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The Fairy

Фея

Cradle song and Waltz for Octave Feuillet's comedy La Feé (1879).

  • Composed July 1879(?).
  • First performed in Kamenka, August 1879.
  • Lost.

History

Written for an amateur production at the Davydov estate at Kamenka. On 17/29 July 1879, Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck: "We are also putting together an entertainment, namely a production which will tale place at the end of the month. As in previous years, I shall be the prompter" [1]. He also mentioned this in a letter to Modest Tchaikovsky of 21 July/2 August: 'We've been putting together a spectacle here. It consists of The Trouble with a Soft heart, and La Fée by Octave Feuillet" [2]. The performance was scheduled for 2/14 August. On 8/20 August, Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck from Simaki: "Our production took place. I was the prompter...".

None of Tchaikovsky’s letters refer to the fact that he had written music to go with the production. However, musical sketches have been preserved, supposedly made by Modest Tchaikovsky, consisting of 16 bars of music in waltz-time (in G major) and 10 bars of music in 6/8 (in G minor); in the first bar of the waltz theme are the words: "Dor, mon .". Between the sketches, Modest Tchaikovsky has written: "Berceuse by P. I. Tchaikovsky, written to words from Octave Feuillet's piece La Fée, a piece for a domestic spectacle at Kamenka" [3].

No autograph survives.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p.199
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston


References:
  1. Letter 1232 to Nadezhda von Meck, 17/29 July 1879 [back]
  2. Letter 1238 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 28 July/9 August 1879 [back].
  3. Klin House-Museum Archive [back]