Beschreibung:

TCHAIKOVSKY, Pyotr Ilyich (1840-1893). Autograph letter signed (‘P. Tchaikovsky'; in Cyrillic) to Eduard Francevic Nápravník, n.p. [Verbovka], 10 September 1883. In Russian. 3 pages, 155 x 101mm, bifolium, two autograph cancellations. Envelope. [ With: ] portrait postcard. ‘ I am not looking for perfection as I know this does not exist ’ : an apologetic Tchaikovsky sends his most recent thoughts on the St Petersburg production of Mazeppa to his close friend and collaborator Eduard Francevic Nápravní k. Tchaikovsky worries that he has angered Napravnik; ‘It was never my intention to irritate you about anything but if this has happened, then it can only have been due to a hasty or poor choice of words on my part when I expressed my thoughts and feelings […] The whole misunderstanding lies in the fact that I had imagined the company was much richer than it is in reality. My main concern is as follows: my operas (the shortcomings of which I am fully aware and acknowledge even more strongly than anyone else) need good singers and experienced actors and if these people are not presently available, then it is better to delay the performance of the opera until they are available. I am not looking for perfection as I know this does not exist. If there had been actors like Melnikov, Prianishnikov and Stravinsky for the parts of Andrey, Maria and the mother I would have been quite happy, although even these actors are not ideal. From your letter I can see that you have already begun to rehearse the choirs, and since you have already started work on the set, we shouldn't even think of postponing Mazeppa until a future date. I am therefore going to assign the roles according to your letter of today […] We will discuss this in more detail when we meet’. The Czech-born conductor and composer Eduard Francevic Nápravník (1839 – 1916) held a central position in the 19th-century Russian musical firmament as the longstanding principal conductor of St Petersburg’s Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. Tchaikovsky respected Nápravník deeply as a musician and conductor, fully trusting him with the staging of his operas, and over time they developed a great personal friendship. Nevertheless, the present letter offers an insight into the tensions that arose during the seemingly-endless tinkering to the St Petersburg production of Mazeppa , one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest works, which Nápravník was to conduct. ‘It is always the way with State theatre’, Tchaikovsky wrote to his patron Nadejda von Meck around this time: ‘Much promised, little performed’. The opera succeeded in Moscow when it premiered at the Bolshoi the following year, but stalled in St Petersburg after bad performances and a hostile press, who criticised the very same vocal abilities of the cast which Tchaikovsky agonises over here. Published in ?. ?. ??????????. ?????? ???????? ????????? , vol. XII (1970), p. 228.