Tchaikovsky
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Iakov Polonskii (1819–1898)

Iakov Polonskii

Russian poet (b. 6/18 December 1819 in Riazan; d. 18/30 October 1898 in Saint Petersburg), born Iakov Petrovich Polonskii (Яков Петрович Полонский, Jakov Petrovič Polonskij, Yakov Petrovich Polonsky).

After graduating from Moscow University in 1844, he published his first collection of poems in the same year. In 1851 he moved to Saint Petersburg, where he edited the literary journal Russian Word (Русское слово). In later life he worked in the department of the state censor, while maintaining a steady output of poetry.

Tchaikovsky was personally acquainted with Polonskii, who provided the libretto for his opera Vakula the Smith (1874, revised in 1885 as Cherevichki), as well as the texts for the composer's Cantata for the Opening of the Polytechnic Exhibition (1872), the chorus A Greeting to A. G. Rubinstein (1889), and three of the Twelve Romances (Op. 60) (1886).

Tchaikovsky's correspondence with Iakov Polonskii:

• 4 letters from the composer to Iakov Polonskii have survived, dating from 1872 to 1889.