Letter 1924
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Russian text (original)
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English translation
Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
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| Рим, 1/13 января 1882 |
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Rome, 1/13 January 1882 |
| Милый друг! |
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Dear friend! |
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Тысячу раз благодарю Вас за милейшее
письмо Ваше. Очень радуюсь, что могу
написать непосредственно Вам, а то, за
незнанием Вашего адреса, мне пришлось
благодарить Вас через Куперника и
Юргенсона. Последнему я написал
тотчас после прочтения случайно
попавшегося мне номера Neue Freie Presse,
где Ганслик весьма остроумно называет
мою музыку «вонючей». Только прочтя
этот отзыв наиболее авторитетного
венского критика, я оценил всю
безграничность гражданского мужества,
которое Вы выказали, появившись перед
венской публикой с моим концертом.
Меня это удивляет и трогает в высшей
степени. Когда-нибудь, при свидании, я
Вам подробно расскажу, как по поводу
этого несчастного концерта выказали
себя с довольно неблаговидной стороны
некоторые так называемые друзья мои...
Я очень философски привык относиться
к неуспеху или совершенному
игнорированию моих произведений, но
сильно страдаю душой, когда люди,
которых я в воображении своём снабдил
всевозможными добродетелями,
оказываются совсем не тем, что я думал.
В настоящем случае было чем
огорчиться. Но зато Ваша симпатия к
моему концерту, неоцененная заслуга,
которую Вы оказали мне, поборов все
препятствия и исполнив его, —
сторицей вознаграждают меня за
несколько грустных минут
разочарования...
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I thank you a thousand times for your ever so nice letter [1]. I am very
glad that I can write to you directly, because before, not knowing
your address, I had to thank you through Kupernik and
Jurgenson
[2]. I
wrote to the latter immediately after reading an issue of the Neue
Freie Presse which had fallen into my hands by chance, and in
which Hanslick most wittily calls my music "stinking"
[3]. It
was only after reading this review by the most authoritative critic in
Vienna that I appreciated all the immeasurableness of the civil
courage which you demonstrated in appearing before the Viennese public
with my concerto. This amazes and touches me to the utmost. Some day,
when we meet, I shall tell you in detail how in connection with this
ill-fated concerto certain so-called friends of mine showed themselves
in a rather unfavourable light...[4] I have very philosophically become
accustomed to the failure of my works or to their being utterly
ignored, but it causes me great spiritual suffering when people whom
in my imagination I had endowed with all kinds of virtues turn out to
be not at all as I had thought. In the present case I had good reason
to feel upset. But on the other hand, your sympathy for my concerto,
the inestimable service which you have rendered me in overcoming all
obstacles and performing it—all this compensates me a hundredfold
for various sad moments of
disillusionment...
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| Я сейчас же напишу Colonn'у,
с которым знаком только по письмам, и
буду просить его оказать Вам
всевозможное внимание, но, простите,
голубчик, умолчу о том, что Вы именно
мой концерт будете играть. Не знаю,
удастся ли попасть в Карлсруэ, но
надеюсь, что Вы поверите мне, если я
скажу Вам, что страстно бы желал
этого. Попрошу Вас в своё время
известить меня точным образом о дне,
в который Вы будете играть. Быть
может, удастся приехать. Крепко-крепко
жму Вашу руку, милый друг; примите
самое искреннее и тёплое спасибо за
Вашу симпатию к моим сочинениям. Я
очень, очень ценю её!!! |
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I shall this very minute write to Colonne,
with whom I am acquainted only by correspondence, and will ask him
to show you every possible attention, though—forgive me, dear
fellow—I won't mention that it is precisely my concerto which you
are going to play
[5]. I don't know whether I
shall be able to make it to Karlsruhe, but I hope you will believe
me when I tell you that this is something I passionately desire. May
I ask you to notify me in due course about the exact day on which
you will be performing? Perhaps I will be able to come [6].
I shake your hand very, very warmly, dear friend. Please accept my
most sincere and cordial thanks for the sympathy you have shown
towards my compositions. I appreciate it very, very
much!!! |
| Искренно любящий и
уважающий Вас, |
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With sincere love and respect, |
| П. Чайковский |
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P. Tchaikovsky |
Notes:
- In his letter to Tchaikovsky from Vienna
on 29 December
1881/10 January 1882 Adolph
Brodsky wrote about the recent world premiere of the Violin
Concerto at a concert of the Vienna
Philharmonic Society on 22 November/4 December 1881, in which he had been the soloist and
Hans Richter (1843-1916) had conducted. "To play this concerto in public became my dream
from the very moment that I looked through it for the first time. This
was two years ago", Brodsky
explained. It had cost him great effort to overcome the
technical difficulties, but the beauty of the concerto had soon made
him forget about these: "What a delight! One can play it
endlessly, and never get fed up with it!" Brodsky
and Richter had lobbied for the concerto to be performed in Vienna, even though
it had been rejected by the
Philharmonic Society directors at a preliminary hearing. "And so
he and I finally made it to the Philharmonic Concert, during which
some Brahmsophile-Russophobe faction wanted us to fail and hissed
zealously, but they were defeated by the majority of the audience
which called me out three times with stormy applause". Brodsky's
letter has been published in: Elena Biteriakova and Marina Stroganova
(eds), Анна Бродская (Скадовская).
Воспоминания о русском доме. Адольф
Бродский, Петр Чайковский, Эдвард Григ
в мемуарах, дневниках, письмах (Feodosia
/ Moscow, 2006), p. 103–106. It
is also partially cited in Modest
Tchaikovsky, Жизнь
Петра Ильича Чайковского,
том 2 (1997), p. 427–428 [back]
- In his letter of 29 December 1881/10 January
1882 Brodsky said that
he had been delighted to read Tchaikovsky's letter to Lev
Kupernik in which the composer had asked
Kupernik to thank Brodsky
on his behalf for performing the Violin
Concerto, because he did not himself know the violinist's address. Kupernik
had sent Brodsky a copy
of this letter. See letter 1904 to Lev
Kupernik, 1/13 December 1881 [back]
- The influential music critic Eduard Hanslick
(1825–1904) published his notorious review of Tchaikovsky's Violin
Concerto in the 24 December 1881 [N.S.]
issue of the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse, in which
he observed how in the first movement "crudeness" eventually won the upper hand over musical
elegance; how the Adagio, with its "gentle Slavic melancholy" reconciled one briefly with the
work; but how the Finale then plunged one into "the brutal, sad merriness of a Russian parish
fair": "We see nothing but wild, vulgar faces, hear coarse swearing and can literally smell the cheap liquor. Friedrich Vischer [a
famous writer on aesthetics] once observed, referring to obscene descriptions in literature, that there are images "which one can see stink". Tchaikovsky's
Violin Concerto suggests the dreadful thought that there might well also be works of music whose stinking one can
hear". The relevant passages of Hanslick's review are reprinted in: Ernst Kuhn, Tschaikowsky aus der Nähe. Kritische Würdigungen und Erinnerungen von Zeitgenossen
(1994), p. 197–198. As Modest
pointed out in his biography of his brother after citing Hanslick's
review, Tchaikovsky would never forget these scathing words and
frequently referred to them in letters and conversations. See Жизнь
Петра Ильича Чайковского,
том 2 (1997), p. 430. See also letter
1914 to Petr Jurgenson,
15/27 December 1881 [back]
- Tchaikovsky is referring to Leopold
Auer and Iosif Kotek,
both of whom had been scheduled to premiere the Violin
Concerto at Russian Musical Society concerts (Auer
in March 1879, and Kotek
in the autumn of 1881) but had pulled out in each case because the
new work seemed too difficult to them. Kotek's
'betrayal' hurt Tchaikovsky especially because when
writing the concerto he had consulted him throughout on the violin part (see letter
1914 to Petr Jurgenson,
15/27 December 1881, and letter 1915
to Anatolii
Tchaikovsky, 18/30–19/31 December 1881). Auer
would change his opinion of the concerto several years later and
performed it with great success
[back]
- In his letter of 29 December 1881/10 January
1882 Brodsky wrote that
he would very much like to play the Violin
Concerto in Tchaikovsky's presence, and that perhaps an
opportunity for this might present itself in Paris,
where he was intending to travel next: "If possible, could you
not write a few lines to Monsieur
Colonne in order to get him to invite me to play your
concerto? After all, I think you are on friendly terms with him, and
he has already included many of your compositions in his
programmes". The letter which Tchaikovsky, judging from the
above, wrote to Colonne
on the same day as this letter to Brodsky
has not come to light [back]
- In his letter of 29 December 1881/10 January
1882 Brodsky wrote that
he had been invited by the Austrian conductor Felix Mottl (1856-1911),
who was then music director at the Karlsruhe Opera, to perform
Tchaikovsky's Violin
Concerto in Karlsruhe in February 1882. In his next letter to
Tchaikovsky, written in Vienna
on 11/23 February 1882, Brodsky
informed the composer that nothing had come of these plans to organize
a concert in Karlsruhe, although Mottl had invited him to perform the
concerto there during the next season, in October 1882. This letter
from Brodsky has also
been published in: Elena Biteriakova and Marina Stroganova
(eds), Анна Бродская (Скадовская).
Воспоминания о русском доме. Адольф
Бродский, Петр Чайковский, Эдвард Григ
в мемуарах, дневниках, письмах (Feodosia
/ Moscow, 2006), p. 107–109 [back]
This page was last updated on
09 February 2011 |