Tchaikovsky
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Nikolai Tchaikvosky (1838–1911) |
Nikolai Tchaikovsky
Mining engineer and older brother of the composer (b. 9/21 May 1838 in Votkinsk; d. 21 November/4 December 1911 in Moscow), born Nikolai Il'ich Tchaikovsky (Николай Ильич Чайковский, Nikolai Il'ič Čajkovskij, Nikolay Il'yich Tchakovsky).
Nikolai was the oldest son of Il'ia Tchaikovsky (1795–1880) and his wife Aleksandra (b. Assier, 1812–1854). Although he followed in his father's footsteps and studied at the Saint Petersburg Mining College, he did not subsequently work as a mining engineer for long, deciding to devote his skills to the booming railway industry instead. He worked for a special government commission planning the development of the railway network in Russia, helped to draw up the Railway Code in the 1880s, and wrote a number of technical books in this field.
Nikolai had a good sense of humour and was fond of music. In 1872 he married Ol'ga Sergeevna Denis'eva (d. abt 1919), and in 1886 the couple adopted the illegitimate son of Nikolai's niece Tat'iana Davydova, who took the name Georgii Tchaikovsky (1883–1940). In January 1887 Nikolai travelled to Moscow to attend the première of his brother's opera Cherevichki. It was at Nikolai's estate in Ukolovo, near Kursk, that Tchaikovsky met the poet Afanasii Fet in the summer of 1891.
It was also thanks to Nikolai that an even more important meeting in the last years of his brother's life took place. Around 1890 Nikolai seems to have started corresponding with their former governess Fanny Dürbach, who, despite her seventy years, was still active as a teacher in her native town of Montbéliard. Thus, in August 1891 Nikolai wrote to his brother: "A few days ago I received a very sweet reply from Fanny Dürbach which is full of memories and questions about you. What do you say about visiting her in Montbéliard now? I mean, after all this venerable person did play a certain role in our lives" [1]. Tchaikovsky eventually visited "M-lle Fanny" in Montbéliard on 1 and 2 January 1893 [N.S.], and shortly afterwards he wrote a very emotional letter recounting the experience to his elder brother [2].
In 1887 Nikolai had retired from government service with the rank of Councillor of State, but during the 1890s he was involved in various philanthropic and educational projects in Moscow, where he had now moved with his family. At the same time he worked as manager of the S. P. Iakovlev publishing house in Moscow, helping to publish the compilation of his brother's musical-critical articles that Herman Laroche had edited: Музыкальные фельетоны и заметки Петра Ильича Чайковского (1898). During these years he assisted Modest in collecting material for the latter's three-volume Life of their brother, obtaining, for example, an old photograph of the Tchaikovsky family's house in Votkinsk. He was also involved in the publication of Ivan Klimenko's brief biographical sketch of Tchaikovsky in 1909.
Nikolai Tchaikovsky died in Moscow in 1911, and was buried at the city's Novodevich'e Cemetery.
Tchaikovsky's correspondence with Nikolai Tchaikovsky:
- 18 letters from Tchaikovsky to his brother Nikolai have survived, dating from 1871 to 1893.
Notes
- Quoted in: Boris Anshakov, Братья Чайковские. Очерк (1981), p. 19 [back]
- Letter 4835 to Nikolai Tchaikovsky, 22 December 1892/3 January 1893 [back]
Bibliography
- Boris Anshakov, Братья Чайковские. Очерк (1981)