Letter 3435
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Russian text (original)
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English translation
Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
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Петербург.
15 декабря 1887 г. |
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Saint
Petersburg.
15 December 1887 |
| Ваше Императорское
Высочество! |
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Your Imperial Highness! |
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Обстоятельства сложились так, что мне
невозможно было иметь счастье видеть
Вас, ибо, если бы даже я и явился бы
завтра для представления Вам, то
наперёд знаю, что не буду принят; ибо
завтра Вы, как я слышал из верного
источника, будете на отпевании и
погребении адмирала Казакевича. К
несчастью, ни вчера, ни сегодня я не
имел никакой возможности явиться к
Вам в такой час, когда Вы изволите
принимать посетителей. Между тем, я
имею нечто, что желал сообщить Вам
устно, но принуждён изложить
письменно. Я написал недавно шесть
романсов на тексты симпатичного и
полного живого поэтического чувства
поэта К. Р. Писал я их при особенно
неблагоприятных условиях и боюсь, что
романсы эти не понравятся Вам. Тем не
менее я позволю себе испросить Вашего
разрешения посвятить их Вашему
Высочеству. В настоящее время романсы
эти гравируются, и я осмелюсь просить
Ваше Высочество приказать выдать
моему издателю (П. И. Юргенсону, Москва,
Неглинный проезд, № 10) официальное
разрешение мне посвятить их Вашему
Императорскому Высочеству. Завтра я
уезжаю на несколько месяцев по делам
за границу и в довольно отдалённом
будущем буду иметь возможность устно
передать Вам глубочайшую
благодарность за дозволение
посвятить Вам последнее произведение
моё.
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Circumstances have turned out such that it is impossible for me to
have the good fortune of seeing you, because even if I were to come
tomorrow to be presented to you, I know in advance that you wouldn't
be able to receive me. For tomorrow, as I have heard from a reliable
source, you will be attending the burial service for Admiral
Kazakevich [1]. Unfortunately, both today
and yesterday I have had no opportunity whatsoever to come to see you
at a time when you deign to receive visitors. And yet, I have
something I would like to tell you orally, but which I am forced to
set forth in writing. I have recently written six romances on texts by the
poet K. R. [2], who
is so appealing and full of lively poetic feeling. I wrote them in particularly unfavourable
conditions [3], and I fear that the romances may not please
you. Nevertheless, I shall take the liberty of requesting your
permission to dedicate them to Your Highness. The romances are presently being engraved,
and I make so bold as to ask Your Highness to arrange for my publisher
(P. I. Jurgenson, Moscow,
Neglinnyi Road, No. 10) to be issued with an official confirmation
that I have been granted permission to dedicate them to Your Imperial
Highness. Tomorrow I am going abroad on business for a few months [4],
and it is in a rather distant future that I shall have the opportunity
to convey to you in person my gratitude for the permission to dedicate
to you my latest work.
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| Покорнейше прося Ваше
Высочество передать Великой Княгине
Елизавете Маврикиевне выражение
моего нижайшего почтения, |
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After most humbly asking Your Highness to convey to
the Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Mavrikievna[5]
an assurance of my most humble respect, |
имею честь быть Вашего Императорского Высочества
покорнейший
слуга |
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I have the honour of
remaining Your Imperial Highness's
most
humble servant, |
| П. Чайковский |
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P. Tchaikovsky |
| 15 декабря 1887 |
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15 December 1887 |
Notes:
- Pyotr Vasilyevich Kazakevich (1814-1887),
vice-admiral, aide-de-camp, and member of the Admiralty Council [back]
- i.e. by Grand
Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich himself. The texts used by
Tchaikovsky for the Six
Romances, Op. 63, were taken from poems in the Grand Duke's first
book of verse (published in 1886). As a member of the
imperial family, Konstantin
was expected to engage in no public activities other than those which
fell within the sphere of military and administrative service or which
were of a purely representative nature, and so in order to be able to
publish his literary works he had to use the nom-de-plume "K.
R.". The identity of the author hiding behind this cipher was an
open secret, though, and some of the Grand Duke's poems (including
those set to music by composers such as Tchaikovsky,
Rachmaninoff, Glazunov, and Nápravník)
would attain considerable popularity. In Soviet times, however, the
name of "K. R." was omitted from histories of Russian
literature and his books were removed from libraries [back]
- Tchaikovsky's latest opera Cherevichki,
which had been received enthusiastically by Moscow
audiences at its premiere earlier that year, had turned out to be a
"real flop" when first staged in Saint
Petersburg on 20 October/1 November 1887. See letter
3419 to Nadezhda von
Meck, 25 November/7 December 1887. Note by L. K. Khitrovo
in: К.Р. Избранная переписка
(1999), p. 39 [back]
- After the unsuccessful performances of Cherevichki
in Saint Petersburg
Tchaikovsky went to Moscow and
thence returned to Maydanovo.
He next came to the imperial capital to conduct a Russian Musical
Society concert on 12/24 December 1887, which featured the first
performance in Saint
Petersburg of his Suite
No. 4 ("Mozartiana"), before leaving for Berlin
three days later in order to embark on his first concert tour of
Western Europe as a conductor of his own works (with concert stops in Leipzig, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Paris,
and London) [back]
- Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Mavrikievna (née
Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg; 1865-1927) was the wife of Grand
Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich and a niece of his mother, Grand Duchess
Aleksandra Iosifovna. Note by L. K. Khitrovo
in: К.Р. Избранная переписка
(1999), p. 39 [back]
This page was last updated on
16 February 2013 |