Date	4/16 February 1884
Addressed to	Emiliia Pavlovskaia
Where written	Moscow
Language	Russian
Autograph Location	Moscow: A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum (Pavlovskaia collection)
Publication	Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 2 (1901), p. 621 (abridged) Советская музыка (1934), No. 8, p. 64 Чайковский на Московской сцене (1940), p. 316 П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XII (1970), p. 308.

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Russian text (original)		English translation Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
4 февр[аля] 1884		4 February 1884
Дорогая, чудная Эмилия Карловна!		Dear, wonderful Emiliia Karlovna!
Я доведён испытанными волнениями до такого состояния, что решился сегодня же уехать за границу и искать отдыха в дальнем путешествии. Спасибо Вам, несравненная Мария, за неописанно-чудное исполнение роли. Дай Бог Вам всякого счастия и успеха! Никогда не забуду глубоких впечатлений, доставленных Вашим дивным талантом. Целую Ваши ручки.		All the anxiety I have experienced has driven me to a point where, today, I have taken the decision of going abroad and seeking rest in a long journey [1]. Thank you, you incomparable Mariia, for your indescribably wonderful performance of the role. May God give you every possible happiness and success! I shall never forget the profound impressions which your marvellous talent has afforded me. I kiss your hands.
Ваш до гроба		Yours unto the grave,
Ваш П. Чайковский		Yours, P. Tchaikovsky

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Notes:

1. Tchaikovsky had been very nervous during the première of Mazepa at the Moscow Bol'shoi Theatre the previous evening, on 3/15 February 1884. Making his way abroad via Saint Petersburg, Tchaikovsky was in Berlin by 7/19 February and a few days later arrived in Paris, where he would stay for just over a fortnight before returning to Russia [back]

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This page was last updated on 14 February 2011