Letter 3444
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Russian text (original)
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English translation
Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
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| Берлин, 28 декабря 1887 / 9
января 1888 |
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Berlin,
28 December 1887 / 9 January 1888 |
| Дорогой друг! |
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Dear friend! |
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Нечего делать, буду завтракать один.
Играйте, пожалуйста, и ждите моего
появления приблизительно через 1½
часа. Мне нужно просить у Вас, чтобы Вы
или сами остались до сегодняшнего
вечера, или мне позволили. Очень
захотелось послушать Walkühr [= Walküre].
"Пожалуйста, позвольте!!!" До
свидания.
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It cannot be helped; I shall have lunch on my own
[1]. Please go ahead and play,
and expect me in an hour and a half's time or so. I have to make a
request to you, namely either that you yourself stay until tonight, or
that you allow me to do so. I have been seized with a great desire to
hear Die Walküre
[2].
"Please, let me!!!" See you soon.
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| П. Чайковский |
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P. Tchaikovsky |
Notes:
- Adolph
Brodsky was also in Berlin
at the time, and a few days earlier (when Tchaikovsky was still in Leipzig)
he had in fact given a successful performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin
Concerto. When the composer arrived in Berlin
in the evening of 26 December 1887/7 January 1888 Brodsky
had met him at the railway station and they had had supper together.
The next day, they had attended a concert of the Berlin
Philharmonic Society (both in the capacity of listeners). On the day
of the above letter, and clearly just a few hours earlier, Brodsky
had written to Tchaikovsky from his hotel with an apology that he
would not be able to have lunch with him later that day because he had
to practice intensively. He suggested, however, that they meet at the
station that evening before Tchaikovsky's departure for Hamburg
(where the composer was due to conduct a concert of his works on 8/20
January 1888). Brodsky's
brief letter has 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. 122 [back]
- It is not clear why Tchaikovsky was so keen on
hearing that night's performance of Die Walküre that he
was even contemplating staying an extra day in Berlin,
but the fact that he raises the option of Brodsky
attending the performance in his stead suggests that it may have had
to do with some private joke between the two musicians. At any rate,
the entry in Tchaikovsky's diary for 28 December 1887/9 January 1888
(written when he was on the night-train from Berlin
to Hamburg) sums up the events
of that day as follows: "...Expected Brodsky
to lunch. His letter declining. At Brodsky's.
He escorted me home. The story about Die Walküre. A tail
coat was requested!!! Letters. Solo dinner at Dressel's. Home.
Departure. Brodsky
arrived before the signal. Compartment in the first class".
Quoted here from
Wladimir Lakond (transl.),
The Diaries of Tchaikovsky (1973), p. 221. Tchaikovsky had first
heard Wagner's opera in
Vienna on 24 November/6
December 1877, and he reported on his ambivalent impressions in a very
interesting letter to Nadezhda
von Meck two days later (letter 661)
[back]
This page was last updated on 09 February 2011 |