Letter 2996

Tchaikovsky Research
Date 7/19 July 1886
Addressed to Ippolit Shpazhinsky
Where written Maydanovo
Language Russian
Autograph Location unknown
Publication Культура и театра (1921), No. 6, p. 40
Чайковский на Московской сцене (1940), p. 441–442
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XIII (1971), p. 393

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
7-го июля 1886 г[ода]
с[ело] Майданово

Дорогой Ипполит Васильевич!

Получивши Ваше письмо (в нём Вы говорите об условии) и либретто 4 действия, я сейчас же хотел писать Вам, но так как Вы переехали на другую квартиру и писали, что уезжаете, то не знал, куда адресовать письмо.

Теперь поспешаю прежде всего сказать Вам, что Вы напрасно думали, что мне было неприятно говорить об условии. Если на моём лице появилось мимолётное облачко, то значение его совсем не то, какое Вы ему придали. Когда я пишу большое сочинение, меня постоянно тревожит мысль, что смерть помешает мне докончить его. Подумайте: целое действие нужно ещё сочинить, да потом громадную партитуру написать; значит, ещё и половина всей работы не сделана, и мне в ту минуту, как Вы заговорили об условии, как-то жутко и страшно сделалось! Вот откуда и облачко. Усматривать же в словах Ваших что-либо для меня обидное или как бы недоверие, уверяю Вас, мне и в голову не приходило. Я отлично понимаю те причины, по которым, кончивши свой труд, Вы можете и должны, ввиду непрочности всего земного, позаботиться о будущем и закрепить право своё и своих наследников.

Условие я подписал и согласно уговору буду ждать случая, дабы вручить Вам его, или, если прикажете, пришлю Вам его заказным письмом.

А теперь, дорогой Ипполит Васильевич, позвольте Вас поблагодарить за Ваше превосходное либретто, за Вашу неоцененную услугу, за то, что Вы не погнушались с любовью заняться трудом, который отвлекал Вас от Ваших новых, более интересных работ. Стократ спасибо Вам за это!

Я начал уже 4-е действие, но не думаю, что кончу его раньше сентября. Очень трудно. А впрочем, Бог его знает! Всё зависит от обстоятельств и находящегося в зависимости от них расположения духа.

Крепко жму Вашу руку!

Ваш всею душою, Вам преданный

П. Чайковский

7th July 1886
Maydanovo village

After receiving your letter (the one in which you talk about the agreement) and the libretto of the 4th act I wanted to write to you at once, but since you have moved into a new apartment and said that you were going away, I didn't know where to address my letter to.

Now I must above all hasten to tell you that you were wrong to think that I found it unpleasant to talk about the agreement. If a fleeting small cloud did appear on my brow, its significance is by no means that which you ascribed to it [1]. Whenever I am writing a large composition, I am constantly troubled by the thought that death will prevent me from completing it. I mean, just think: a whole act still remains to be composed, and then the huge score has to be written. That means that not even half of the job has been done yet, and during that moment when you mentioned the agreement I suddenly felt kind of terrified and frightened! That's where the small cloud came from. I assure you that it did not once cross my mind to see in your words anything offensive to me or a sign of distrust on your part. I can perfectly understand those reasons why, after completing your task, you can and must, in view of the precariousness of all that is earthly, be concerned about the future and secure your rights, as well as those of your heirs.

I have signed the agreement, and, as you suggested, I shall wait until an opportunity arises to hand it to you personally, or, if you let me know, I can send it to you as a registered letter.

And now, dear Ippolit Vasilyevich, permit me to thank you for your outstanding libretto, for your inestimable services, and for the fact that you did not disdain to occupy yourself devotedly with a task which distracted you from your new, more interesting projects. A hundred thanks to you for this!

I have already started the 4th act, but I don't think I shall be able to finish it before September. It is very difficult. But anyway, God knows what will happen! Everything depends on the circumstances and my frame of mind, which in its turn depends on the former [2].

I shake your hand warmly!

Yours with all my heart, your devoted,

P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. In his letter to Tchaikovsky of 29 June/11 July 1886 Shpazhinsky recalled their meeting in Moscow on 21 June/3 July during which they had discussed the mutual terms binding the composer and the librettist of The Enchantress. With this letter Shpazhinsky enclosed a copy of an "agreement" for Tchaikovsky to sign—this document has not survived, but Shpazhinsky in his letter described the main terms, in particular that "in the event of my dying before The Enchantress is staged, the agreement between us guarantees to my family their right [to the royalties] as my heirs; it gives them a juridical right in the eyes of the [Theatres'] Directorate, which, as you know, takes only the composer into account and refuses to enter into negotiations with the librettist". In this letter Shpazhinsky wrote that he had the impression that Tchaikovsky had found it unpleasant to talk about such an agreement during their meeting in Moscow, and that this was probably because he considered him to be distrustful, which, he hastened to add, was not at all true. Shpazhinsky's letter has been published in Чайковский на московской сцене (1940), p. 439–440.
  2. Tchaikovsky spent all of July and the first half of August on Act IV of The Enchantress. On 18/30 August he recorded in his diary: "I worked and, today, entirely finished the rough sketches of the opera" — quoted from The Diaries of Tchaikovsky (1973), p. 111.