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Marking the 175th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Tchaikovsky
«Music… from the depths of the soul excited by artistic inspiration».

To Whom and on What did Pyotr Tchaikovsky Write?

By showing a fragment of correspondence between Tchaikovsky and Stasov, we would like to draw special attention to epistolary heritage of the composer, stored in the National Library of Russia. Here, there are more than 400 letters by Tchaikovsky.

In the 19th century, the correspondence was the primary means of communication even within the same city, not to mention the contacts over large distances, and it contains a lot of information of various kinds. The letters of Tchaikovsky reflect his daily activities, stages of work on musical works, on critical articles and textbooks. The contents of the letters is determined by the presence or lack of spiritual affinity with a particular addressee. Addressing to some persons, Pyotr Tchaikovsky confines himself to mentioning just practical issues, to the other, he tells about events in his life. The epistolary heritage of Tchaikovsky includes also letters of revelation in which he shares his experiences and feelings, offences or raptures, ideas about faith, about music, about life.

A significant portion of the composer's letters are addressed to his relatives: the mother and father, his father's second wife Elizaveta Mikhailovna (nee Alexandrova); brothers - Modest, Hippolyte, Nikolay and his wife Olga; the sister Alexandra, her husband Lev Davydov and their daughter Tatyana; the aunt Catherine Alexeyeva that Modest Tchaikovsky described as 'the only relative who had an interest and aptitude for music', as well as Pyotr Tchaikovsky's cousin Anna Merkling. Tchaikovsky wrote to his pupils - the pianist Anna Alexandrova-Levenson and Vladimir Shilovsky making good progress in the field of composition. The National Library of Russia houses the letters of Pyotr Tchaikovsky to Alina and Herman Conradi - parents of the deaf-mute boy Kolya Conradi, of whom his brother Modest was an educator, teacher, and then a guardian. It has also preserved the correspondence with Tchaikovsky's former governess Avdotya Bakhireva and his servant Alexey Sofronov.

Our library possesses letters addressed to the Polish pianist and violinist (the secretary of Nadezhda von Meck), the pianists and teachers Paul Peterson and Vera Timanova, the music publisher Pyotr Jurgenson, the music theorist and writer Augustus Bernhardt, the playwright and entrepreneur Alexey Kartavov, the flutist and composer Ernesto Köhler, the composer and music critic Baron Boris Fitinhoff-Schell. Here are stored letters to prominent composers - Tchaikovsky's contemporaries - Mily Balakirev, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Lyadov, Anton Rubinstein, and the inspirer of most of them, the critic Vladimir Stasov

The most portion of the letters have been published and everyone can get acquainted with their contents. However, printed texts do not give a complete picture of the letters of Tchaikovsky. They do not convey the expressiveness of his handwriting, which often reflects the emotions he experienced when writing letters. It is impossible to imagine the appearances of the letters, judging from the printed texts. In the 19th century, the authors of the letters had the choice of writing paper. It could be of a different format, with water marks and without them, lined, unruled, white or colored, with printed pattern or border. Often writing paper was made on special order, with a monogram embossed, usually, in the left corner of the sheet.

Tchaikovsky's Monogram of 1873–1875.Anatoly Tchaikovsky's Monogram. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Alexey Sofronov, dated to 9 October 1878For his letters, Tchaikovsky chose paper of different grades. Before the 1870s, he wrote on the ordinary unruled or lined paper, often torn from a notebook.
From 1873 till 1875, Pyotr Tchaikovsky added his monogram initials to his letterheads.
This monogram is made by a blind embossing (without paint). Form of initials is simple and austere without any ornamentation. Tchaikovsky's brother Anatoly has a monogram of the similar style on letterheads which were sometimes used by Pyotr Ilyich.

In letters dated to the period of 1876-1881, the shape of the letters was changed. Strict design without any decoration was complemented by triangular serifs. The decorative projections were added as embellishment to characters: not only vertical strokes of the letterforms end in serifs but also their central parts have the small projecting features.

Tchaikovsky's Monogram in 1876–1881.4/16 January [1880]. Rome. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Lev Davydov.Another monogram appeared in the letter dated to January 1880. It was sent from Rome, where Tchaikovsky lived from November 1879 until the end of February of the next year. Impressions from a merry street carnival with its festive procession accompanied by folk dances and songs were reflected in the «Italian Capriccio» composed in Rome. And we dare to suggest that Tchaikovsky's visits to numerous art museums and galleries exerted an impact on the shape of the embossed monogram «PT» (Petr Tchaikovsky in French transliteration), which, apparently, was commitioned in Rome.

19/31 January 1882. Rome. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. 10 August. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko.During his next trip to Rome, Tchaikovsky ordered latterheads with a new monogram contsisting of the same letters «PT», but, unlike the previous image it was not so ponderous. On the contrary, the monogram is elegant and light. The embossed monogram with entwined ornamented initials is painted with tastelessly matched blue and gold colours.
From Russia, Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote to his correspondents, mostly, on paper with Cyrillic characters «P Ch». In 1881, there appeared a new form of that monogram. It is also a colour embossed pattern made using only a single colour: either blue or red.

Letters of Tchaikovsky sent in the first half of 1882 are provided with a new monogram. Entwined initials of a different form with a floral ornament, perhaps, excessively magnificent, are embossed using the red or dark brown colors.
In November of the same year, the monogram was slightly changed, the pattern became more simple, colors - more austere.

6 May 1882. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. 19 June 1882. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. 8 November 1882. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Lev Davydov,  dated to 15 June 1883. 14 December 1883. Moscow. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev.And in the letter dated to 15 June 1883 from Podushkino (here Tchaikovsky lived at his brother Anatoly's summer cottage from 31 May to 1 September 1883), we see an elegant monogram «PT» in Latin letters, and it is placed not in the left but in the upper right corner of the letter.
There is another form of a Latin monogram, but in English transliteration «PC».

Without dwelling on each form of monogram, we show them here in chronological order.

13 September 1885. Klin. Maydanovo. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev.21 November 1885. Klin. Maydanovo. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev.11 March 1887. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev.29 April 1887. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Vladimir Stasov.1 August 1888. Frolovskoe. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Vladimir Vasiliev-Shilovsky.

All of the above monogram made using embossing, only two non-embossed monograms, painted in gold or silver colors, are found.

9 November 1887. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to [Peterson?]One letter, dated to November 1887, was written by the composer on the paper with the monogram of his elder brother Nikolay. This monogram is completely different from all others which can be found in Pyotr Tchaikovsky's letters. In the monogram of his brother, an important element of impression is the crown emphasizing his noble origin. In Pyotr Tchaikovsky's monogram is no crown. It is, in fact, a direct demonstration of the composer's attitude to his social status. Modest Tchaikovsky wrote about this the following,

«'One of the most original and characteristic features of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was – his ironic attitude to the nobility of his origin. He never missed a chance to mock at the coat of arms and the noble crown of his family, regarding them as fantastic, and, with perseverance turning, sometimes, into peculiar puppyism, insisted on the plebeian status of the Tchaikovsky family. <…> He did not believe oneself to be a hereditary nobleman, because did not know any nobleman, any patrimonial landowner among the immediate ancestors, and, could only designate his father, who had a cook's big family of ten people, as the owner of serfs'.

In addition to monogrammed paper, Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote letters on paper with printed pattern. So, being in Venice in 1874 for the first time, he purchased the paper with an image of St Mark's Square and wrote to his brother Modest, «'Now look! Viewing the vignette <…> will make you burst with envy. Today I spent the whole day walking in this square'.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's letter to his brother Modest. 17/29 April 1874.Colours of the letters of Tchaikovsky are different, in addition to white or yellowish paper, he used other colours. As is known, at the end of the 19th century, in England, every day of the week corresponds to the colour of the paper. Celadon was used on Mondays, pale pink - on Tuesdays, gray - on Wednesdays, light blue - on Thursdays, silver - on Fridays, yellow - on Saturdays, white - on Sundays. Coloured paper is among the letters of Tchaikovsky. If Peter Tchaikovsky had followed the English fashion, it would have been possible to determine on which day he wrote a particular letter. However, it is unknown weather he followed this mode, so the color of the paper can hardly be reliable guide. In contrast, Tchaikovsky's monograms can help to determine the post date. And although, it is impossible to determine the day of the week, but in cases of dispute, then the date is not indicated, the form of the monogram may help researchers to determine the date of the letter with a certain degree of probability.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Photographic portrait with a dedication to Baron Rudolf Ottonovich Buxhoevden. 6 March 1891. –
F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 48.
Catalogue of P. I. Tchaikovsky's works published by P. I. Jurgenson. – F. 773. G. N. Timofeev, M. V. Janova, № 1156.
P. Jurgenson. Letter to Stasov dated to 19 December 1894. – F. 738. V. V. Stasov, № 234.
Modest Tchaikovsky. Photographic portrait with a dedication to Baron Rudolf Ottonovich Buxhoevden. 1 June1891. –
F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 49.
P.I. Tchaikovsky. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to his Aunt Elizaveta Schobert. 1848. – Ф. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 2, fols. 3.–3 v.
The house where Elizaveta Schobert's furnished rooms were located.
P.I. Tchaikovsky Letter to Frederick Dürbach. 1848. – F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 2, fol. 5.
Fanny Dürbach
Maria Loginova. Maria Loginova. Variations for Piano on a Romance «Why do you become silent». – OSRK. F.XII.27, fol. 3.
Maria Loginova. Maria Loginova. Variations for Piano on a Romance «Why do you become silent». Text of the dedication to Empress Maria Alexandrovna. – OSRK F.XII.27, fol. 2.
Mark Palchikov. Cantata «Alexander! The Whole World Glorifies Your Deeds». – OSRK. F.XII.26, fol. 4 об.
Mark Palchikov. Text of the dedication to Emperor Alexander II. – OSRK. F.XII.26, fol. 2.
Mark Palchikov. Text of the dedication to Emperor Alexander II. – OSRK. F.XII.26, fol. 2 v.
Portrait of Maximilian of Leuchtenberg.
Mark Palchikov. Mark Palchikov. Marsh, composed on the occasion of His Imperial Highness Duke Maximilian Leuchtenberg' visit of the city Malmyzh on 30 August 1845. Moscow, 1846. – ONIiMZ RNB. М 560-4/828.
Maria Loginova. Letter to Pyotr Tchaikovsky, dated to 22 December 1882. –
F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 38.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Pyotr Jurgenson, dated to 9 January 1883. –
F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 38.
Imperial School of Jurisprudence.
Vladimir Stasov – a student of the School of Jurisprudence.
Nadezhda von Meck
Church of St. Catherine at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence.
Catherine Pavlovna, the Queen of Württemberg
«Bulletin of the Church of Holy Great Martyr Catherine at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence». – F. 1000. Collection of individual arrivals, op. 1, № 240, fol. 2–3.
Archpriest Mikhail Bogoslovsky.
«Bulletin of the Church of Holy Great Martyr Catherine at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence. About the clergy of the mentioned church». – F. 1000. Collection of individual arrivals, op. 1, № 240, fol. 3 v.–5
Gavrila Lomakin. – F. 816. N.F. Findeyzen, № 3555.
Gavrila Lomakin. Farewell Song [ for students of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence]. Part for treble. An authorized copy. – F. 1021. Collection of individual music arrivals, op. 2, № 67, fol. 1.
P.I. Tchaikovsky. «O Gladsome Light» based on the Kiev chant. Part for bass I. –
F. 1021. Collection of individual music arrivals, оп. 1, № 8, fol. 46.
«O Gladsome Light» based on the Kiev chant in the book Irmologion for liturgical singing. 1759. – OLDP. F.510.
Vladimir Stasov. Letter to Poytr Tchaikovsky dated to 30 December 1872. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 45, fol. 1.
Vladimir Stasov. Letter to Poytr Tchaikovsky dated to 30 December 1872. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 45, fols. 1 v.-2.
Vladimir Stasov. Letter to Poytr Tchaikovsky dated to 30 December 1872. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 45, fol. 2 v.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Vladimir Stasov, dated 15 January 1873. – F. 738. V. V. Stasov, № 343, fols. 1–2 v.
P.I. Tchaikovsky The Tempest. Fantasia for Grand Orchestra. Four-, three- and two-lines summary of the composition with directions for its instrumentation. – F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 5, fol. 1.
P.I. Tchaikovsky The Tempest. Fantasia for Grand Orchestra. Four-, three- and two-lines summary of the composition with directions for its instrumentation. – F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 5, fol. 1 v.
P.I. Tchaikovsky The Tempest. Fantasia for Grand Orchestra. Four-, three- and two-lines summary of the composition with directions for its instrumentation. – F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 5, fol. 2.
Tchaikovsky's Monogram of 1873–1875.
Anatoly Tchaikovsky's Monogram. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Alexey Sofronov, dated to 9 October 1878. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 25, fol. 14.
Tchaikovsky's Monogram in 1876–1881.
4/16 January [1880]. Rome. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Lev Davydov. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 19, fol. 23.
19/31 January 1882. Rome. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 29, fol. 10.
10 August. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky,
№ 29, fol. 4.
6 May 1882. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 29, fol. 13.
19 June 1882. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. – F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 29, fol. 17.
8 November 1882. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Leonty Tkachenko. –
F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 29, fol. 26.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Lev Davydov, dated to 15 June 1883. – F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 19, fol. 45.
14 December 1883. Moscow. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev. –
F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 12, fol. 12.
13 September 1885. Klin. Maydanovo. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev. – F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 12, fol. 21.
21 November 1885. Klin. Maydanovo. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev. – F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 12, fol. 28.
11 March 1887. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Mily Balakirev. – F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 12, fol. 37.
29 April 1887. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Vladimir Stasov. –
F. 738. V. Stasov, № 343, fol. 62.
1 August 1888. Frolovskoe. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Vladimir Vasiliev-Shilovsky. – F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 14, fol. 18.
21 April 1884. Kamenka. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Anna Alexandrova-Levenson. – F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 9, fol. 1.
23 June 1884. Grankino. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to Lev Davydov. – F. 384. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 19, fol. 49.
9 November 1887. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Letter to [Peterson?] written on the paper with the monogram of his elder brother Nikolay. – F. 654. N. G. Rubinstein, № 118.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky's letter to his brother Modest. 17/29 April 1874. –
F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 36, fol. 52.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Hamlet. Fragment. –
F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 54.
Lucien Guitry. Photographic portrait. –
F. 965. P. Vaksel, № 1143.
Vsevolod Prokofiev. 1940. –
F. 1175. V. and Ju. Prokofievs, № 359, fol. 3.
Vsevolod Prokofiev. Letter to Nikolay Zhegin dated to 16 March 1936. – F. 1175. V. and Ju. Prokofievs, № 348, fol. 1.
Nikolay Zhegin. Letter to Vsevolod Prokofiev. 22 March 1936. – F. 1175. V. and Ju. Prokofievs, № 353.
Nikolay Zhegin. 1932. Director of the Tchaikovsky Museum in Klin. –
F. 1575. I. Semenov, № 232.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Iolanta's Arioso from the opera of the same name. Fragment. – F. 834. P.I. Tchaikovsky, № 6.
Maria Anderson in the role of the Wite Cat in the ballet «The Sleeping Beauty». – F. 1021. Collection of individual music arrivals, оп. 4, № 5, fol. 30.
Photographic portraits of Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Maria Anderson, pasted in her notebook. – F. 1021. Collection of individual music arrivals, op. 4, № 5, fol. 29 v.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky with Nikolay and Medeya Figners. – F. 1534. N. and R. Figners, № 176.
Nikolay Figners in the role of Lensky in the Pyotr Tchaikovsky opera «Eugene Onegin». – F. 1534. N. and R. Figners, № 155, fols. 1–3.
Medeya Figner in the role of Tatyana in the Pyotr Tchaikovsky opera «Eugene Onegin». Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1880s. – F. 1534. N. and R. Figners, № 179, fols. 1–2.
Leonid Sobinov in the role of Onegin in the Pyotr Tchaikovsky opera «Eugene Onegin». 1900s. – F. 1575. B. Semenov, № 178.
Alexander Smirnov as Lensky in the Pyotr Tchaikovsky opera «Eugene Onegin». 1903. – F. 1033. E. Vizel, № 288.
Konstantin Serebryakov as Gremin in the Pyotr Tchaikovsky opera «Eugene Onegin». 1903. – F. 1033. E. Vizel, № 286.
Nikolay Pechkovsky as Herman in the Pyotr Tchaikovsky opera «The Queen of Spades». 1930. – F. 1033. E. Vizel, № 284.