Date	11/23 March 1887
Addressed to	Mily Balakirev
Where written	Saint Petersburg
Language	Russian
Autograph Location	Saint Petersburg (Russia): Manuscript department (ф. 834, ед. хр. 12, л. 37, 44)
Publication	Переписка М. А. Балакирева и П. И. Чайковского [1912], p. 97 Милий Алексеевич Балакирев. Воспоминания и письма (1962), p. 183 П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XIV (1974), p. 61.

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Russian text (original)		English translation Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
11 марта		11 March
Дорогой Милий Алексеевич!		Dear Mily Alekseyevich!
Я не в силах больше терпеть крайнее утомление и нервное расстройство, и сегодня решаюсь уехать в деревню. Очень сокрушаюсь, что не буду свидетелем Вашего торжества. Пожалуйста, голубчик, не сердитесь. Ей-Богу, сил больше нет...		I am no longer physically capable of enduring this state of extreme exhaustion and frayed nerves, and today I intend to leave for the country [1]. I am very sorry that I won't be a witness to your triumph [2]. Please don't be angry, dear fellow. Truly, I have run out of steam…
Ваш П. Чайковский		Yours, P. Tchaikovsky

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Notes:

1. Tchaikovsky had been in Saint Petersburg since 23 February/7 March 1887 to prepare for the Philharmonic Society concert on 5/17 March at which he conducted a concert of his works, including the first performance in the imperial capital of his Suite No. 2. The rehearsals for this concert, as well as for his opera The Enchantress at the Mariinsky Theatre, had proven very taxing for Tchaikovsky, as he was effectively making his début as a conductor. On the day that the above brief letter was written he left for Maydanovo [back]
2. On 12/24 March 1887 a concert conducted by Balakirev was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Free Music School, in which he had played such a decisive role [back]

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