FOOTNOTES:[163]Without opus number.[164]The first of Tschaikowsky's programmatic orchestral works is the virtually unknownFatum("Destiny"), to which are attached lines from a poem by Batioushkov. This work was composed in 1868, and produced at Moscow in March of the following year. Tschaikowsky destroyed the score "during the seventies"; but the orchestral parts were preserved, and the score was reconstructed from them and published in 1896. Batioushkov's lines were affixed to the score after its completion, on the eve of the concert at which the work was produced.[165]See page 12 (foot-note).[166]It is known that Tschaikowsky thought seriously of composing an opera based on the subject of "Romeo and Juliet." "The operas of Gounod and Bellini," he wrote in 1870, "do not frighten me"—Shakespeare, he truly observed, "is not to be found in them."[167]This and the foregoing excerpt from Tschaikowsky's correspondence are from the translation by Mrs. Rosa Newmarch.[168]This is Carlyle's concise epitome of the experience related by Dante in the fifth canto:"The Second Circle, or proper commencement of Hell; and Minos, the Infernal Judge, at its entrance. It contains the Souls of Carnal Sinners; and their punishment consists in being driven about incessantly, in total darkness, by fierce winds. First among them comes Semiramis, the Babylonian queen. Dido, Cleopatra, Helena, Achilles, Paris, and a great multitude of others pass in succession. Dante is overcome and bewildered with pity at the sight of them, when his attention is suddenly attracted to two spirits that keep together and seem strangely light upon the wind. He is unable to speak for some time, after finding that it is Francesca da Rimini, with her lover Paolo; and falls to the ground, as if dead, after he has heard their painful story."[169]Ravenna: "on the coast of that sea to which the Po, with all his streams from Alps to Apennines, descends to rest therein."[170]Francesca was the daughter of Guido Vecchio da Polenta, lord of Ravenna. She was given in marriage to Giovanni (or Gianciotto) Malatesta, the eldest son of Malatesta Vecchio, tyrant of Rimini. Giovanni was called "Lo Sciancato"—"the lame," or "hipshot." Not only was he a cripple, but he was much older than Francesca, and of stern and forbidding temper. Some say that he secured Francesca for wife by trickery, she being led to suppose that Paolo ("Il Bello"), the young brother of Giovanni, "a handsome man, very pleasant and of courteous breeding," was her future husband; that she therefore permitted herself to love him, and did not learn of the deception until "the morning ensuing the marriage." Giovanni surprised his wife and his brother together, and killed them both—between the years 1287 and 1289, says Hieronymus Rubeus in the first edition of hisHist. Ravennat.(Venice, 1572); in a later edition (1603) the date is given as early in 1289. The lovers were buried in the same grave. Guido Novello, with whom Dante lived at Ravenna, was the son of Francesca's brother, Ostagio da Polenta, and from him, it is believed, Dante heard the tragic story.—L. G.[171]"Lancelot of the Lake, in the old Romances of the Round Table, is described as the greatest knight of all the world; and his love for Queen Guenever, or Ginevra, is infinite. Galeotto, Gallehaut, or Sir Galahad, is he who gives such a detailed declaration of Lancelot's love to the queen; and is to them, in the romance, what the book and its author are here [in Dante's poem] to Francesca and Paolo."—J. A. CARLYLE.[172]This is the culmination of the scene described by Francesca as it occurs in Mr. Stephen Phillip's drama, "Paolo and Francesca":"FRANCESCA[Reading]. 'And Guenevere,Turning, beheld him suddenly whom sheLoved in her thought, and even from that hourWhen first she saw him; for by day, by night,Though lying by her husband's side, did sheWeary for Launcelot, and knew full wellHow ill that love, and yet that love how deepI cannot see—the page is dim; read you."PAOLO[Reading]. 'Now they two were alone, yet could not speak;But heard the beating of each other's hearts.He knew himself a traitor but to stay,Yet could not stir; she pale and yet more paleGrew till she could no more, but smiled on him.Then when he saw that wished smile, he cameNear to her and still near, and trembled; thenHer lips all trembling kissed.'"FRANCESCA[Drooping towards him]. Ah, Launcelot![He kisses her on the lips.]"[173]Nadeshda Filaretowna von Meck was born in the village of Znamensk, in the government of Smolensk, February 10, 1831. She was thus nine years older than Tschaikowsky. When her husband, an engineer, died, in 1876, she was left with eleven children and a very large fortune, although they had not always been rich. Modeste Tschaikowsky described her as "a proud and energetic woman, of strong convictions, with the mental balance and business capacity of a man; ... a woman who despised all that was petty, common-place, and conventional; ... absolutely free from sentimentality in her relations with others, yet capable of deep feeling, and of being completely carried away by what was lofty and beautiful."[174]The passages quoted from Tschaikowsky's letters are given in Mrs. Rosa Newmarch's translation.[175]Translated by Mr. Philip Hale.[176]In the October before his death Tschaikowsky was busied with the orchestration of his third piano concerto, Op. 75, based on portions of a symphony which he began in May, 1892, but afterwards destroyed.[177]See page 210 (foot-note).[178]"Voyvode": in Russian, "a military commander, general, or governor of a province."[179]The authorship of this story is attributed to the pianist Alexander Siloti, a pupil of Tschaikowsky.[180]By Mr. Philip Hale.
FOOTNOTES:
[163]Without opus number.
[163]Without opus number.
[164]The first of Tschaikowsky's programmatic orchestral works is the virtually unknownFatum("Destiny"), to which are attached lines from a poem by Batioushkov. This work was composed in 1868, and produced at Moscow in March of the following year. Tschaikowsky destroyed the score "during the seventies"; but the orchestral parts were preserved, and the score was reconstructed from them and published in 1896. Batioushkov's lines were affixed to the score after its completion, on the eve of the concert at which the work was produced.
[164]The first of Tschaikowsky's programmatic orchestral works is the virtually unknownFatum("Destiny"), to which are attached lines from a poem by Batioushkov. This work was composed in 1868, and produced at Moscow in March of the following year. Tschaikowsky destroyed the score "during the seventies"; but the orchestral parts were preserved, and the score was reconstructed from them and published in 1896. Batioushkov's lines were affixed to the score after its completion, on the eve of the concert at which the work was produced.
[165]See page 12 (foot-note).
[165]See page 12 (foot-note).
[166]It is known that Tschaikowsky thought seriously of composing an opera based on the subject of "Romeo and Juliet." "The operas of Gounod and Bellini," he wrote in 1870, "do not frighten me"—Shakespeare, he truly observed, "is not to be found in them."
[166]It is known that Tschaikowsky thought seriously of composing an opera based on the subject of "Romeo and Juliet." "The operas of Gounod and Bellini," he wrote in 1870, "do not frighten me"—Shakespeare, he truly observed, "is not to be found in them."
[167]This and the foregoing excerpt from Tschaikowsky's correspondence are from the translation by Mrs. Rosa Newmarch.
[167]This and the foregoing excerpt from Tschaikowsky's correspondence are from the translation by Mrs. Rosa Newmarch.
[168]This is Carlyle's concise epitome of the experience related by Dante in the fifth canto:"The Second Circle, or proper commencement of Hell; and Minos, the Infernal Judge, at its entrance. It contains the Souls of Carnal Sinners; and their punishment consists in being driven about incessantly, in total darkness, by fierce winds. First among them comes Semiramis, the Babylonian queen. Dido, Cleopatra, Helena, Achilles, Paris, and a great multitude of others pass in succession. Dante is overcome and bewildered with pity at the sight of them, when his attention is suddenly attracted to two spirits that keep together and seem strangely light upon the wind. He is unable to speak for some time, after finding that it is Francesca da Rimini, with her lover Paolo; and falls to the ground, as if dead, after he has heard their painful story."
[168]This is Carlyle's concise epitome of the experience related by Dante in the fifth canto:
"The Second Circle, or proper commencement of Hell; and Minos, the Infernal Judge, at its entrance. It contains the Souls of Carnal Sinners; and their punishment consists in being driven about incessantly, in total darkness, by fierce winds. First among them comes Semiramis, the Babylonian queen. Dido, Cleopatra, Helena, Achilles, Paris, and a great multitude of others pass in succession. Dante is overcome and bewildered with pity at the sight of them, when his attention is suddenly attracted to two spirits that keep together and seem strangely light upon the wind. He is unable to speak for some time, after finding that it is Francesca da Rimini, with her lover Paolo; and falls to the ground, as if dead, after he has heard their painful story."
[169]Ravenna: "on the coast of that sea to which the Po, with all his streams from Alps to Apennines, descends to rest therein."
[169]Ravenna: "on the coast of that sea to which the Po, with all his streams from Alps to Apennines, descends to rest therein."
[170]Francesca was the daughter of Guido Vecchio da Polenta, lord of Ravenna. She was given in marriage to Giovanni (or Gianciotto) Malatesta, the eldest son of Malatesta Vecchio, tyrant of Rimini. Giovanni was called "Lo Sciancato"—"the lame," or "hipshot." Not only was he a cripple, but he was much older than Francesca, and of stern and forbidding temper. Some say that he secured Francesca for wife by trickery, she being led to suppose that Paolo ("Il Bello"), the young brother of Giovanni, "a handsome man, very pleasant and of courteous breeding," was her future husband; that she therefore permitted herself to love him, and did not learn of the deception until "the morning ensuing the marriage." Giovanni surprised his wife and his brother together, and killed them both—between the years 1287 and 1289, says Hieronymus Rubeus in the first edition of hisHist. Ravennat.(Venice, 1572); in a later edition (1603) the date is given as early in 1289. The lovers were buried in the same grave. Guido Novello, with whom Dante lived at Ravenna, was the son of Francesca's brother, Ostagio da Polenta, and from him, it is believed, Dante heard the tragic story.—L. G.
[170]Francesca was the daughter of Guido Vecchio da Polenta, lord of Ravenna. She was given in marriage to Giovanni (or Gianciotto) Malatesta, the eldest son of Malatesta Vecchio, tyrant of Rimini. Giovanni was called "Lo Sciancato"—"the lame," or "hipshot." Not only was he a cripple, but he was much older than Francesca, and of stern and forbidding temper. Some say that he secured Francesca for wife by trickery, she being led to suppose that Paolo ("Il Bello"), the young brother of Giovanni, "a handsome man, very pleasant and of courteous breeding," was her future husband; that she therefore permitted herself to love him, and did not learn of the deception until "the morning ensuing the marriage." Giovanni surprised his wife and his brother together, and killed them both—between the years 1287 and 1289, says Hieronymus Rubeus in the first edition of hisHist. Ravennat.(Venice, 1572); in a later edition (1603) the date is given as early in 1289. The lovers were buried in the same grave. Guido Novello, with whom Dante lived at Ravenna, was the son of Francesca's brother, Ostagio da Polenta, and from him, it is believed, Dante heard the tragic story.—L. G.
[171]"Lancelot of the Lake, in the old Romances of the Round Table, is described as the greatest knight of all the world; and his love for Queen Guenever, or Ginevra, is infinite. Galeotto, Gallehaut, or Sir Galahad, is he who gives such a detailed declaration of Lancelot's love to the queen; and is to them, in the romance, what the book and its author are here [in Dante's poem] to Francesca and Paolo."—J. A. CARLYLE.
[171]"Lancelot of the Lake, in the old Romances of the Round Table, is described as the greatest knight of all the world; and his love for Queen Guenever, or Ginevra, is infinite. Galeotto, Gallehaut, or Sir Galahad, is he who gives such a detailed declaration of Lancelot's love to the queen; and is to them, in the romance, what the book and its author are here [in Dante's poem] to Francesca and Paolo."—J. A. CARLYLE.
[172]This is the culmination of the scene described by Francesca as it occurs in Mr. Stephen Phillip's drama, "Paolo and Francesca":"FRANCESCA[Reading]. 'And Guenevere,Turning, beheld him suddenly whom sheLoved in her thought, and even from that hourWhen first she saw him; for by day, by night,Though lying by her husband's side, did sheWeary for Launcelot, and knew full wellHow ill that love, and yet that love how deepI cannot see—the page is dim; read you."PAOLO[Reading]. 'Now they two were alone, yet could not speak;But heard the beating of each other's hearts.He knew himself a traitor but to stay,Yet could not stir; she pale and yet more paleGrew till she could no more, but smiled on him.Then when he saw that wished smile, he cameNear to her and still near, and trembled; thenHer lips all trembling kissed.'"FRANCESCA[Drooping towards him]. Ah, Launcelot![He kisses her on the lips.]"
[172]This is the culmination of the scene described by Francesca as it occurs in Mr. Stephen Phillip's drama, "Paolo and Francesca":
"FRANCESCA[Reading]. 'And Guenevere,Turning, beheld him suddenly whom sheLoved in her thought, and even from that hourWhen first she saw him; for by day, by night,Though lying by her husband's side, did sheWeary for Launcelot, and knew full wellHow ill that love, and yet that love how deepI cannot see—the page is dim; read you.
"PAOLO[Reading]. 'Now they two were alone, yet could not speak;But heard the beating of each other's hearts.He knew himself a traitor but to stay,Yet could not stir; she pale and yet more paleGrew till she could no more, but smiled on him.Then when he saw that wished smile, he cameNear to her and still near, and trembled; thenHer lips all trembling kissed.'
"FRANCESCA[Drooping towards him]. Ah, Launcelot!
[He kisses her on the lips.]"
[173]Nadeshda Filaretowna von Meck was born in the village of Znamensk, in the government of Smolensk, February 10, 1831. She was thus nine years older than Tschaikowsky. When her husband, an engineer, died, in 1876, she was left with eleven children and a very large fortune, although they had not always been rich. Modeste Tschaikowsky described her as "a proud and energetic woman, of strong convictions, with the mental balance and business capacity of a man; ... a woman who despised all that was petty, common-place, and conventional; ... absolutely free from sentimentality in her relations with others, yet capable of deep feeling, and of being completely carried away by what was lofty and beautiful."
[173]Nadeshda Filaretowna von Meck was born in the village of Znamensk, in the government of Smolensk, February 10, 1831. She was thus nine years older than Tschaikowsky. When her husband, an engineer, died, in 1876, she was left with eleven children and a very large fortune, although they had not always been rich. Modeste Tschaikowsky described her as "a proud and energetic woman, of strong convictions, with the mental balance and business capacity of a man; ... a woman who despised all that was petty, common-place, and conventional; ... absolutely free from sentimentality in her relations with others, yet capable of deep feeling, and of being completely carried away by what was lofty and beautiful."
[174]The passages quoted from Tschaikowsky's letters are given in Mrs. Rosa Newmarch's translation.
[174]The passages quoted from Tschaikowsky's letters are given in Mrs. Rosa Newmarch's translation.
[175]Translated by Mr. Philip Hale.
[175]Translated by Mr. Philip Hale.
[176]In the October before his death Tschaikowsky was busied with the orchestration of his third piano concerto, Op. 75, based on portions of a symphony which he began in May, 1892, but afterwards destroyed.
[176]In the October before his death Tschaikowsky was busied with the orchestration of his third piano concerto, Op. 75, based on portions of a symphony which he began in May, 1892, but afterwards destroyed.
[177]See page 210 (foot-note).
[177]See page 210 (foot-note).
[178]"Voyvode": in Russian, "a military commander, general, or governor of a province."
[178]"Voyvode": in Russian, "a military commander, general, or governor of a province."
[179]The authorship of this story is attributed to the pianist Alexander Siloti, a pupil of Tschaikowsky.
[179]The authorship of this story is attributed to the pianist Alexander Siloti, a pupil of Tschaikowsky.
[180]By Mr. Philip Hale.
[180]By Mr. Philip Hale.