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Letter 5019a

Date20 August/1 September 1893
Addressed toAleksandr Ziloti
Where writtenKlin
LanguageRussian
Autograph LocationFrankfurt am Main (Germany): Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Publication Ich bin wahnsinning müde. Zwei bisher unbekannte Briefe P. I. Čajkovskijs (1993), p. 47
Bisher unbekannte Briefe und musikalische Arbeiten Čajkovskijs (1994), p. 15
Internationales Čajkovskij Symposium, Tübingen 1993. Bericht (1995), p. 38, 40

Russian text (original)

English translation
Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
20-го августа 20th August
Милый Саша! Dear Sasha!
Петербургский адрес 24 Фонтанка. Гамбургский: Hofrath Pollini, Hamburg. Крепк[о] тебя обнимаю, но ничего не пишу, ибо во Iых безумно устал, во 2х) сейчас уезжаю и в 3х) из Петербурга буду тебе адрес телеграфировать. My address in Petersburg is 24, Fontanka [1]. My Hamburg one is: Hofrath [= Court Councillor] Pollini, Hamburg [2]. I embrace you warmly, but I won't write anything, because, firstly, I am awfully tired, secondly, I'm just about to leave, and, thirdly, I'll telegraph my address to you from Petersburg.
Твой П. Чайковский Yours, P. Tchaikovsky
Симфонию кончил совсем I have finished the symphony [No. 6] completely [3]
Notes:
  1. 24, Fontanka River Embankment was the address of Nikolay Konradi and Modest Tchaikovsky's apartment. However, when Tchaikovsky arrived in Saint Petersburg on 21 August/2 September he could not actually stay there, because Modest and his former pupil had quarrelled. Instead, Tchaikovsky was put up by Herman Laroche in his apartment on 10 Admiralty Embankment. It seems, though, that letters addressed to Tchaikovsky at 24 Fontanka were still being forwarded to him, and that is why he gave Ziloti this provisional address [back]
  2. On 23 August/4 September 1893 Tchaikovsky would set off from Saint Petersburg to travel to Hamburg. He arrived in Hamburg on 25 August/6 September and two days later attended a performance of his opera Iolanta at the city's opera-house. During his brief stay in Hamburg he also held negotiations with the opera-house's director Bernhard Pollini regarding a future production of The Queen of Spades there [back]
  3. Tchaikovsky finished the full score of his Symphony No. 6 in its entirety (including all the markings and tempi) on 19/31 August 1893, and on the evening of 20 August/1 September, after having written this letter to Ziloti and six other letters, he boarded the night-train from Klin to Saint Petersburg, in order to deliver the score to the offices of the Russian Musical Society so that handwritten copies of the orchestral parts could be made. Tchaikovsky was due to conduct the première of his symphony on 16/28 October [back]

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