Tchaikovsky
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Vera Butakova (1843–1923)

Vera Butakova

Sister-in-law of the composer (b. 1843; d. 1923), born Vera Vasilyevna Davydova (Вера Васильевна Давыдова); known after her marriage as Vera Vasilyevna Butakova (Вера Васильевна Бутакова).

Vera was the sister of Tchaikovsky's brother-in-law Lev Davydov, and she became attached to Tchaikovsky during a family holiday at Hapsal [now Haapsalu] in Estonia in 1867. The composer dedicated the cycle of piano pieces he was writing at the time—Souvenir de Hapsal, Op. 2—to Vera.

Although it appears that Vera had romantic feelings for Tchaikovsky during the late 1860s, these were not reciprocated, and in 1871 she married a much older man—Vice-Admiral Ivan Ivanovich Butakov (1822–1882), commander of the Russian Mediterranean fleet, and had three sons—Grigory (b. 1873); Ivan (1874–1879); and Stepan (b. 1879).

Tchaikovsky's works dedicated to Vera Butakova:

• Souvenir de Hapsal, Op. 2 (1867)
• Sleep—No. 4 of the Six Romances, Op. 57 (1884).