Letter 2232
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Russian text (original)
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English translation
Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
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| Париж.1/13
марта 1883 г. |
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Paris.
1/13 March 1883 |
| Голубушка Аня!
Хоть несколько слов хочу тебе написать, хоть ты и запрещаешь. Я ужасно
тебе благодарен за милейшие письма! Ничего особенного сообщить тебе не
имею. Часов 7 в день работаю, а остальное посвящаю поездкам к Тане и фланированию.
Всё это так меня утомляет, что, действительно, затрудняюсь вести постоянную
корреспонденцию с теми милыми людьми, которые меня радуют своими письмами.
В театрах бываю редко;
Модя гораздо чаще. Весь Париж
теперь занят оперой Сен-Санса, которую только что
великолепно поставили в «Grand Opéra». Вообще, хвалят; я ещё не
слышал. Так как я сам вожусь целый день с музыкой, то ни в концерты, ни
в оперу меня не тянет, и я предпочитаю бывать в таких театрах, где много
смеха. Вчера я видел, вероятно, известную тебе по Питеру пьесу «Le truc
d'Arthur» и хохотал до изнеможения. Думаю, что не раньше как через месяц
мне можно будет направиться в Россию. Лето я, действительно, мечтаю прожить
в окрестностях Москвы, но осуществится
ли это,—не знаю. |
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Darling Ania!
I want to write you at least a few words, even if you forbid it. I am
awfully grateful to you for your ever so sweet letters! I don't have anything
in particular to tell you. Every day I work for about 7 hours, and the
rest of my time I spend on visits to Tanya [1] and on flânerie.
All this exhausts me so much that, truly, I find it difficult to carry
on a regular correspondence with those dear people who make me happy with
their letters. I don't go to the theatres very often; Modya does so far more
frequently. All Paris is now preoccupied
with Saint-Saëns' opera, which has
just been staged in a magnificent production at the Grand
Opéra [2].
On the whole, people are praising it; I haven't heard it myself yet. Since
I am busying myself with music all day long, I don't feel drawn either
to concerts or to the opera, and I prefer instead to go to those theatres
where there are lots of laughs. Yesterday I saw a play which you are probably
familiar with from Piter—Le
truc d'Arthur [3]—and I was splitting my sides with laughter. I think it won't be until
after another month that I shall be able to head for Russia. Yes, I am
indeed dreaming of spending the summer in the environs of Moscow, but as to whether this
will come true, I cannot say |
| Всё зависит от денежных обстоятельств. Но вероятнее,
что так устроится. Во всяком случае, я тебя увижу в Петербурге, через который
проеду, и останусь там несколько дней. Погода здесь стоит до того отвратительная,
что ничего подобного я не запомню. Снег с вьюгой, чередующийся с дождём,
холод, слякоть, сырость,—ну просто октябрь петербургский. Манифестации
здешние издали видел. Мне кажется, что это вспышки пламени, которое в
непродолжительном будущем должно разгореться. |
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It all depends on my financial circumstances. Still,
it is more likely than not to work out that way. In any case, I shall
see you in Petersburg,
where I shall be stopping over for a few days. The weather here is so
repulsive that I don't think I can remember anything like it. We are having
snow and blizzards, alternating with rain, cold, slush, dampness—in short,
the kind of weather you get in Petersburg in October.
I saw the local demonstrations from a distance. They seem to me like bursts
of a flame which in the near future is bound to blaze up [4]. |
| Целую ручки, обнимаю, благодарю. Твой |
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I kiss your hands, and embrace and thank you. Yours
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| [П. Чайковский] |
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[P. Tchaikovsky] |
Notes:
- The composer's niece, Tatyana ("Tanya") Davydova,
was being treated for her morphine addiction at a private hospital in Paris. She was also at an advanced
stage of her pregnancy with an illegitimate child. The only members of her
family who were aware of her predicament were her uncles Modest (who brought her
to Paris in mid/late January) and
the composer. They both helped to look after Tatyana during her confinement,
and, when, on 26 April/8 May 1883, she gave birth to a boy, christened Georges-Léon, Tchaikovsky
arranged for the child to be taken care of by a French family for the time
being [back]
- Saint-Saëns's opera Henri VIII (libretto by Léonce Détroyat and Armand
Silvestre) was premièred at the Paris
Opéra on 5 March 1883 [N.S.]. This means that Tchaikovsky
here must have been referring to the final rehearsals, which he had probably
read about in the newspapers [back]
- Le truc d'Arthur (Arthur's Trick; 1882),
a comedy in three acts by Alfred Duru (1829–1889) and Henri Chivot (1830–1897) [back]
- In February 1883 there were several demonstrations
by the unemployed in Paris. They were
led by the French anarchist Louise Michel (1830–1905), who had recently
been allowed to return to France after being deported, in 1873, to a French
colony in the Pacific for her role in the Paris Commune of 1871 — note based
on information provided in
Дни и годы П. И. Чайковского (1940), p. 288 [back]
This page was last updated
on 10 February 2013
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