Letter 2036
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Russian text (original)
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English translation
Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
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| Каменка,
3 июня 1882 |
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Kamenka,
3 June 1882 |
| Добрейший Адольф
Давидович! |
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Most kind Adol'f
Davidovich! |
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Рецензий не получил, да Вы об этом не
беспокойтесь. Во-первых, я английского
языка не знаю, а во-вторых, никогда
особенно не интересуюсь
рецензентскими отзывами. Рецензенты
редко говорят что-нибудь достойное
быть принятым к сведению; они
неосновательно ругают, но
неосновательно и хвалят или же
отделываются общими фразами,
лишёнными всякого серьёзного
значения. Конечно, неприятно читать на
себя печатную брань, — но столь же
неприятно читать и глупые похвалы.
Важно, чтобы рецензии были, т. е. чтобы
новое сочинение так или иначе
обратило на себя внимание, и если на
этот раз так и случилось, то я
совершенно доволен. Что касается
сочувственных отзывов об игре Вашей (а
для виртуозной славы это нужно и
полезно), — то я заранее убеждён, что в
них недостатка не было. Вы виртуоз не
только талантливый и симпатичный, но и
эффектный; у Вас есть та виртуозная
жилка, которая далеко не всякому, даже
очень даровитому, музыканту-исполнителю
дана от природы.
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I haven't received the reviews, but you needn't worry about that. In
the first place, I have no knowlege of English [2],
and in the second, I am never particularly interested in reviewers'
comments [3].
Rarely do reviewers say anything that deserves to be taken into
consideration. They criticize gratuitously, but they also praise
gratuitously or otherwise resort to general phrases which are devoid
of any serious meaningfulness. Of course, it is unpleasant to read
printed invectives against oneself, but it is just as unpleasant to
read stupid laudations. The main thing is that there are reviews, that
is, that a new composition manages to attract attention some way or
other, and if this is what has happened on this occasion, then I am
quite satisfied. As for appreciative comments about your playing (and
these are necessary and helpful for a virtuoso's fame), I am certain
in advance that there must have been plenty of these. You are not only
a talented and likeable virtuoso, but also a striking one: you possess
that virtuosic vein which by no means every performing musician, even
a very gifted one, is endowed with by
nature.
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| Итак, добрейший друг, не
заботьтесь вновь посылать мне
рецензии и напишите мне только, все
ли единогласно хвалили Вашу игру. |
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And so, most kind friend, don't trouble yourself
about sending me the reviews afresh, and just let me know in your
next letter whether your playing was unanimously praised by
everyone. |
| Вы кончаете Ваше
письмо предположением, что я
совершенно счастлив и что мне хорошо
пишется. К сожалению, предположение
Ваше не соответствует грустной
действительности. На меня обрушилось
несколько семейных огорчений и забот,
вследствие которых я ничего не
работаю и чувствую себя совсем не так
покойно и хорошо, как этого требует
успешное сочинительство. Завтра я
уеду на несколько времени выручать
из очень тяжёлого скопления невзгод
и огорчений одного из моих братьев.
Останусь там, вероятно, недели три-четыре. |
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You conclude your letter with the
assumption that I am completely happy and that I am composing with
ease. Unfortunately, your assumption is not borne out by sad
reality. Several domestic woes and worries have come down upon me,
as a result of which I am not doing any work and do not feel as calm
and well as is necessary for successful composition
[4].
Tomorrow I am going away for a while to help one of my brothers [Modest]
out of a very arduous tangle of adversities and calamities
[5]. I shall probably stay
there [in Grankino]
for some three or four
weeks. |
| Будьте здоровы,
голубчик. |
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Take care, dear fellow. |
| Ваш П. Чайковский |
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Yours, P. Tchaikovsky |
Notes:
- The autograph of this letter was previously in
the possession of the great Russian violinist David Oistrakh
(1908–1974). Note 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. 241 [back]
- Tchaikovsky had studied some English at the
School of Jurisprudence, although subsequent lack of practice led to
his forgetting most of what he had learnt. In the summer of 1883,
however, he would embark on intensive self-study of English, with a
view to being able to read Dickens in the original language. See letter
2380 to Nadezhda von
Meck, 1/13 November 1883. He had previously enjoyed reading many
of Dickens's novels in Russian translations, and in later years George
Eliot would become another favourite writer (although he seems to have
read her works in French translations) [back]
- On 26 April/8 May 1882 Adolph
Brodsky had played Tchaikovsky's Violin
Concerto at a concert in the St. James's Hall, London, conducted by Hans
Richter. This was the first performance in Great Britain of the
concerto, and indeed only the
second time that it had been performed in public after its world
premiere in Vienna on 22
November/8 December 1881, again thanks to the efforts of Brodsky
and Richter. In a letter to the composer from London
on 28 April/10 May 1882 Brodsky
had promised to send him the reviews of the concert as soon as they
appeared, and in a later letter from the English capital on 27 May/8
June 1882 he informed Tchaikovsky that he had sent the reviews as
printed matter, and was worried that they might have been lost in the
post. Both of the violinist's letters have 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. 113–114, p.
116–117
[back]
- At Kamenka
that summer Tchaikovsky was becoming increasingly exasperated with the
conduct of his eldest niece, Tat'iana
("Tania"), who ever since the breakdown of her
engagement to an army officer the previous year had been behaving in
an erratic manner, injecting herself with morphine and flirting with
various local admirers [back]
- The composer's brother Modest
was then at Grankino,
the family estate of his pupil Nikolai
Konradi whose father had recently died. The will had not yet been
opened, and Nikolai's
mother, Alina Briullova,
who had never shown much interest in her deaf-mute son, had also
turned up in Grankino,
determined to secure her claims to the family property (even though
she had divorced Nikolai's
father two years earlier). Apart from the unpleasant situation
resulting from Alina
Briullova's presence at Grankino,
Modest was also
plagued by ill-health. See Alexander Poznansky, Tchaikovsky.
The Quest for the Inner Man (1993), p. 406–407 [back]
This page was last updated on
09 February 2011 |