Letter 3753

Tchaikovsky Research
Date 4/16 January 1889
Addressed to Aleksandr Ziloti
Where written Frolovskoye
Language Russian
Autograph Location Klin (Russia): Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve (a3, No. 3004)
Publication Александр Ильич Зилоти, 1863–1945. Воспоминания и письма (1963), p. 92
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XV-А (1976), p. 13

Text and Translation

Russian text
(original)
English translation
By Brett Langston
4 янв[аря 18]89

Саша! Получил ли ты моё письмо по поводу фортепьянных концертов и самые концерты? Отчего ты не отвечаешь, — я беспокоюсь. Спасибо за печальное уведомление о смерти Д. В. Разумовского. На похороны я бы сильно опоздал, но мог бы приехать; однако ж по зрелом размышлении решил не ехать. Богу известно, что я очень любил Д[митрия] В[асильевич], и если не почтил погребение его своим присутствием, то были на то многие причины.

Итак, ответствуй!

Твой, П. Чайковский

4 January 1889

Sasha! Have you received my letter [1] concerning the piano concerto and your concerts? Why haven't you answered? — I'm worried [2]. Thank you for the sorrowful news about the death of D. V. Razumovsky [3]. I would have been very late for the funeral, but could still have come; however, after mulling it over I decided not to go. God knows how very much I loved Dmitry Vasilyevich, and there were numerous reasons why I didn't grace his burial with my presence.

So then, do answer me!

Yours, P. Tchaikovsky

Notes and References

  1. Letter 3751 to Aleksandr Ziloti, 27 December 1888/8 January 1889, concerning possible revisions to Tchaikovsky's first two piano concertos.
  2. Ziloti had replied on 1/13 January to Tchaikovsky's letter, but evidently this had not yet reached the composer. His response was published in full in Александр Ильич Зилоти, 1863–1945. Воспоминания и письма (1963), p. 91-92.
  3. Dmitry Razumovsky was a priest and professor of church history at the Moscow Conservatory, as well as an old friend of Tchaikovsky's. He had also officiated at the composer's marriage to Antonina Milyukova in 1877.