Nina Berberova was one of the first
biographer, who very seriously and honestly described life and character
of Tchaikovsky.
In 1987 she revised the first edition of
her biographical novel “Tchaikovsky” from 1938, which was original
published in a french newspaper for russian emigrants.
In the german translation of this book
(Claassen 1989, chapter XIII, p. 239) she maintains, that Tchaikovsky
visited just one day after the premiere of The Enchantress (Carodejka)
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakoff.
Rimsky-Korsakoff asked him for help to
arrange a new intrumentation of “The Night on the Bare Mountain” from M.
Mussorgsky concerning the wood instruments. Tchaikovsky delightful
accepted the offer.
It’s a little bit strange, that Tchaikovsky
dealed with works of his antagonist Mussorgsky.
Is it true ? Is it reality or fantasy ?
Are there any original documents like
letters or diary journalisation to authenticate this fact ?
Thank you for an information.
Rüdiger Herpich
Dear Rüdiger,
I have never come across any references to Tchaikovsky working on
Night on the Bare Mountain in any literature relating to him or Musorgskii. As you say, this does seem unlikely.
Hope this helps,
Brett Langston