Letter 4515
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Russian text (original)
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English translation
Copyright © 2010 by Luis Sundkvist
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| с. Майданово, 19 окт[ября]
1891 |
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village of Maydanovo,
19 October 1891 |
| Милый друг Адольф! |
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Adolf,
dear friend! |
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Я не только не забыл тебя (странное
предположение), но в последнее время
много раз порывался писать тебе, да,
хоть убей, не мог найти в старых
письмах твоего летнего адреса. Мне
именно хотелось тебе и Анне Львовне
выразить пожелания счастливого
переезда и вообще всяческого
благополучия на новом поприще
деятельности. Ты в глубине души не
можешь сомневаться в моей
искреннейшей дружбе и симпатии к тебе,
и потому я даже несколько обиделся
твоим выражением, что я, может быть,
забыл тебя. Уверяю тебя, что я очень
верен и упорен в своих чувствах, что я
тебя всегда очень любил, а вследствие
особенных обстоятельств и знакомства
с твоей женой, после Лейпцига, стал
любить гораздо ещё больше.
Неоднократно в последнее время я
сокрушался при мысли о том, как судьба
сталкивает людей, устраивает интимное
сближение между ними, а потом на
несколько лет и больше снова
разлучает их до того, что может
явиться предположение о забвении! Нет,
милейший, ей-Богу, не забыл ни тебя, ни
твою архисимпатичную Анну Львовну,
часто о вас думаю и душевно стремлюсь
к вам. В эту минуту живо представляю
себе вас на столь мне знакомом Fürst Bismark'е,
а потом буду живо представлять вас в
своём воображении среди нью-йоркской
обстановки. Я уже давно знал от Дамроша
о твоём ангажементе и одобрял твоё
решение перебраться в Америку.
Убеждён, что ты там превосходно
устроишься и будешь доволен во всех
отношениях. Но не будешь ли ты первое
время немножко тосковать о тёплом
уголке, насиженном в Лейпциге?
Весьма может быть, — но время сгладит
всё, и в конечном результате я вижу
только одно благо в том, что ты решился
перебраться за океан.
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Not only have I not forgotten you (a strange supposition), but I have
recently tried many times to write to you—the trouble is that for
the life of me I haven't been able to find your summer address in your
old letters. For I wanted to wish you and Anna
Lvovna a safe crossing and indeed all kinds of prosperity in your
new sphere of activity. In your heart of hearts you cannot possibly
have any doubt as to my utterly sincere friendship and sympathy for
you, and that is why I was a little hurt by your phrase suggesting
that I had forgotten you
[1]. I assure you that I am
very loyal and steadfast in my feelings, that I have always loved you
very much, and that after Leipzig,
as a result of the special circumstances and my acquaintance with your
wife, I came to love you even, even more
[2]. On
more than one occasion lately it has distressed me to think of the way
that Fate brings people together and enables them to become intimate
friends, but then separates them again for a few, or even several,
years such that it becomes possible for suppositions to arise about
having been forgotten! No, dear fellow, I have truly not forgotten you
or your super-nice Anna
Lvovna; I often think about you both and inwardly wish I could be
with you. At this very moment I am vividly imagining you on board the Prince
Bismarck, with which I am so familiar
[3], and
later I shall just as vividly picture you to myself in the setting of New
York. I knew about your engagement long ago from Damrosch,
and I approved of your decision to betake yourself to America. I am
certain that you will settle in splendidly there, and that you will be
satisfied in all respects. On the other hand, will you not miss, to
start with, the cosy little corner which you had made for yourselves
in Leipzig? It may very well
be so, but time smooths over everything, and in the long run I can see
only good things arising from your decision to cross the
ocean.
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| Про себя ничего особенно
нового сообщить не имею. По-прежнему
много работаю. В нынешнем сезоне мне
предстоит инструментовать две
громадные партитуры, быть в Гамбурге
и Праге на
постановке опер, концертировать в
Голландии, во Франции и дирижировать
множеством концертов в России в
разных местах. В Америку меня на
весну приглашают, — но, кажется, это
не состоится. Мне предлагают слишком
ничтожный гонорар, такой, который
едва окупит мои дорожные издержки. Я
заломил втрое больше, и, по всей
вероятности, они не согласятся, что
меня нисколько не удивит и не обидит. |
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As for myself, I don't have anything particularly
new to report. I am working a great deal as before. In the course of
the current season I have to orchestrate two huge scores [Iolanta
and The Nutcracker],
go to Hamburg and Prague
for productions of my operas, give concerts in Holland and France,
and conduct lots of concerts in various places in Russia [4].
I have been invited to come to America in the spring, but I think
this won't work out. They are offering me a far too paltry
fee—indeed one which would hardly cover my travelling expenses. I
have demanded triple that sum, and in all probability they will not
agree to this, but this is something which would not surprise or
offend me in the least [5]. |
| Относительно голосов
концерта похлопочу. У меня к тебе
просьба такого же рода. Я оставил, то
есть мне, вследствие отъезда всего
оркестра с распорядителем по части
нотного материала на какой-то Musikfest,
не возвратили голоса моей Третьей
сюиты, по коим я играл её в Нью-Йорке.
Между тем они мне для нового издания
ужасно нужны. Я писал летом и к Рено и
к его зятю об этих голосах, но не
получил их. |
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Regarding the parts for the concerto,
I'll take care of that
[6]. I have a favour of the
same kind to ask you. I left behind, or rather, I did not get back
the parts of my Third
Suite which I used to perform it at New
York, because the whole orchestra left for some music
festival together with the member of staff in charge of scores
and parts. Now, I badly need to get hold of those parts for a new
edition. I wrote to Reno and to his son-in-law in the summer
regarding these voices, but I didn't get them back [7]. |
| Ради Бога, похлопочи,
чтобы они нашлись и были отправлены в
Москву на имя П. И. Юргенсона. |
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For God's sake, see to it that they are
found and dispatched to Moscow,
to P. I. Jurgenson's
address. |
| Голубчик, рекомендую тебе
твоего соседа по пульту, Конюса.
Это не только талантливый и неглупый
юноша, но превосходный во всех
отношениях молодой человек,
принадлежащий к необыкновенно
даровитой и чудесной семье. Я его
очень полюбил в последнее время, ибо
в Париже близко
с ним сошёлся и ужасно был рад за него,
когда узнал о твоём переезде в
Америку. Для него величайшее счастье,
что он на чужбине найдёт таких
хороших людей-соотечественников, как
ты и Анна
Львовна. Прошу вас обоих обласкать
милого юношу, достойного вполне
вашего сочувствия. |
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Dear fellow, I recommend to you your desk-neighbour,
Konyus. He is not only
a talented and quite intelligent youngster, but a young man who is
splendid in every respect and who belongs to an extraordinarily
gifted and wonderful family. I have lately grown very fond of him,
because I got to know him well in Paris
and was awfully glad for him when I found out about your move to
America. It is most fortunate for him that in this foreign land he
will encounter such fine people and compatriots as you and Anna
Lvovna. I ask you both to treat this dear youth with affection,
for he is wholly deserving of your sympathy [8]. |
| Пожалуйста, очень-очень
поклонись от меня Дамрошу
и его жене, семье Рено и массе моих нью-йоркских
друзей, среди коих ты будешь жить и
действовать. Я сохранил о Нью-Йорке
и о радушии его жителей самое
отрадное воспоминание. Американцы —
народ необыкновенно симпатичный,
прямой, простой, искренний. Напомни Конюсу,
что он обещал написать мне. |
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Please give my very, very warm regards to Damrosch
and his wife, to the Reno family, and to the masses of my friends in New
York in whose midst you will be living and working. I have the
most pleasant memories of New
York and the hospitality of its inhabitants. The Americans are an
uncommonly likeable, straightforward, simple, and sincere people.
Remind Konyus that he has
promised to write to me.
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| Обнимаю тебя крепко, милый
мой друг Адольф.
Целую ручку Анны
Львовны. Бог даст, летом удастся
посетить вас. |
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I embrace you warmly, my dear friend Adolf.
I kiss the hand of Anna
Lvovna. God willing, I should be able to visit you in the
summer.
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| Твой П. Чайковский |
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Yours, P. Tchaikovsky
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Notes:
- Adolph
Brodsky had begun his letter to Tchaikovsky from Hamburg
on 10/22 October 1891—in which he explained that the next day he and
his wife Anna would be
boarding the steamship Prince Bismarck to sail to New
York, where he had been invited by Walter
Damrosch to take up the post of leader of the New
York Symphony Orchestra—as follows: "Pyotr Ilyich, dear
friend! We haven't written to one another for quite a while, yet I
still have the hope that you haven't forgotten me". Brodsky's
letter has been published in: Yelena 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. 134–135 [back]
- When Tchaikovsky arrived in Leipzig
on 19/31 December 1887 for the start of his first tour as a conductor
of his own works he was feeling very homesick and apprehensive of what
lay ahead of him, but the warm Russian hospitality which he enjoyed at
the Brodskys' house (where he also made the acquaintance of Brahms,
Grieg and his wife Nina,
and Ethel Smyth) had
served as a great boost to his morale [back]
- Tchaikovsky had returned to Europe from his
American tour that spring on board the steamship Prince Bismarck
[back]
- Not all of these conducting engagements for the
1891/92 season worked out. Tchaikovsky did conduct a concert of his
works in Kiev on 21 December
1891/2 January 1892 and a similar concert in Warsaw
on 2/14 January 1892. (Both Kiev
and Warsaw were part of the
Russian Empire at the time). However, although he then went to Hamburg
intending to conduct the first performance in Germany of Yevgeny
Onegin, he decided after one rehearsal to hand over the baton
to the theatre's resident conductor, Gustav
Mahler, and it was Mahler
who conducted the German premiere of that opera on 7/19 January 1892.
The following day, Tchaikovsky left for Paris,
where he stayed for ten days before returning to Russia, having
decided to cancel the two concerts he was due to give in Holland (The
Hague and Amsterdam). He had found out earlier (while still in Kiev)
that the scheduled production of The
Queen of Spades in Prague
had been postponed until the following season, and according to his
brother Modest, he
was greatly relieved to be able to return to Maydanovo
sooner than expected so as to commence the orchestration of The
Nutcracker. See Modest
Tchaikovsky, Жизнь
Петра Ильича Чайковского,
том 3 (1997), p. 456–465 [back]
- Tchaikovsky had received 2,500 dollars for the
four concerts he conducted in New
York in May 1891. Morris
Reno, the president of the Music Hall
Company who had helped to organize that tour, tried to persuade the
composer to come to America a second time, but the fee Reno was now
offering (4,000 dollars for 20 concerts) didn't seem sufficiently
attractive. See Modest
Tchaikovsky, Жизнь
Петра Ильича Чайковского,
том 3 (1997), p. 445–446 [back]
- In his letter from Hamburg
on 10/22 October 1891 Brodsky
had asked Tchaikovsky to request Vasily
Safonov, the director of the Moscow
Conservatory, to forward to him in New
York his copies of the orchestral parts for the Violin
Concerto [back]
- Several letters from the impresario Morris Reno
and his wife Marie to Tchaikovsky have survived (they are included, in
Russian translation, in:
Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты (1970), p. 97–100),
but no letters from the composer to Morris
Reno (or to his son-in-law, Leon Margulis) have
come to light as yet. On the other hand, a number of letters from
Tchaikovsky to Marie Reno
have come to light in recent years [back]
- See also the letter of introduction (letter
4488) to Brodsky
and his wife dated 30 September 1891 [O.S.]
which Tchaikovsky had given to the young violinist Yuly
Konyus who was due to take up an engagement with the New
York Symphony Orchestra. Anna Brodsky would write to Tchaikovsky
from New York in November
1891: "With Konyus
it was a case of love at first sight for us. We have seen what a
remarkably honest character he has and how independent he is at such a
young age". Her letter has been published in: Yelena 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. 137–138 [back]
This page was last updated on
16 February 2013 |