Letter 2758
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French text (original)
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English translation
Copyright ©
2011 by Luis Sundkvist
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Maïdanowo, près
Kline, province de Moscou
31 Août/12 Septembre 1885 |
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Maydanovo, near
Klin, Moscow Province
31 August/12 September 1885 |
| Monsieur ! |
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Monsieur![1] |
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Mr. P. I. Jurgenson m'a remis les quelques partitions que V[ou]s avez bien voulu m'envoyer afin que j'exprime mon opinion sur ces œuvres de jeunes maîtres français. Ce sera pour moi un vrai plaisir de m'adonner à l'étude de ces compositions, mais j'espère, Monsieur, que V[ou]s aurez la bonté de m'excuser de ce que je ne puis le faire tout de suite. Je suis absorbé par un grand travail et tant que je ne l'aurai complètement terminé, – je ne saurai prêter à Vos belles éditions ni le temps ni l'attention qu'elles méritent. Dès que je serai delivré de la tâche que ma nouvelle composition m'impose, je m'appliquerai à l'examen minutieux de ce que V[ou]s m'avez envoyé et je V[ou]s en ferai savoir le résultat.
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Mr P. I. Jurgenson has forwarded to me the scores which you were so kind as to wish to send to me so that I might express my opinion on these works by young French
masters [2]. It will be a true pleasure for me to devote myself to the study of these compositions, but I hope, Monsieur, that you will be so kind as to excuse me for not being able to do so at once. I am now engrossed in a big job, and I would not be able to give your handsome editions the time or attention they deserve until I have completely finished
that [3]. As soon as I have acquitted myself of the task which my new composition imposes upon me, I shall apply myself to a painstaking examination of what you have sent me and will let you know what the outcome of that
is [4].
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| Maintenant, Monsieur, permettez moi de V[ou]s dire que je suis on ne peut plus content de ce que j'ai en Vous à
Paris un soutien, un ami de ma musique, un propagateur bienveillant et energique [= énergique] de mes œuvres. Je me félicite et me réjouis sincèrement à l'idée de la bonne chance qui met le sort de ma musique en France dans Vos mains. Je souhaite, Monsieur, que V[ou]s ne V[ou]s repentissiez jamais d'avoir eu le courage d'acquérir des droits sur les œuvres d'un compositeur peu répandu dans Votre pays et j'ose espérer que peut être [= peut-être] le jour viendra quand V[ou]s serez content de ce que V[ou]s avez fait. Si ma bonne étoile me conduit à
Paris, ce sera pour moi un doux devoir de me présenter chez V[ou]s, et en attendant, veuillez, Monsieur, agreer [= agréer] l'expression de mes sentiments les plus distingués. |
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Now, Monsieur, permit me to tell you that I am as happy as can be at having in your person a support in
Paris, a friend of my music, a well-meaning and energetic propagator of my works. I congratulate myself and rejoice sincerely when I think of the good fortune which has put into your hands the fate of my music in France. I wish, Monsieur, that you may never regret having had the courage to acquire the rights to the works of a composer who is but little known in your country, and I venture to hope that perhaps the day will come when you will be glad over what you have done. If my lucky star guides me to
Paris, it will be a sweet duty for me to call on
you [5], and until then, Monsieur, would you please accept this assurance of my finest sentiments. |
| P. Tschaïkovsky |
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P. Tchaikovsky |
Notes:
- This is Tchaikovsky's first letter to Félix Mackar,
who a few weeks earlier, in August 1885, had written to Jurgenson
in Moscow offering to buy for
20,000 francs the right to publish and distribute in France and
Belgium all of Tchaikovsky's already published works. The offer was
accepted, leading to a correspondence between Tchaikovsky and his new
French publisher, which—as Vladimir Fédorov (1901–1979), who was
responsible for the first publication of almost all of Tchaikovsky's
extant letters to Mackar, has
noted—soon lost its formal character
and became very friendly and cordial. 24 letters from Mackar
to Tchaikovsky, the earliest dating from 2/14 September 1885 and the
latest from 28 August/9 September 1893, have been published in
Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты (1970),
p. 146–164 (in Russian translation only) [back]
- As we learn from letter 2819 to
Mackar of 22
November/4 December 1885, the scores which Tchaikovsky had received
were of compositions by Émile Bernard (1843–1902) and
Charles-Édouard Lefebvre (1843–1917) [back]
- Tchaikovsky was then orchestrating the Manfred
symphony, which he would complete on 22 September/4 October 1885 [back]
- See letter 2819 to Mackar
[back]
- Tchaikovsky made good his promise and during
his next visit to Paris, in the
summer of 1886, he called on Mackar
at his music-shop. However, his diary entry for the day of that first
visit, on 21 May/2 June 1886, shows that when he set out from his
hotel in the morning he did not consider it a "sweet duty"
at all: "Decided to go to Mackar.
What suffering I went through and how excited I was—it is
impossible to describe. Ten times I approached the place and each time
went away—even a large glass of absinth did not help. Finally I
walked in. He was expecting me. I imagined him to be otherwise; less
tall. His gaze is amazingly similar to Bessel's.
We had a talk (while there, someone came to buy my works) and I left.
It goes without saying that it was as though a load were taken off my
shoulders and I felt easier". Quoted from
Wladimir Lakond (transl.),
The Diaries of Tchaikovsky (1973), p. 78. Apart from his general
dislike of having to meet new people in formal settings, this
trepidation on Tchaikovsky's part before meeting Mackar
may perhaps be explained by the fact that, for all his genuine
modesty, he still considered it to be beneath his dignity as an artist
to involve himself in the promotion of his works abroad—something
that only seven years earlier, in his letters to Nadezhda
von Meck, he had dismissed outright (see, for example, letter
794 of 19/31 March 1878) [back]
This page was last updated on
16 February 2013 |