Nadezhda von Meck - Tchaikovsky Research Nadezhda von Meck Jump to: navigation , search Nadezhda von Meck (1831-1894) Patroness and close friend of Tchaikovsky (b. 29 January/10 February 1831 in village Znamenskoe, near Smolensk ; d. 14/26 January 1894 in Nice , France), born Nadezhda Filaretovna Fralovskaya (Надежда Филаретовна Фрaловская); known after her marriage as Nadezhda Filaretovna fon Mekk (Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк). Contents 6 Notes and References Biography There is no doubt that Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck was an exceptional woman [1] . As far as was possible within the straitened conditions of Russian "Victorianism," she developed into an accomplished personality with a rich inner life despite her considerable eccentricity.

She was the eldest child of a wealthy landowner, Filaret Vasilyevich Fralovsky and his wife Anastasiya Dmitriyevna (b. Potemkina). She inherited from her father, an amateur violinist, a passionate love for music, and played the piano rather well. Karl von Meck (1821-1876) On 14/26 January 1848 she married Karl von Meck (1821-1876), a Baltic-German engineer of then very meagre means, at the age of 16; by her own admission, her younger years were spent in poverty, which perhaps made her responsive to the plights of others. The dizzying financial success of her husband, who became a railway tycoon, made them multimillionaires.

The couple had 18 children, of whom 11 survived: Yelizaveta (1848–1907); Aleksandra (1850–1920); Vladimir (1852–1892); Yuliya (1853–1915); Lidiya (1855–1903); Nikolay (1863–1929); Aleksandr (1864–1912); Sofya (1867–1936); Maksimillian (1869–ca.1950); Mikhail (1871–1883); and Lyudmila (1872–1946). After Karl von Meck 's death in 1876, his widow, according to her husband's will, took over the management of his financial empire. All this might seem sufficient to fill the life of even a very energetic woman. But it did not satisfy the spiritual and cultural needs of Nadezhda von Meck.

With access to her husband's considerable fortune, Nadezhda gave financial support to the Russian Musical Society and to young musicians, particularly Russians. After the death of her husband in 1876 she tended towards a life of solitude, and her visits to the concerts and the theatre became less and less frequent. Her musical passions were satisfied by a domestic chamber ensemble, comprising a select group of young musicians. These included three of Tchaikovsky's students — Iosif Kotek (violin), Pyotr Danilchenko (cello) and Henryk Pachulski (piano), as well as Claude Debussy (who went on to become a famous French composer), Nikolay Rubinstein and Henryk Wienawski. Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von Meck Nadezhda von Meck took a great interest in the life of the Moscow Conservatory and the Russian Musical Society, in the course of which she became acquainted with Tchaikovsky's compositions. Their first contact came via Iosif Kotek , who in 1876 asked Tchaikovsky to supply arrangements for his employer's domestic ensemble, in return for a modest fee.

The ensuing correspondence lasted almost fourteen years and comprises several hundred letters. The relationship provided Tchaikovsky with moral support and sincere interest in his artistic career and daily life, as well as a regular financial allowance which freed him to dedicate himself wholly to composition. Besides her fanatical love of music, which she had studied quite thoroughly, her letters to Tchaikovsky reveal her vast knowledge of literature, history, and philosophy, her mastery of foreign languages, and her capacity for appreciating visual arts. The overall impression from their correspondence suggests ethical, spiritual, and mental comparability of both correspondents. Their dialogue in letters was conducted on remarkably equal terms. On Tchaikovsky's part, one finds not the slightest trace of condescension: when he argues with his "best friend" (as he called her), he does so with seriousness and passion; her letters, for their part, do not betray any hint of the social snobbery one might expect from a wealthy patroness. All this makes clear that their communication was one between kindred minds. In spite of the significant erotic component in her attitude, she was quite content with their implicit mutual agreement never to meet under any circumstances.

She thought of eros in a sentimental rather than physical sense, and thus her platonic relationship with the great composer must have satisfied her important inner needs. As a result, this long friendship, despite each of their numerous personal shortcomings (also reflected in their letters), despite the neurasthenia common to them both (and which they both called "misanthropy"), even despite their eventual—and mystifying—estrangement, represents perhaps the most attractive chapter in Tchaikovsky's biography. By her generous financial support, Nadezhda von Meck provided the composer with more than 13 years of comfortable existence (he was able to resign from his professorship at the Moscow Conservatory, hitherto the main source of his income) and made possible his full immersion in creative work. In turn, Tchaikovsky bestowed on her not only his Fourth Symphony , dedicating it to his "best friend," and his confidence, replete with tenderness and gratitude, which filled her with much consolation and pleasure ("a fate against which I am powerless"), but also a sort of immortality: no study or re-creation of his life leaves her unappreciated.

Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von Meck chose never to meet, even when in 1884 Nadezhda's son Nikolay married Tchaikovsky's niece Anna Davydova . In 1890 Nadezhda informed Tchaikovsky that she was no longer in a financial position to continue paying his allowance, and that consequently she could not also carry on with their correspondence. This news came as a heavy blow to the composer, even though he was no longer financially dependent on her. It appears that his subsequent letters were returned unanswered, and the reasons for the abrupt end to their correspondence remained a mystery to him. However, a letter written ten years after the composer's death by Nadezhda's son Nikolay explained the circumstances to Nikolay Kashkin : Recently I saw my sister Yu[liya] K[arlovna] Pachulski and together we relived all the circumstances touching on the cessation of relations between my mother and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The sole reason for the termination of the subsidy was that for a long period of time my mother's affairs appeared to be in a very bad state, and it then became necessary to significantly reduce her expenditure, including her subsidy to Pyotr Ilyich. By the time it eventually transpired that my mother's affairs had not been ruined, to resume the subsidy would certainly have been impossible. Turning to the question of the cessation of the relationship between my mother and P. I. Tchaikovsky. The reasons for breaking off this wonderful relationship were twofold. The first was that it had become physically impossible for my mother to continue her correspondence with Pyotr Ilyich owing to a sharp decline in her faculties, following a bout of pneumonia in the winter of 1889-1890; such a serious decline that my mother completely ceased to write to any of her children. This decline may be simply explained by the fact that when my mother was 20 years old [...] she suffered from a sort of pulmonary tuberculosis, and we cannot but wonder whether she had been left with an inflammation of the lungs. The second reason was purely on moral grounds. Following on from my mother's illness, my older brother then became mortally ill.

My mother was so shaken by this illness that to her everything and everyone else became secondary, and she devoted herself to taking care of my brother during his last days. At the same time my mother saw my brother's illness as a divine punishment for her having indulged in correspondence and friendly relations with Pyotr Ilyich, instead of devoting herself wholly to the care and attention of her children. This feeling was not especially strong at first, but it gradually took possession of her; when my wife, at Pyotr Ilyich's request, conveyed to her through me that Pyotr Ilyich had taken the cessation of their friendship very hard, my mother asked me to convey to Pyotr Ilyich that her feelings towards him had not changed at all, but that she did not consider herself entitled to continue any form of relationship, since fate had cruelly punished her because of it, and she considered that to renew the relationship would be an offence to her children. This reply, unfortunately, I received [...] only after Pyotr Ilyich's death. I consider it necessary to mention that my mother passed from pulmonary tuberculosis, and not from nervous illness, as M. I. Tchaikovsky wrote in his biography [2] . M. I.

Tchaikovsky in writing about the cessation of relations between my mother and Pyotr Ilyich did not approach any of those close to my mother to enquire about the circumstances of this unhappy misunderstanding, which is why I beg leave to inform you of the above account [3] . Nadezhda von Meck was reported to have been deeply upset by Tchaikovsky's death, and outlived him by only a few months. She died on 14/26 January 1894 in Nice , France, and was buried in the Novo-Alekseyevsky Cemetery in Moscow . Dedications Tchaikovsky dedicated three of his works to Nadezhda von Meck, although the private nature of their relationship meant that this had to be done secretly. His Symphony No. 4 (1877) was dedicated 'to my best friend'; the set of pieces for violin and piano entitled Souvenir d'un lieu cher (1878) was dedicated to "B" (i.e. his benefactress's estate at Brailov ); and the Suite No. 1 (1878–79) was inscribed simply to "* * *".

Correspondence with Tchaikovsky Nadezhda von Meck (Patron) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Nadezhda von Meck Female Born Feb 10, 1831 Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck was a Russian businesswoman, who is best known today for her artistic relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. She supported him financially for 13 years, enabling him to devote himself full-time to composition, but she stipulated that they were never to meet. She was the dedicatee of his Symphony No. 4 in F minor. She was also an influential patron of the arts in general, active in providing financial support to Nikolai Rubinstein and Claude Debussy.… Read More related links News + Updates Browse recent news and stories about Nadezhda von Meck.

Una Velada En CompaÃ±Ã­a De Tchaikovsky AbrirÃ¡ La Principal Fiesta Del Invierno La Gaceta TucumÃ¡n Google News - Jul 01, 2011 'La viuda rica <mark>Nadezhda von Meck</mark> le legÃ³ un sueldo anual que lo liberÃ³ de preocupaciones financieras. Su relaciÃ³n se basaba en cartas y casi ningÃºn tipo de contacto fÃ­sico. Era ella a quien Tchaikovsky le dedicÃ³ la &quot;SinfonÃ­a NÂº 4&quot; ya quien el compositor' Kc Symphony Says Farewell To Lyric Theatre This Weekend Kansas City Star Google News - Jun 12, 2011 'Tchaikovsky, who dedicated the work to his patroness, <mark>Nadezhda von Meck</mark>, considered it a symphony about fate.

As Tchaikovsky wrote in a letter to von Meck, he wanted the first movement to convey that âall life is an unbroken alternation of hard reality' Album Review: Tchaikovsky & Shakespeare New Zealand Herald Google News - Jun 10, 2011 'This was the piece that introduced <mark>Nadezhda von Meck</mark> to Tchaikovsky&#39;s music and prompted her to become his patron. In her own words, she was delirious for days and could not get over it. We hardened souls of 2011 are less susceptible to the visceral' Kies Uw Regio Op Basis Van Postcode, Plaats Of Titel DÃ© Weekkrant Google News - May 29, 2011 'Het &#39;Souvenir d&#39;un lieu cher&#39; schreef Tsjaikovski voor zijn weldoenster <mark>Nadezhda von Meck</mark>.

De lange lyrische lijnen en de prachtige inventieve melodieÃ«n van de Tweede symfonie van Rachmaninov maken het tot een van de mooiste werken uit het Russische' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Nadezhda von Meck. CHILDHOOD 1831 Birth Born in 1831. FORTIES 1873 42 Years Old In 1873, Karl von Meck died suddenly, leaving a will which gave Nadezhda control of his vast financial holdings. … Read More This included two railway networks, large landed estates, and several million rubles in investments. With seven of their eleven children still at home, Nadezhda von Meck concentrated on her business affairs and on the education of the children still dependent on her. She sold one of Meck's railway companies and ran the other one with the help of her brother and her eldest son, Vladimir.<br /><br /> After the death of her husband, Nadezhda von Meck took no part in social life, withdrawing into almost complete seclusion.

She even refused to meet the relatives of those whom her children were going to marry, and she never attended any of their weddings.<br /><br /> By all accounts, Nadezhda von Meck was imperious by nature, presiding over her household despotically. She expected to have her own way, so surrounded herself only with people who would give it to her, and she ruled her children's lives in every detail. As they grew into adulthood, she arranged their marriages, bought houses for them, and even chose furniture for their houses. When she wanted to see her married children, she summoned rather than invited them. Understandably, her children were not always grateful for the extreme degree of their mother's care (or meddling, depending on the viewpoint of the person concerned). Read Less 1877 46 Years Old In 1877, one of the musicians she supported was violinist Iosif Kotek, with whom she played chamber music. … Read More Kotek was a former student and friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, recommended to Meck by Nikolai Rubinstein.

She had already been impressed with Tchaikovsky's music such as his symphonic poem The Tempest, and she asked Rubinstein at length about him. Perhaps urged by Kotek, Nadezhda von Meck wrote to the composer.<br /><br /> Introducing herself as a fervent admirer, she commissioned some pieces for violin and piano to be played at her house. Tchaikovsky, perhaps already knowing her reputation as a patron of the arts, quickly obliged. One of her first commissions was for a funeral march. They continued writing even as his marriage followed its brief though tortuous course. As their relationship developed, she subsequently provided him with an allowance of 6,000 rubles a year, large enough that he could leave his professorship at the Moscow Conservatory to focus on creative work full-time. This was a substantial income. A minor government official in those days had to support his family on 300â400 rubles a year. Read Less 1878 47 Years Old … She took her elder servants on periodic inspection tours of her house, from cellar to roof, and cellar to roof never remained quite the same.

String was saved for her to untangle and wind. Books were bought so that she might cut the pages. She purchased quantities of wool, which she then wound into balls and sent to her daughter, Countess Bennigsen. While engaging in this business, she would summon her daughter Julia to come and read to her. Julia did not mind. Of all the Meck children, she was the one most eager to please her mother, who demanded everything from herâand got it. <br /><br />Meck was probably well aware that she was hard to tolerate. She wrote to Tchaikovsky, "I am very unsympathetic in my personal relations because I do not possess any femininity whatever; second, I do not know how to be tender, and this characteristic has passed on to my entire family. All of us are afraid to be affected or sentimental, and therefore the general nature of our family relationships is comradely, or masculine, so to speak." <br /><br />Nadezhda von Meck was a professed atheist, which was not unusual in aristocratic Russia in the 1870s.

Her fierce need for independence, on the other hand, was very unusual for a woman of the time. Her division between that and concern for her family resulted in contradictions between her beliefs and actions. Read Less Her views on affairs of the heart were strictly moral, but she did not believe in marriage as a social institution and regularly professed her hatred of it to Tchaikovsky. "You may think, my dear Pyotr Ilyich, that I am a great admirer of marriage," she wrote on March 31, 1878, "but in order that you not be mistaken in anything referring to myself, I shall tell you that I am, on the contrary, an irreconcilable enemy of marriages, yet when I discuss another person's situation, I consider it necessary to do so from his point of view." … Read More On another occasion, she stated more genially but no less forcefully, "The distribution of rights and obligations as determined by social laws I find speculative and immoral."<br /><br /> Even with her views on matrimony, Nadezhda von Meck was resigned to it as a means of social stability and procreation, and her own marital experience may have forced her to recognize its benefits.

This realization may have also been why she strove to marry off her children as soon as possibleâto ensure their stability in the event of her demise. Even in marriage, though, she considered sexual relations between men and women to be mutual exploitation. Russian radical thinkers of the period, such as Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Dmitry Pisarev, espoused views not far removed from Nadezhda von Meck's. Both men considered marriage to be a pillar of bourgeois society and called for its abolition. Meck especially respected Pisarev's work, as well as 19th-century positivism in general. Read Less 1879 48 Years Old The two did meet each other on one occasion, purely by chance. This happened on 14/26 August 1879, while Tchaikovsky was staying at the Meck estate at Simaki. … Read More He had gone for his daily walk in the forest somewhat earlier than usual, unaware that she was late for her daily drive through that same area with the rest of her family.

As a result, they came face to face for a few moments; he tipped his hat politely, she was nonplussed, but no words were spoken. He wrote to her the same evening to apologise for the inadvertent breach of their arrangement. She responded, saying there was nothing to apologise for, and she even invited him to visit her home to see her new paintings, but at a time when she would be away. The previous year, while staying at her villa in Florence, Tchaikovsky had seen her and her entourage pass by every morning; and they also glimpsed each other once at the opera, but only from a distance. Alexander Poznansky says of this last encounter: "It is not clear whether their both being at the theater was wholly accidental or arranged by Mrs. von Meck in order to see him, as seems not unlikely." Read Less FIFTIES 1883 52 Years Old In 1883, Nadezhda von Meck's son Nikolai married Tchaikovsky's niece Anna Davydova, after five years of matchmaking efforts by Meck and Tchaikovsky.

… Read More Meck, who was in Cannes at the time, did not attend the wedding, thus staying true to her custom of avoiding all contact with the families of her children's spouses. However, Tchaikovsky did attend, meeting the rest of the Meck clan.<br /><br /> At first both Meck and Tchaikovsky rejoiced in this event, seeing in it a symbolic consummation of their own relationship, but later events would make them question their intentions. Anna, extremely strong-willed herself, dominated her husband. She also opposed her mother-in-law regarding family mattersâmost tellingly in a feud between her eldest son and business partner, Vladimir, and the rest of the family.<br /><br /> Rather than bringing Nadezhda von Meck and Tchaikovsky closer together, Anna and Nikolay's union may have helped drive a wedge between them. Tchaikovsky virtually disowned his niece in an effort to avert a falling-out, while Meck hid from him her true feelings about what was taking place.

Read Less 1889 58 Years Old … In October 1890, Nadezhda von Meck sent Tchaikovsky a year's allowance in advance, along with a letter ending her patronage. She claimed bankruptcy. Most surprising about the break was its extreme suddenness. Barely a week beforehand, she had sent him a typically intimate, loving and confessional letter. The letter dealt in large part with how her children were squandering their future inheritance. This was a persistent irritation for Meck and not necessarily a warning of her cutting off her patronage of Tchaikovsky. Nevertheless, one logical explanation of giving him a year's allowance at once would be that she feared not having the funds to send later, in their usual arrangement of monthly installments. Others discount this idea. Most tellingly, Meck asked Tchaikovsky, in her final letter, not to forget her. She would not have made such a request had she acted out of resentment at a perceived moral fault. It is perhaps more likely that her family had threatened to reveal Tchaikovsky's sexual preferences publicly. Meck would then have had to end her relationship with him to protect him from scandal.

<br /><br />Two facts contributed to Nadezhda von Meck's decision to make the break: <br /><br />Nadezhda von Meck also knew that Tchaikovsky was often in need of cash, despite the large sums she gave him. Tchaikovsky was a poor manager of money and would ask Meck for the next year's allowance several months in advance. Knowing of this habit, she might have anticipated his needing the money. Read Less She may have started preparing for the break from the middle of 1889, knowing it would come sooner or later. … Read More One person who may have welcomed the break was Tchaikovsky's brother Modest. When the two brothers discussed Meck's action, Modest did not try to explain her behavior. Instead, he stated his opinion that what had been to Tchaikovsky the unique and mutual relationship of two friends had been for Meck merely the passing fancy of a wealthy woman.<br /><br /> This judgment on Modest's part might be accepted with a certain degree of doubt. For all his adulation for his brother, Modest's feelings were actually deeply ambivalent.

Modest may have been intensely jealous of his brother's creative success and equally insecure about this secret friend being his closest rival for his brother's attention and affections. Just as Tchaikovsky's break with his wife Antonina might have brought joy to Meck, so now the break with Meck may have brought joy to Modest.<br /><br /> Modest became the composer's biographer and maintained that Tchaikovsky considered Meck's cutting off of their relationship to be an act of betrayal. He also said that Tchaikovsky's bitterness remained unassuaged, and that on his deathbed the composer constantly repeated Nadezhda von Meck's name, reproaching her. However, a very different story persisted within the Meck family. Read Less 1890 59 Years Old In 1890, Vladimir von Meck suffered a nervous breakdown, and that summer his mother relieved him of his position. … Read More His replacement was his mother's personal assistant WÅadysÅaw Pachulski. Originally employed as a musician, Pachulski became a member of the family by marrying Julia von Meck.

He was also far more experienced in financial management than Vladimir had been, and was able to save the Meck estates from bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Vladimir was found to have an advanced case of tuberculosis, the same disease from which his mother suffered, and he would die from it in 1892. Read Less LATE ADULTHOOD 1894 63 Years Old Nadezhda von Meck died from tuberculosis on January 13, 1894 in Nice, in the south of France, barely two months after Tchaikovsky's demise. … Read More After her mother-in-law's death, Anna von Meck was asked how the late patroness had endured Tchaikovsky's death. She replied, "She did not endure it."<br /><br /> In 1985 Galina von Meck donated to Columbia University a collection including her translation of 681 letters written by Tchaikovsky to his family. The collection covered the period from March 1861 to September 1893. Read Less Original Authors of this text are noted on .

Nadezhda von Meck - iSnare Free Encyclopedia Nadezhda von Meck 10 February [ O.S. 29 January] 1831 Died 13 January 1894 (aged 62) Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck ( Russian : Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк; 10 February [ O.S. 29 January] 1831 – 13 January 1894) was a Russian business woman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , supporting him financially for thirteen years, so that he could devote himself full-time to composition, while stipulating that they were never to meet. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Symphony No. 4 in F minor to her. She also gave financial support to several other musicians, including Nikolai Rubinstein and Claude Debussy . Contents Life Childhood Nadezhda von Meck began life as Nadezhda Filaretovna Frolovskaya, in a family which owned great landed estates.

Her father, Filaret Frolovsky, embraced his love of music from an early age, while from her mother, Anastasia Dimitryevna Potemkina, she learned energy, determination, and business acumen. In her youth a serious student of music, Nadezhda Filaretovna became a capable pianist with a good knowledge of the classical repertoire. She also mastered some foreign languages, learned to appreciate the visual arts, and read widely in literature and history, and philosophy, especially the work of Arthur Schopenhauer and the Russian idealist Vladimir Solovyov . Marriage At seventeen, Nadezhda Filaretovna was married to Karl Otto Georg von Meck , a 27-year-old engineer and the son of Major Otto Adam von Meck by his marriage to Wilhelmine Hafferberg – Baltic Germans from Riga . Together they had thirteen children, of whom eleven survived to adulthood. As a government official, Karl von Meck's life was uneventful, and his work was poorly paid. With several children quickly added to his responsibilities, however, he was reluctant to make a break with a steady post. Nadezhda von Meck saw things very differently.

To her, filling the roles of mother, nurse, governess, dressmaker, housekeeper, and valet was far easier to bear than the humiliation of seeing her husband as a cog in the machine of a government organization. Neither did fulfilling all those domestic duties lower her resolve or weaken her energy in urging him to make a break. Russia, desperately short of railways, was expanding its communications network rapidly, and Nadezhda was far-sighted enough to see that a future for her husband lay there. She continually exerted pressure on him to find a partner with capital and to join the boom in Russian railway construction. Meck finally gave in to his wife's urgings and resigned from the civil service, at which point they had an income of only twenty kopecks a day on which to live. Nadezhda was right, though, to trust her husband's talent as an engineer. In 1860, there were only 100 miles of railroad track laid in Russia. Twenty years later, there were over 15,000 miles of lines. Much of this explosion was due to Karl von Meck, and his investments made him a multi-millionaire.

The railway lines for which he was responsible included that from Kursk to Kiev and the highly profitable Moscow to Ryazan line, with its effective monopoly of grain transportation from the Black Earth Region of Central Russia. In 1876, Karl von Meck died suddenly, leaving a will which gave Nadezhda control of his vast financial holdings. This included two railway networks, large landed estates, and several million rubles in investments. With seven of their eleven children still at home, Nadezhda von Meck concentrated on her business affairs and on the education of the children still dependent on her. She sold one of Meck's railway companies and ran the other one with the help of her brother and her eldest son, Vladimir. Obsessive despot Nikolai Rubinstein. After the death of her husband, Nadezhda von Meck took no part in social life, withdrawing into almost complete seclusion. She even refused to meet the relatives of those whom her children were going to marry, and she never attended any of their weddings. By all accounts, Nadezhda von Meck was imperious by nature, presiding over her household despotically.

She expected to have her own way, so surrounded herself only with people who would give it to her, and she ruled her children's lives in every detail. As they grew into adulthood, she arranged their marriages, bought houses for them, and even chose furniture for their houses. When she wanted to see her married children, she summoned rather than invited them. Understandably, her children were not always grateful for the extreme degree of their mother's care (or meddling, depending on the viewpoint of the person concerned). Nadezhda von Meck was always compulsively busy. She took her elder servants on periodic inspection tours of her house, from cellar to roof, and cellar to roof never remained quite the same. String was saved for her to untangle and wind. Books were bought so that she might cut the pages. She purchased quantities of wool, which she then wound into balls and sent to her daughter, Countess Bennigsen. While engaging in this business, she would summon her daughter Julia to come and read to her. Julia did not mind. Of all the Meck children, she was the one most eager to please her mother, who demanded everything from her—and got it. Meck was probably well aware that she was hard to tolerate.

She wrote to Tchaikovsky, "I am very unsympathetic in my personal relations because I do not possess any femininity whatever; second, I do not know how to be tender, and this characteristic has passed on to my entire family. All of us are afraid to be affected or sentimental, and therefore the general nature of our family relationships is comradely, or masculine, so to speak." [1] Personal views Nadezhda von Meck was a professed atheist , which was not unusual in aristocratic Russia in the 1870s. Her fierce need for independence, on the other hand, was very unusual for a woman of the time. Her division between that and concern for her family resulted in contradictions between her beliefs and actions. Her views on affairs of the heart were strictly moral, but she did not believe in marriage as a social institution and regularly professed her hatred of it to Tchaikovsky.

"You may think, my dear Pyotr Ilyich, that I am a great admirer of marriage," she wrote on March 31, 1878, "but in order that you not be mistaken in anything referring to myself, I shall tell you that I am, on the contrary, an irreconcilable enemy of marriages, yet when I discuss another person's situation, I consider it necessary to do so from his point of view." [2] On another occasion, she stated more genially but no less forcefully, "The distribution of rights and obligations as determined by social laws I find speculative and immoral." [2] Even with her views on matrimony, Nadezhda von Meck was resigned to it as a means of social stability and procreation, and her own marital experience may have forced her to recognize its benefits. This realization may have also been why she strove to marry off her children as soon as possible—to ensure their stability in the event of her demise. Even in marriage, though, she considered sexual relations between men and women to be mutual exploitation.

Russian radical thinkers of the period, such as Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Dmitry Pisarev , espoused views not far removed from Nadezhda von Meck's. Both men considered marriage to be a pillar of bourgeois society and called for its abolition. Meck especially respected Pisarev's work, as well as 19th-century positivism in general. With these views in mind, it is easy to see how Tchaikovsky's seeming misogyny and professed aversion to marriage could attract someone like Nadezhda von Meck. Her second daughter, Alexandra, may have told her of his sexual preferences at the outset of her relationship with him. However, Meck may have already known of it, since she was extremely diligent in discovering all she could about her composer. She could interpret passionate love between two men as a sentimental excess, and therefore understandable. If anything, according to a Meck family tradition, that knowledge might have reassured her that there was no other woman in Tchaikovsky's emotional life. Support of the performing arts With her great wealth and her passion for music, Nadezhda von Meck became a major mover in the Russian performing arts.

The sole exception to her general reclusiveness was the series of Russian Musical Society concerts given in Moscow, which she attended incognito, sitting alone in the balcony. Through these concerts she made the acquaintance of Nikolai Rubinstein , with whom she maintained a complex relationship. While she respected Rubinstein's talents and energy, that did not stop her from disagreeing strongly with him at times. While her husband was still alive, Nadezhda von Meck began actively supporting and promoting young musicians, several of whom she continually employed, living in her household and playing her favorite works. She hired Claude Debussy as a music tutor for her daughters, and he wanted to marry one of them. She would not give her permission, preferring her daughters to marry men of her own choosing, which they did, but their marriages all ended in divorce. In February 1880, Meck came to the assistance of the Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski , who had been taken ill in Odessa while on a concert tour. She moved him into her house and arranged medical treatment for him, but he died a few weeks later in Moscow .

[3] [4] Relationship with Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky In 1877, one of the musicians she supported was violinist Iosif Kotek , with whom she played chamber music. Kotek was a former student and friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , recommended to Meck by Nikolai Rubinstein. She had already been impressed with Tchaikovsky's music such as his symphonic poem The Tempest , and she asked Rubinstein at length about him. Perhaps urged by Kotek, Nadezhda von Meck wrote to the composer. Introducing herself as a fervent admirer, she commissioned some pieces for violin and piano to be played at her house. Tchaikovsky, perhaps already knowing her reputation as a patron of the arts, quickly obliged. One of her first commissions was for a funeral march. [5] They continued writing even as his marriage followed its brief though tortuous course. As their relationship developed, she subsequently provided him with an allowance of 6,000 rubles a year, large enough that he could leave his professorship at the Moscow Conservatory to focus on creative work full-time.

This was a substantial income. A minor government official in those days had to support his family on 300–400 rubles a year. Tchaikovsky was grateful for Nadezhda von Meck's financial support. Nevertheless, it created some emotional discomfort and an underlying tension, but they both eventually handled this awkwardness with considerable delicacy. Still, Tchaikovsky could not help feeling vaguely uncomfortable about the favors with which Meck showered him. He wrote to her frankly about this: "... in my relations with you there is the ticklish circumstance that every time we write to one another, money appears on the scene." [6] Epistolary friendship They carried on a significant correspondence, exchanging over 1,200 letters between 1877 and 1890. The details they shared were extraordinary for two people who never met. He was more open to her about much of his life and his creative processes than to any other person. Her feedback became so important to him that, after the critics lambasted his Fifth Symphony , she provided him with the support to persevere with his composing. [7] Nadezhda von Meck died believing these letters had all been destroyed.

However, when Tchaikovsky received her request to do so, he assured her that he had destroyed them, but then filed that letter with all the rest for posterity to find. Nadezhda Von Meck remained a devoted supporter of Tchaikovsky and all his works, but her bond with him depended on not meeting him. This was not simply because he would not live up to her expectations. She desired to think of Tchaikovsky as her ideal of a composer-cum-philosopher, much like the Übermensch or Superman about whom Friedrich Nietzsche would write. Tchaikovsky understood this, writing to Meck, "You are quite right, Nadezhda Filaretovna, to suppose that I am of a disposition sympathetic to your own unusual spiritual feelings, which I understand completely." [8] The two did meet each other on one occasion, purely by chance. This happened on 14/26 August 1879, while Tchaikovsky was staying at the Meck estate at Simaki. He had gone for his daily walk in the forest somewhat earlier than usual, unaware that she was late for her daily drive through that same area with the rest of her family.

As a result, they came face to face for a few moments; he tipped his hat politely, she was nonplussed, but no words were spoken. He wrote to her the same evening to apologise for the inadvertent breach of their arrangement. She responded, saying there was nothing to apologise for, and she even invited him to visit her home to see her new paintings, but at a time when she would be away. [9] The previous year, while staying at her villa in Florence, Tchaikovsky had seen her and her entourage pass by every morning; [10] and they also glimpsed each other once at the opera, but only from a distance. Alexander Poznansky says of this last encounter: "It is not clear whether their both being at the theater was wholly accidental or arranged by Mrs. von Meck in order to see him, as seems not unlikely." [11] Dedication of Fourth Symphony Tchaikovsky, as a sign of appreciation, dedicated his Symphony No. 4 to her. This was important because, due to the nature of artistic patronage in Russian society, patron and artist were considered equals. Dedications of works to patrons were expressions of artistic partnership.

By dedicating the Fourth Symphony to Nadezhda von Meck, he was affirming her as an equal partner in its creation. [12] Symbolic—and strained—union Anna von Meck, Tchaikovsky's niece, with her husband Nikolai In 1883, Nadezhda von Meck's son Nikolai married Tchaikovsky's niece Anna Davydova, after five years of matchmaking efforts by Meck and Tchaikovsky. Meck, who was in Cannes at the time, did not attend the wedding, thus staying true to her custom of avoiding all contact with the families of her children's spouses. However, Tchaikovsky did attend, meeting the rest of the Meck clan. At first both Meck and Tchaikovsky rejoiced in this event, seeing in it a symbolic consummation of their own relationship, but later events would make them question their intentions. Anna, extremely strong-willed herself, dominated her husband. She also opposed her mother-in-law regarding family matters—most tellingly in a feud between her eldest son and business partner, Vladimir, and the rest of the family.

Rather than bringing Nadezhda von Meck and Tchaikovsky closer together, Anna and Nikolay's union may have helped drive a wedge between them. Tchaikovsky virtually disowned his niece in an effort to avert a falling-out, while Meck hid from him her true feelings about what was taking place. The break In October 1890, Nadezhda von Meck sent Tchaikovsky a year's allowance in advance, along with a letter ending her patronage. She claimed bankruptcy. Most surprising about the break was its extreme suddenness. Barely a week beforehand, she had sent him a typically intimate, loving and confessional letter. The letter dealt in large part with how her children were squandering their future inheritance. This was a persistent irritation for Meck and not necessarily a warning of her cutting off her patronage of Tchaikovsky. Nevertheless, one logical explanation of giving him a year's allowance at once would be that she feared not having the funds to send later, in their usual arrangement of monthly installments. Others discount this idea. Most tellingly, Meck asked Tchaikovsky, in her final letter, not to forget her.

She would not have made such a request had she acted out of resentment at a perceived moral fault. It is perhaps more likely that her family had threatened to reveal Tchaikovsky's sexual preferences publicly. Meck would then have had to end her relationship with him to protect him from scandal. Two facts contributed to Nadezhda von Meck's decision to make the break: By 1890, she was gravely ill. She was in the latter stages of tuberculosis and would succumb two months after Tchaikovsky's death. An atrophy of her arm made writing nearly impossible. [13] Dictating letters to a third party would have been awkward—especially messages as frank, informal and personal as the ones she and Tchaikovsky had exchanged. She was under intense family pressure to end the relationship. Her children were embarrassed by her closeness with Tchaikovsky. There was society gossip about the composer and "La Meck." Increasingly, at least in the eyes of hostile relatives, the situation seemed scandalous. Worse, to them, he continued to take Meck's money freely even after he had received a generous pension from Tsar Alexander III .

[14] As the children's own financial situations worsened, they grew more resolved to end the arrangement between their mother and Tchaikovsky. By mid- to late 1890, over a two-month period, she had been visited by all but one of her elder children and may even have been given a final ultimatum. The final letter and payment from Meck to Tchaikovsky were delivered by a trusted servant of hers, Ivan Vasilyev, for whom he held warm feelings. She had never sent anything to him this way before and had always sent letters and checks by post. If she could not control her correspondence personally any longer, and if she wanted to conceal this action from everyone else around her, she would have essentially solved two problems with this one action. Nadezhda von Meck also knew that Tchaikovsky was often in need of cash, despite the large sums she gave him. Tchaikovsky was a poor manager of money and would ask Meck for the next year's allowance several months in advance. Knowing of this habit, she might have anticipated his needing the money.

She may have started preparing for the break from the middle of 1889, knowing it would come sooner or later. Brotherly jealousy Modest Tchaikovsky One person who may have welcomed the break was Tchaikovsky's brother Modest . When the two brothers discussed Meck's action, Modest did not try to explain her behavior. Instead, he stated his opinion that what had been to Tchaikovsky the unique and mutual relationship of two friends had been for Meck merely the passing fancy of a wealthy woman. This judgment on Modest's part might be accepted with a certain degree of doubt. For all his adulation for his brother, Modest's feelings were actually deeply ambivalent. Modest may have been intensely jealous of his brother's creative success and equally insecure about this secret friend being his closest rival for his brother's attention and affections. Just as Tchaikovsky's break with his wife Antonina might have brought joy to Meck, so now the break with Meck may have brought joy to Modest. Modest became the composer's biographer and maintained that Tchaikovsky considered Meck's cutting off of their relationship to be an act of betrayal.

He also said that Tchaikovsky's bitterness remained unassuaged, and that on his deathbed the composer constantly repeated Nadezhda von Meck's name, reproaching her. However, a very different story persisted within the Meck family. Possible reconciliation Galina von Meck—the daughter of Nadezhda von Meck's son Nikolay and Tchaikovsky's niece Anna—maintained that the rift was secretly healed. In September 1893, only weeks before Tchaikovsky's death, Anna was about to leave for Nice, where Meck was dying, and Anna was travelling there to nurse her. Tchaikovsky asked her to beg his former friend for forgiveness for his own silence. This apology was reportedly accepted wholeheartedly by Meck and reciprocated. The Tchaikovsky biographer Dr. David Brown maintains that Galina's account "contains much hearsay and a good deal that is romantically heightened." Regardless of this, he concedes some plausibility in her account, especially since Galina received the story directly from her mother. [15] Financial problems Nadezhda von Meck's claim of bankruptcy was not entirely untrue.

Along with his fortune, Karl von Meck had left a sizable amount of debt upon his death, and this debt proved to be far more extensive than his wife had previously known. Rumors of this debt started circulating publicly in the early 1880s. Tchaikovsky had questioned her about it in his letters. The problem of the debts was compounded by the financial mismanagement of Nadezhda von Meck's business affairs by her son Vladimir. While he was as gifted in public relations as his father had been in engineering, Vladimir proved as extravagant as his mother in spending. He was the favorite among the Meck children, which may have been why his mother tolerated his ways as long as she did. Unfortunately, it was also largely what pitted her and Vladimir against his siblings and sister-in-law, Anna (Tchaikovsky's niece). They claimed, among other things, that he was pocketing company funds for his own use. Regardless of the truth of these charges, the Meck estate was in serious financial peril. In 1890, Vladimir von Meck suffered a nervous breakdown, and that summer his mother relieved him of his position.

His replacement was his mother's personal assistant Władysław Pachulski . Originally employed as a musician, Pachulski became a member of the family by marrying Julia von Meck. He was also far more experienced in financial management than Vladimir had been, and was able to save the Meck estates from bankruptcy. [16] Meanwhile, Vladimir was found to have an advanced case of tuberculosis , the same disease from which his mother suffered, and he would die from it in 1892. Death Nadezhda von Meck died from tuberculosis on January 13, 1894 in Nice , in the south of France , barely two months after Tchaikovsky's demise. After her mother-in-law's death, Anna von Meck was asked how the late patroness had endured Tchaikovsky's death. She replied, "She did not endure it." [17] Donation by Galina Nikolayevna von Meck In 1985 Galina von Meck donated to Columbia University a collection including her translation of 681 letters written by Tchaikovsky to his family. The collection covered the period from March 1861 to September 1893.

Notes ^ Tchaikovsky, P. I., Perepiska s N. F. fon Mekk (1876–1890) [Correspondence with N. F. von Meck], ed. Zhdanov, Vladimir and Zhegin, Nikolai (Moscow and Leningrad, 1934–1936), 3:197. As quoted in Poznansky, 197. ^ a b As quoted in Poznansky, 198. ^ Poznansky, p. 316-17 ^ Maes, 140–141. ^ This problem was not news to Tchaikovsky. The growing atrophy, accompanied by sharp cramping in the hands, had continued to worsen since the summer of 1882. It had already slowed the pace of Meck's correspondence tremendously, as it made every line, then every few words, physically painful to write. She had made him aware of it in past letters. ^ This state pension, granted in 1888, totaled 3,000 rubles a year.

While only half the amount Tchaikovsky received annually from Meck, it was still ten times the annual salary of the average public servant. ^ Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Final Years (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992), 292–293 ^ There is also some conjecture that, as Nadezhda von Meck's assistant, he had been in a position to enforce the family's wishes by intercepting any letters to or from Tchaikovsky. However, the full extent of his efforts in this regard cannot be determined with certainty until more archival evidence is unearthed. ^ Vospominanya (1980). As quoted in Holden, 401. Further reading Igor Minaiev et Olga Mikhailova Madame Tchaikovski (Paris, Editions Astree, 2014). ISBN 979-10-91815-07-9 Bowen, Catherine Drinker and von Meck, Barbara. Beloved Friend: The Story of Tchaikowsky and Nadejda von Meck (New York: Random House, 1937).

Brown, David. Tchaikovsky: The Crisis Years, 1874–1878, (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1983). ISBN 0-393-01707-9 . Brown, David. Tchaikovsky: The Years of Wandering (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1986) Brown, David. Tchaikovsky: The Final Years (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992) Brown, David. Tchaikovsky: The Man and his Music (London: Faber & Faber, 2006). ISBN 0-571-23194-2 . Also (New York: Pegasus Books, 2007). ISBN 1-933648-30-9 . Holden, Anthony. Tchaikovsky: A Biography Random House; 1st U.S. ed edition (February 27, 1996) ISBN 0-679-42006-1 Poznansky, Alexander.

Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man Lime Tree (1993) ISBN 0-413-45721-4 (hb), ISBN 0-413-45731-1 (pb) To My Best Friend: Correspondence Between Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von Meck 1876–1878. By Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nadezhda von Meck (1993) Warrack, John. Tchaikovsky (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973) Troyat, Henri . La Baronne et le Musicien. Madame von Meck et Tchaïkovski. Editions Grasset. 2006. References Music’s Emotional Impact - Twin Cities PBS All-Star Orchestra Music’s Emotional Impact This program will draw viewers into Tchaikovsky’s dramatic personal life, his brief marriage, and his intense correspondence with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck, whom he never met and to whom he dedicated his Fourth Symphony.

The dramatic brass fanfares that for Tchaikovsky symbolized Fate find a modern echo in David Stock’s “Blast!” Air Date 10/19/13 WIDTH HEIGHT <iframe width="512" height="376" src="" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" seamless allowfullscreen></iframe> To embed this video, copy and paste the code above. About this show "All-Star Orchestra" delivers "masterpieces for the masses," helping viewers enjoy, explore and experience the celebrated classical music of Beethoven, Stravinsky, Dvorak, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Mahler. The educational and entertaining eight-part series features the world-class talents of the All-Star Orchestra, an ensemble comprised of top players who gathered together in August 2012 for a one-week recording "summit." Each one-hour episode pairs the All-Star Orchestra's performance of a popular symphonic score with a new work by a contemporary American composer, including Philip Glass.

These inspiring, all-ages concerts, filmed in New York's historic The Grand at Manhattan Center, are supplemented with illuminating interviews with the conductor, musicians, composers and special guests. Upcoming Air Dates The Man, the Patron, and the Symphony: Friendship in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth | Music 242 – Spring 2014 The Man, the Patron, and the Symphony: Friendship in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Posted The Man, the Patron, and the Symphony: Friendship in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth By Josh Kosberg First page of the score to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F-minor First page of the score to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F-minor Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky ‘A mon meilleur ami’. To my best friend. So reads Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s manuscript for Symphony No. 4 in F minor. [1] Who was this friend and why would he dedicate this entire masterwork to them? The answers to these questions can be found in a series of letters sent between him and Nadezhda Von Meck, his patroness.

Nadezhda was no typical patroness as she provided not only financial, but also emotional and mental stability. As she writes in a letter to him in 1877, “I wish to repeat, as we separate, that, whatever the distance between us, Pyotr, you have in me the most sincere friend, always ready to participate in anything that concerns you”. [2] Clearly, she was more than a simple ‘patron’ as she adamantly established herself as a friend. I suggest that she not only influenced him mentally through their friendship, but also compositionally, particularly in his Fourth Symphony. In this symphony there are elements of nostalgia and love, which for Tchaikovsky were associated with Von Meck. Through a close analysis of their correspondences and Tchaikovsky’s manuscript, I propose that she helped him control his depressive state, thereby allowing him to express himself and his inner mental and emotional turmoil through his music. Von Meck and Tchaikovsky’s relationship began with a simple request for a composition. Over the course of several letters, it progressed from everyday conversation to a rather personal supplication.

Von Meck requested a photograph of the composer to give a face to her idol’s name so that she could “search out in [his] features those inspirations, those feelings which have influenced [him] to compose music which transports a person into a world of sensations, expectations, and desires that life cannot fulfill” [3] . Here, Von Meck expressed her intense adoration of Tchaikovsky. With this personal request for a photograph, she initiated a new phase in their relationship. This blooming relationship can also be seen in Tchaikovsky’s responses. Several letters later he requested to borrow money from her in exchange for regular compositions. [4] In his 10th letter, he mentioned his Fourth Symphony for the first time as he asked if he could dedicate the work to her. [5] In his next letter, he even explains his bouts of depression and the treatment he received for them. It is clear that their relationship developed into a far more personal one at this point. Over the next 50 or so correspondences, the two discussed everything from Tchaikovsky’s failed marriage to his fits of utter loneliness.

[6] In the 44th correspondence, Tchaikovsky addressed the letter as his diary to her. In it, he labeled himself a “sick man” who viewed every stranger as a “deadly enemy” [7] . He wrote that he could not bear to be alone, as if he was suicidal. He ends this letter by saying “I shall go on writing to you every time I feel the need to unburden my soul in confession” [8] . Here, Von Meck became more than the patron that supplied money, she became his supporter, his go-to person for his struggles, his best friend. He not only has his compositions to live for, but also her. As if to affirm this, Nadezhda responded with a compliment full of love and compassion and wrote to him, “Look after your health, My dear Petr Il’ich. Your life brings so much good to others” [9] . Thus, Von Meck not only provided financial stability, but also mental stability as she built him up. She showed him that he truly had something to live for with a talent as great as his. He signed the 94th letter, “thank you for your invaluable friendship for me.

I derive great consolation from it and my spirits will never again falter”, which reflects the influential nature of their relationship [10] . Her influence indeed explains the dedication of his Fourth Symphony to her, but how does this manifest itself in the music? To explain this, we must first understand Tchaikovsky’s conception of music as a form of rhetoric. In letter 91, Nadezhda asks if Tchaikovsky had ever experienced anything other than platonic love. In response to this, he explained that he had never experienced true love in reality, but had in his music. He wrote: I completely disagree with you when you say that music cannot convey the all-embracing qualities of the feelings of love. Quite the contrary, I think that it is music alone that can do this. You say words are needed here. Not so! This is precisely where words aren’t necessary, and, where words fail, music appears, fully equipped with a far more eloquent language of its own. [11] Here, Tchaikovsky explained that music can convey feelings of love just as easily as any form of rhetorical writing can. For him, music does this in its own way, unique to the art itself.

If music can convey these emotions, in Tchaikovsky’s opinion, then it must be possible to find these emotions in his music. Beginning an analysis of the emotions and affect found in the symphony requires a close study of Tchaikovsky’s program notes. [12] Several days after the premiere, Von Meck requested these program notes to go along with the symphony since Tchaikovsky had not originally written any. The specific letter where she posed this request does not exist, but Tchaikovsky’s response does. Initially he responded by saying that there was no program whatsoever. He responded with a rhetorical question, asking how a composer could explain the feelings experienced during the compositional process when there was no definite subject for the work. But then, he tried to put the emotions into words for her. To describe the second movement, he wrote: [It] expresses another phase of depression. It’s the melancholy feeling you get of an evening when, tired after work, you’re sitting alone, you’ve picked up a book but it has slipped from your hand. There are teeming memories. It’s sad that so much has been and gone, yet pleasant to recall youth.

There’s nostalgia for the past, but no desire to start life over again…Memories abound. It’s both sad yet somehow sweet to immerse yourself in the past. [13] To him, this movement is particularly contemplative and bursting with emotional memories. It is full of sadness and the scars of the past, yet also the thrill and joy of accomplishment and all the positive experiences that comes with these feelings. For Tchaikovsky, these memories could have been of his mental and financial struggles, the exchanging of letters with Von Meck, or his failed marriage. They could even have been about the premiere of some of his greatest works to date. All of these memories can manifest themselves in this movement, yet ultimately every individual will recall unique memories while listening to it. A nostalgic sentiment can first be observed in the ternary structure of the movement. The two themes of the A section contain primarily minor modes with the a theme (mm. 1-21) being in melodic minor and the b theme (mm. 41-65) presented in E-flat Dorian. [14] The themes show the sad reminiscing of memories and the yearning for the past that comes with the melancholy of minor.

The b theme gradually slides into F major as the third, c theme, presents itself and firmly establishes the jovial, light-hearted B section in mm. 126-133. This slide into a major theme starkly contrast the elegant, sad, reminiscence of the a and b theme, as if the listener has fallen completely into the past as they relive a certain experience. Gradually, the listener wakes up from this trance as the violas and violins slink chromatically down a minor sixth. After a brief fermata, the violins initiate the return of the A section, as if the listener realizes that these were all moments that are already past as the tangible events revert back to mere memories. Finally, the movement ends with fragments of the a theme, as if these memories fade away into the distant past as the listener moves on. Thus, the ternary form clearly establishes the nostalgic nature of the movement on the large scale. Throughout this ternary structure, the compositional themes trace Tchaikovsky’s relationship with Nadezhda. Though he never met her and communicated with her purely through letters, he composed this movement as an intimate homage to her.

The second movement begins with an oboe solo, which presents the a theme of the movement. The solo is marked semplice, ma grazioso (simple, but graceful), as if the melody line should elegantly float above the sparse string pizzicato. The melody is set in B-flat melodic minor as it moves throughout a simple tonic, pre-dominant, dominant structure with the basic i, ii7, VI, and V7 chords. The melody alternates between a descending or ascending minor third and major third, as in m. 1 (D-flat to B-flat), 3 (E-flat to C), 4 (A to C), 5 (F to A), etc. This alternation between minor and major ascents and descents gives this melody the nostalgic feel. Each quick minor third is a fleeting dark memory, while every major third is a fleeting positive memory. It is not until m. 16 that there is an extended major harmony as the accompaniment cycles through V7/III, III, and VI7, as if the listener is smiling at the thought of all the memories. Ultimately though, the melody returns to a minor i chord, indicating that they do not want to return to the past.

They are merely thankful for the experience as it shaped the present. As stated in the program notes, the recollections are independent for every listener. For Tchaikovsky, though, these memories are of Von Meck and the struggles that led to their friendship. Thoughts of severe depression, bankruptcy, and divorce riddle his past, yet through it all, Nadezhda was there to support him. Clearly this nostalgic homage to both his past and the developing relationship with her are contained within this theme. The movement contains two more themes that contribute to its wistful mood. The b theme can be traced in the strings beginning in measure 41. This theme is a slight variation on the a theme as it uses the ascending/descending third every other measure. This time though, the tune appears in E-flat Dorian, which creates a new, evocative color. The combination of a minor scale with the raised sixth scale degree from the major mode yet again shows the contrasts between the depressing thoughts, represented by the minor mode elements, and the joyful thoughts, represented by the major mode elements. The c theme appears in the B section of this loose ternary form beginning in m.

126 in the form of a bassoon/clarinet duet. This is the first melody that is entirely in the major mode, thereby representing a happy series of thoughts. The music transports the listener to a joyous time, as if they are dwelling on some of the finer memories of the past. For Tchaikovsky, these could be anything from thoughts of his youth to the very moment he received a letter from Nadezhda. Considering the deep bout of depression he experienced while writing this symphony, I propose that all three themes are mainly a tribute to Nadezhda. For one, she provided comfort as she became a sort of beacon in the darkness. When he was down, she would be there to listen and pick him back up again with a witty remark, a compliment of his compositional prowess, or distract him with the events of her life. Similarly, the sadness of the a theme (Tchaikovsky’s depressive thoughts) is starkly contrasted by the happy F major theme (a happy experience, such as his relationship with Von Meck). Thus, their relationship manifests itself in the alternation of major and minor elements in this movement.

It is clear that Nadezhda Von Meck was not only a patron of Tchaikovsky, but also an impassioned, loving friend. A simple request for a commission blossomed into a deep and loving friendship. Their correspondences trace not only their developing relationship, but also Tchaikovsky’s depressive states. She became his confidant as he wrote to her about his marriage, the ensuing divorce, his fits of sadness, and his attempt to find a cure. Thus, it is no wonder that he dedicated his entire Fourth Symphony to her. Within its second movement, there are traces of the nostalgic nature that Tchaikovsky described in his personal program notes, but also the complexity of his relationship with Von Meck. The loose ternary form and its constant modal mixture portray the ups and downs of Tchaikovsky’s life and ultimately his relationship with Nadezhda. When he fell down, she helped to pick him back up. Through not only her financial but also her emotional support, Nadezhda proved to be a substantial influence on his Fourth Symphony.

Bibliography ‘To My Best Friend’ Correspondence between Tchaikokvsky and Nadezhda Von Meck (1876 – 1878). Translated by Galina von Meck. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. Tchaikovsky, Pyotr. Symphony No. 4 in F-minor, Op. 36. New York: Dover Publications, 1979 [1] Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 in F-minor, Op. 36, (New York: Dover Publications, 1979). See cover page for actual image. [2] ‘To My Best Friend’ Correspondence between Tchaikokvsky and Nadezhda Von Meck (1876 – 1878), trans., Galina von Meck (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993). 19.

Barbican - London Symphony Orchestra / Nikolaj Znaider London Symphony Orchestra / Nikolaj Znaider with Nikolaj Znaider as conductor and soloist 18 December 2016 / 19:00 NYO Inspire Day Violinist and conductor Nikolaj Znaider directs the London Symphony Orchestra in a cycle of Mozartï¿½s elegant Violin Concertos alongside the dramatic symphonies of Tchaikovsky. Mozartï¿½s violin concerts were all written when he was a teenager over the course of just two years. The First was penned when he was 17, by which time he had already been a court orchestra concertmaster for four years and knew intimately how best to write for the prized singing tone of the instrument. 'I not only love Mozart, I worship him' Tchaikovsky once wrote to his friend and patron Nadezhda von Meck, to whom he also dedicated his Fourth Symphony. Written at a very difficult time in his life this emotionally complex work is saturated with the idea of fate, or as the composer wrote 'that fatal force which prevents the impulse to happiness from attaining its goal'.

Programme & Performers Mozart Violin Concerto No 1 Mozart Violin Concerto No 4 Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4 London Symphony Orchestra / Nikolaj Znaider | The List Workshops London Symphony Orchestra / Nikolaj Znaider Violinist and conductor Nikolaj Znaider directs the London Symphony Orchestra in a cycle of Mozart’s elegant Violin Concertos alongside the dramatic symphonies of Tchaikovsky. Mozart’s violin concerts were all written when he was a teenager over the course of just two years. The First was penned when he was 17, by which time he had already been a court orchestra concertmaster for four years and knew intimately how best to write for the prized singing tone of the instrument. 'I not only love Mozart, I worship him' Tchaikovsky once wrote to his friend and patron Nadezhda von Meck, to whom he also dedicated his Fourth Symphony. Written at a very difficult time in his life this emotionally complex work is saturated with the idea of fate, or as the composer wrote 'that fatal force which prevents the impulse to happiness from attaining its goal'. Programme and Performers

Question: Nadezhda von Meck was the patron of which great composer, and to whom he dedicated his fourth symphony?
Answer: TCHAIKOVSKY