rewarded for the courage with which you have endured, and are enduring, your adversities. I would very much like to talk about all this at length, but today I am not feeling well — I've caught a cold — and it's difficult for me to write. All the same, I do want to give you some response to your ever so sweet letter, as well as to reply to your request regarding "Proserpina" [1]. I shall try to fulfil your request and will definitely bring you either Proserpina, or if I can't find [a replica], then something else. But, my God, Anya, how low you have fallen in Modest's opinion as to your appreciation of art! Like you, when I visit the Villa Ludovisi I am most of all fascinated by the [Dying] Gaul [2] and by Proserpina. Connoisseurs, however, refuse to recognize that Bernini has any merits: they detest him for his disfiguring of [Saint] Peter's and for a whole load of his works which are indeed affected [3]. I myself find all his unhinged saints in [Saint] Peter's ridiculous, and the majority of his works repel me, but in my view he was a talented man and his Proserpina is delightful. Modya just sighed when I told him of your request. He is after all a great connoisseur and art-lover. Indeed, are you really sure you wouldn't like to have something else? Wouldn't it be better if I brought you a print of some classical statue? Why don't you let Modest choose for you? Don't worry about the money. Write and let me know about this, my darling. Forgive me for having written so little today. Till another time. I kiss the spiders warmly [4].

Yours,

Notes and References

  1. As becomes clear from the rest of the letter, as well as from Letter 2023 to Anna Merkling, 17/29 May 1882, Tchaikovsky's cousin had asked him to bring her a miniature replica of the marble group The Rape of Proserpina (or Pluto and Persephone) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), which was then housed at the Villa Ludovisi (now it is in the Villa Borghese). Prosperina is the Roman name of the goddess Persephone, who was carried off by Hades (Pluto) and became Queen of the Underworld.
  2. The Dying Gaul (or Dying Gladiator), one of the most famous statues of Antiquity, shows in fact a dying Galatian, and is a Roman marble copy of one of the statues from the monument set up in Pergamum by King Attalus I to commemorate his victory in about 230 B.C. over the Galatians, a Celtic people settled in central Asia Minor. Byron described this statue admiringly in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. See Betty Radice, Who's Who in the Ancient World (Penguin, 1971), p. 107.
  3. Bernini designed the colonnade in front of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and was also involved in the interior decoration of the cathedral.
  4. "Spiders" here are "hands". This association evidently goes back to some childhood memory of the composer's. Anna Merkling had very beautiful hands, and this was something that Tchaikovsky always paid particular attention to — note by Vladimir Zhdanov in П. И. Чайковский. С. И. Танеев. Письма (1951), p. 207. See also Tchaikovsky. The quest for the inner man (1993), p. 310, for the composer's obsession with hands.