Letter 3415
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Russian text (original)
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English translation
Copyright © 2010 by
Luis Sundkvist
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| 24 ноября [18]87 г. |
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24 November 1887
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| Голубушка Эмилия Карловна! |
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Darling Emiliya
Karlovna! |
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Правда ли, что 7-ое представление «Чародейки» было при пустом театре? Если да, то это самый скандальный провал, какой когда-либо был. Я был так утомлён от
петербургских треволнений и от 2
московских концертов, что решительно не в состоянии был ехать в
Тифлис. Отдыхаю здесь настолько возможно. Простите, что не пишу подробно, но мне необходимо покамест даже от переписки воздержаться, ибо нервы очень расшатались и признано нужным, чтобы я ровно ничего не делал. Целую ручки. Напишите 2 слова после 1-го предст[авления]
Отелло.
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Is it true that at the 7th performance of The Enchantress the theatre was empty? If it is, then this is the most scandalous fiasco that has ever taken
place [1]. I was so exhausted after the hectic bustle in
Petersburg and the two
Moscow concerts [2], that I was simply unable to travel to
Tiflis. I am resting here as far as that is possible. Forgive me for not writing in detail, but for the time being I must refrain even from writing letters, because my nerves are very much shattered and it has been deemed essential that I should not do work of any kind. I kiss your hands. Drop me a few lines after the 1st
performance of Otello [3].
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Ваш П. Чайковский
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Yours, P. Tchaikovsky
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[Сбоку:]
Леличке, С[ергею] Евгр[афовичу] и Ген[надию] Петр[овичу] привет.
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[on the side of the page:]
Greetings to Lelichka [= Yelena], Sergey Evgrafovich [4], and
Gennady Petrovich.
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Notes:
- The première of The Enchantress took place at the
Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre on 20 October/1 November 1887, under the baton of Tchaikovsky, who conducted three more performances: on 23 October/4 November, 26 October/7 November, and 30 October/11 November. Already the fifth performance did not play to a full house, and the seventh performance played to a half-empty auditorium. On the day that he wrote this letter to
Emiliya Pavlovskaya Tchaikovsky had read in the newspapers about the failure of his opera. See also
letter 3416 to Pyotr
Jurgenson, 24 November/6 December 1887—note based on information provided by Vasily Kiselev in:
Чайковский на московской сцене (1940), p. 413
[back]
- After attending the fifth performance of The Enchantress on 6/18 November 1887 (which he did not conduct himself), Tchaikovsky left for
Moscow the following day. On 14/26 November he conducted a Russian Musical Society concert there for the first time. The programme was made up exclusively of his works: the fantasia
Francesca da
Rimini, an arioso from The Enchantress (sung by Adelina Skompskaya), the
Concert Fantasia for piano and orchestra (soloist:
Taneyev), the Mozartiana suite (first performance), two songs (performed by Adelina Skompskaya), and the overture
The Year 1812. This concert was a tremendous success and was repeated the following day as a popular concert (with the tickets sold at lower prices to allow less affluent members of the public to attend it)
[back]
- The first performance in Russia of Verdi's
Otello took place at the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre on 26 November/8 December 1887, conducted by
Nápravník. The title-role was sung to great acclaim by
Nikolay Figner, and Pavlovskaya was also very successful as Desdemona. See her letter to Tchaikovsky of 30 November/12 December 1887 in:
Чайковский на московской сцене (1940), p.
414–415 [back]
- Emiliya
Pavlovskaya's husband, Sergey Evgrafovich Pavlovsky (1846–1915), was also a singer (a baritone) and a member of the
Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre's troupe. "Lelichka" (an affectionate diminutive of Yelena) refers to
Pavlovskaya's sister
[back]
This page was last updated on 16 February 2013 |