Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

Vera Vasil'evna Butakova

Вера Львовна Бутакова

Born Vera Vasil'evna DAVYDOVA (Давыдова) in 1843, the sister of Tchaikovsky's brother-in-law Lev Vasil'evich DAVYDOV.

She became very friendly with Tchaikovsky became friendly during a family holiday at Hapsal [now Haapsalu] in Estonia in 1867, and the composer dedicated his cycle of piano pieces Souvenir de Hapsal, Op. 2 to her, as well as the song Sleep (No. 4 of the Six Romances, Op. 57), written in 1884.

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:

• Grigorii Ivanovich BUTAKOV (1873-1859)
• Ivan Ivanovich BUTAKOV (1874-1879)
• Stepan Ivanovich BUTAKOV (1879-?).

Vera Butakova died in 1923, aged 80.