Letter 3431

Tchaikovsky Research
Date 7/19 December 1887
Addressed to Karl Albrecht
Where written Maydanovo
Language Russian and French
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Russian National Museum of Music (Ф. 37, No. 65)
Publication Чайковский на Московской сцене (1940), p. 292
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XIV (1974), p. 288

Text and Translation

Russian and French text
(original)
English translation
By Luis Sundkvist
С[ело] Майданово

Карлуша!

Написал один хорик, и посылаю тебе его — больше решительно теперь не могу. Авось впоследствии ещё несколько напишу.

Обнимаю!

П. Чайковский

Adieu mon cher ami! Soyez heureux, j'espère Vous revoir au printemps.

T. S. V. P.

Dites à Конюс старший, que demain je lui enverrai sa partition. Saluez Anna Léontievna, Karlouscha, Gennia et Millia et tout le monde.

Maydanovo village

I've written one little chorus [1] and am sending it to you — I definitely cannot do any more than this for now [2]. Perhaps later on I'll be able to write a few more.

I hug you!

P. Tchaikovsky

Farewell, my dear friend! Be happy, I hope to see you in the spring [3].

T. S. V. P. [4]

Tell the elder Konyus that I'll send him his score tomorrow [5]. Greetings to Anna Leontyevna, Karlusha, Zhenya, Mila, and everyone else [6].

Notes and References

  1. Blessed is He Who Smiles (TH 83).
  2. For many years Karl Albrecht had been asking Tchaikovsky if he could contribute a few choruses to the anthologies of choral pieces which he was compiling. See, for example, Letter 1398 to Albrecht, 6/18 January 1880.
  3. Tchaikovsky switches to French here in imitation of Albrecht, who in his letter to the composer of 4/16 December 1887 had written the last paragraph in a comic mixture of German and French. Albrecht's letter has been published in Чайковский на московской сцене (1940), p. 291–292.
  4. "Tournez s'il vous plait" (French) = 'Please turn the page'.
  5. Tchaikovsky showed great interest in the work of Georgy Konyus, who was then still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. The score in question was very likely Konyus's Ballad for orchestra, which was performed for the first time under the direction of Taneyev at a special concert to raise funds for hard-up Conservatory students on 24 February/7 March 1888—note by Vasily Kiselev in Чайковский на московской сцене (1940), p. 293.
  6. Albrecht's wife and their children: Karl ("Karlusha"), Yevgeny ("Zhenya"), and Lyudmila ("Mila").