Tchaikovsky
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Fanny Dürbach

Fanny Dürbach was the composer's childhood governess, born in 1822 at Montbéliard, France.

She was governess in the Tchaikovsky household from November 1844 until September 1848, when the family left Votkinsk. A gifted teacher, she had a marked influence on Tchaikovsky's early development. Although he was only eight years old when he parted from her, he continued to correspond with her occasionally, and in December 1892 he visited "M-lle Fanny" at her home in rue Clémenceau, Montbéliard.

In 1894, the year after the composer's death, Modest Tchaikovsky visited Fanny Dürbach and recorded her recollections of her years with the family at Votkinsk. He also took back several of the composer's exercise books and childhood letters that she had retained for almost half-a-century to the Tchaikovsky House-Museum Archive at Klin.

Fanny Dürbach died at Montbéliard in 1901, aged 79.