TCHAIKOVSKY PIOTR ILITCH (1840-1893) - Lot 232

Lot 232
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Result : 10 400EUR
TCHAIKOVSKY PIOTR ILITCH (1840-1893) - Lot 232
TCHAIKOVSKY PIOTR ILITCH (1840-1893) L.A.S. "P. Tchaikovsky", Kamenka 3/15 July 1881, to Eduard Frantsovich NÁPRAVNIK; 4 pages small in-8 in his own handwriting, envelope with stamp; in Russian. Very beautiful letter about his work on Russian religious songs and the composition of his Vespers. [Eduard NÁPRAVNIK (1839-1916), of Czech origin, was for a long time the conductor of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, as well as of the concerts of the Russian Musical Society, and a close friend of Tchaikovsky, for whom he created many works]. "I received your kind, warm and encouraging letter today, and I am unspeakably grateful for your friendly concern for me. You are quite right in saying that if my apathy toward composition is temporary, this break will be beneficial to me. I shall therefore continue to hope that my desire to write music will return, and in my next opera [Mazeppa] I shall try to profit by all the points I have learned in my previous attempts. But for the time being I am still resting, and it is only gradually that I am taking up the study of our ancient church hymns, and am endeavoring to adapt them for four-part choir. The result of this work will be the Vespers [op. 52], by which I would like to contribute, as little as possible, to the stripping of our church music, which has been distorted by the banal and untalented editions of the [imperial] Chapel. In this field there would be much to do by Russian composers, if only the Chapel and Mr. Bakhmetyev [director of the Chapel] did not try to interfere in every possible way. Eduard Frantsevich! Is it true that Khuyster and his terrible Lukashevich will remain at the helm of the theater administration? If so, then there is good reason to despair. It is very likely that I will go to Prague, if my opera [La Pucelle d'Orléans] is staged there, although I worry in advance at the thought that I will have to be in the limelight and demonstrate my total inability to be of any use to the production. I hope you are taking advantage of the break from your usual duties to compose. With all my heart I wish you success in your work and in all your undertakings. May you be blessed, my dear friend"... [La Pucelle d'Orléans was not finally performed in Prague until the following summer, in July 1882, and Tchaikosvky did not go there] Original Russian text (and English translation): www.en.tchaikovsky-research. net/pages/Letter_1801
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