Tchaikovsky
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Modest Tchaikovsky (1850–1916)

Modest Tchaikovsky

Writer, dramatist, translator, and younger brother of the composer (b. 1/13 May 1850 in Alapaevsk; d. 2/15 January 1916 in Moscow), born Modest Il'ich Tchaikovsky (Модест Ильич Чайковский, Modest Il'ič Čajkovskij, Modest Il'yich Tchaikovsky).

Modest was the sixth son of of Il'ia Tchaikovsky (1795–1880) and his wife Aleksandra (b. Assier, 1812–1854), and twin brother to Anatolii Tchaikovsky (1850–1915). He was a graduate of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg, working initially for the civil service, before becoming tutor (1876–82) and then guardian (1882–92) to Nikolai Konradi.

Modest also wrote several plays, and prepared the libretti for his brother's operas The Queen of Spades (1890) and Iolanta (1891), and for operas by Eduard Napravnik, Arsenii Koreshchenko, Anton Arenskii and Sergei Rakhmaninov. Proficient in various foreign languages, Modest rendered works by Corneille and Shakespeare into Russian, including a fine translation of Shakespeare's Sonnets (published in 1915). He also translated a number of works of Russian literature into other European languages, including Anton Chekhov's story Ward No. 6, which he translated into Italian.

After the composer's death, Modest Tchaikovsky helped to found the Tchaikovsky House-Museum at Klin (1895), where he became the director. His lasting legacy is the three-volume biography of his brother—The Life of Petr Il'ich Tchaikovsky [Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского] (1900–02), which has subsequently been translated into many languages.

Modest Tchaikovsky died on 2/15 January 1916 in Moscow, is buried in the Dem'ianovo Cemetery, near Klin.

Works dedicated to Modest Tchaikovsky:

• Twelve Pieces, Op. 40 (1878), TH 138.

Correspondence with Modest Tchaikovsky:

• 675 letters from Tchaikovsky to his brother Modest have survived, dating from 1866 to 1893.

References:

• Boris Anshakov, Братья Чайковские. Очерк (1981)
• Alexander Poznansky, 'Modest Čajkovskij: In His Brother's Shadow' (1995)