Date	24 December 1850/5 January 1851
Addressed to	Aleksandra Tchaikovskaia and Il'ia Tchaikovsky
Where written	Saint Petersburg
Language	French ; Russian
Autograph Location	Saint Petersburg (Russia): Manuscript department (ф. 834, ед. хр. 33, л. 11–12)
Publication	П. И. Чайковский. Письма к родным, том 1 (1940), p. 15–16 ("mid-December 1850") П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том V (1959), p. 18.
Notes	Includes postscripts to Elizaveta Shobert, Anastasiia Popova, Ippolit Tchaikovsky, Anatolii Tchaikovsky, Modest Tchaikovsky, and Aleksandra Tchaikovskaia. Spelling and punctuation errors in the original text have not been indicated.

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French / Russian text (original)		English translation Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
Cher Maman et Papa!		Dear Mama and Papa!
Voila! sans doute que vous recevrez ma lettre aux fêtes de Noel ou un peu après. Mais aprésent je m'imagine comme vous faites touts les préparatifs de l'arbre de Noel pour mes petits chers frères ma soeur et mes petites cousines. Vous passerez les fêtes de Noel avec grand plaisir tandis que je les passerai très tristre car dans la maison du bon M-eur Vacar le chagrin de la mort du petit ange Nicolas n'est pas encore passé.		There you are! You will undoubtedly receive my letter during the Christmas feast days or a little later. But right now I can imagine how you are making all the preparations for the Christmas tree for my dear little brothers, my sister, and my little cousins. You will spend the Christmas feast days with great pleasure, whereas I will spend them very sadly, because in good Mr Vakar's house the sadness over the little angel Nikolai's death has not yet passed [1].
J'était bien étonné hier en arrivant ne trouver pas une lettre de vous mes chers et admirables anges.		I was very surprised when I arrived here yesterday and did not find any letter from you, my dear and admirable angels.
Vous ne pouvez pas comprendre avec quel transport j'attens l'arrivée de vous, mon ange Papa. J'ose penser aussi a votre arrivée chére Maman, Ce serait trop de bonté pour nous car ce n'est pas aussi longtemps que vous étez arrivé à Alapaeff.		You cannot understand with what ecstasy I await your coming here, my angel Papa. I venture to think of your coming too, dear Mama: it would be too much kindness for us because it is not such a long time since you arrived back in Alapaevsk.
Nicolas est ici, et je suis très content de le revoir denouveau.		Nikolai is here, and I am very happy to see him again [2].
Je crois que Monsieur Bérar vous a déja envoyé mes balles avec ma lettre; si elles sont mauvaises ayez la bonté de ne pas me compter comme votre et me gronder dan votre lettre.		I think that M. Bérard[3] has already sent you my grades together with my letter. If they are poor, then be so kind as to treat me as if I weren't your son and scold me in your letter.
Ayez aussi la bonté m'écrire comment vat votre santé; grâce à Dieu comme vous le croyez mois et Nicolas nous nous portons très bien. Comment vas aussi celle de Sachinka, et Pola; je m'inquiète beaucoup sur leur compte.		Be so kind also as to tell me how your health is. Thanks be to God, Nikolai and I, as you know, are very well. How is the health also of Sashinka and Polia? I am very worried on their account.
Adieu chers et, admirables, anges Papa, et Maman. Je baise milles fois vos mains et prie votre bénédiction.		Good-bye, dear and admirable angels Papa and Mama. I kiss your hands a thousand times and ask for your blessing.
Votre fils Pierre		Your son Petr
Cher tante Lyse je n'oublie pas aussi de vous écrire chaque fois que je le peu, pour vous faire mes grands remerciments à l'amour que vous me gardez.		Dear Aunt Liza: I do not forget to write to you too whenever I can, in order to thank you very much for your love.
Votre neveu Pierre		Your nephew Petr
Милая Сестрица,		Dear Sestritsa [4],
Так как я вам обещал писать так часто как могу то и пишу вам милая и добрая Сестрица. Посмотрите, пожалуйста как растет тот плющ, который я посадил когда уеждял. Поклонитесь от меня Настасье Петровне и поцелуйте Лидиньку, также поцелуйте Машурочку и Каролину, ваш брат		Since I had promised to write to you as often as I could, that is why I am writing to you, dear and kind Sestritsa. Please look at how the ivy is growing which I planted before I left [Alapaevsk]. Give my regards to Nastas'ia Petrovna[5] and kiss Lidin'ka[6] for me, and also kiss Mashurochka[7] and Karolina [8]. Your brother,
Петр Ч.		Petr T.
Милые братья и сестра, целую крепко вас и обнимаю, пожалуйста не забудьте вашего брата.		Dear brothers and sister, I kiss you warmly and embrace you. Please do not forget your brother.
Петр Чайковский		Petr Tchaikovsky

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Notes:

1. Nikolai was the five-year-old son of Modest Vakar, a friend of Il'ia Tchaikovsky's who had agreed to act as young Petr's guardian in Saint Petersburg, and who had in fact taken Petr into his house shortly after his enrolment in the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in October 1850 because of an epidemic of scarlet fever which had broken out in the school. Petr lived with the Vakars for about seven weeks before returning to the school as a boarder. Unfortunately, he had brought the scarlet fever infection into his guardian's house and little Kolia contracted this disease and died on 24 November/6 December 1850. Vakar and his wife concealed from Petr the fact that their son had scarlet fever and told him instead that it was measles or a "nervous fever", so that he would not torment himself with self-reproaches, but it seems that he did eventually find out the truth. As Petr could not visit his family in far-off Alapaevsk during the school holidays he spent that Christmas at the Vakars' house [back]
2. Tchaikovsky's brother Nikolai, two years his senior, was also a boarder in Saint Petersburg, though not at the School of Jurisprudence, but at the city's Mining College [back]
3. Joseph Bérard (known in Russia as Iosif Iosifovich Berar; 1800-1883) taught literature and French at the School of Jurisprudence, including in the preparatory class, and he would eventually become Tchaikovsky's favourite teacher. See Alexander Poznansky, Петр Чайковский. Биография (2009), vol. 1, p. 46 [back]
4. 'Sestritsa', or 'little sister', was the affectionate name for Tchaikovsky's cousin, Anastasiia Vasil'evna Popova (1807–1894), the daughter of Il'ia Tchaikovsky's older sister Evdokiia Popova [back]
5. Anastasiia Petrovna Petrova (1824–1893) had joined the Tchaikovsky family in Alapaevsk on 24 November/6 December 1849 as a governess, specifically with the task of preparing Petr for the School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg. After spending some three years with the Tchaikovskys she worked as a governess in various other families, but returned to her first employer in 1859, when she took charge of the twins, Anatolii and Modest [back]
6. The composer's cousin Lidiia Vladimirovna Tchaikovskaia (married name Ol'khovskaia; 1836-1892) was the daughter of Il'ia Tchaikovsky's elder brother, Vladimir. She lost her mother when she was quite little, in 1842, and was effectively adopted by Il'ia and his wife Aleksandra [back]
7. Mar'ia Egorovna Foss, affectionately known as Mashurochka, was a nanny and governess in the Shobert family [back]
8. Karolina was the nanny in charge of the composer's younger siblings Aleksandra and Ippolit [back]

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This page was last updated on 26 February 2012