FOOTNOTES:[12]It is rather interesting that, in spite of Balakireff's opposition to Tschaikowsky's music, they remained good friends throughout their life. Tschaikowsky even tried to follow Balakireff's method in his symphonic poem 'Fatum,' which he dedicated to his friend. As the composition did not please Balakireff, though he performed it for the first time, Tschaikowsky destroyed it later and it was never published or performed again. This is what Balakireff wrote to Tschaikowsky after his attempt at modern composition: 'You are too little acquainted with modern music. You will never learn freedom of form from the classic composers. They can only give you what you already knew when you sat at the student's benches.' As irritable as Tschaikowsky was in such critical matters, he never took the expression of Balakireff in an offended spirit. How highly Tschaikowsky appreciated Balakireff is evident from his letter to Mme. von Meck: 'Balakireff's songs are actually little masterpieces and I am passionately fond of them. There was a time when I could not listen to his "Selim's Song" without tears in my eyes.'][13]'The Russian Opera.'[14]'Reminiscences.'[15]Quoted by Mrs. Newmarch,op. cit.
FOOTNOTES:
[12]It is rather interesting that, in spite of Balakireff's opposition to Tschaikowsky's music, they remained good friends throughout their life. Tschaikowsky even tried to follow Balakireff's method in his symphonic poem 'Fatum,' which he dedicated to his friend. As the composition did not please Balakireff, though he performed it for the first time, Tschaikowsky destroyed it later and it was never published or performed again. This is what Balakireff wrote to Tschaikowsky after his attempt at modern composition: 'You are too little acquainted with modern music. You will never learn freedom of form from the classic composers. They can only give you what you already knew when you sat at the student's benches.' As irritable as Tschaikowsky was in such critical matters, he never took the expression of Balakireff in an offended spirit. How highly Tschaikowsky appreciated Balakireff is evident from his letter to Mme. von Meck: 'Balakireff's songs are actually little masterpieces and I am passionately fond of them. There was a time when I could not listen to his "Selim's Song" without tears in my eyes.']
[12]It is rather interesting that, in spite of Balakireff's opposition to Tschaikowsky's music, they remained good friends throughout their life. Tschaikowsky even tried to follow Balakireff's method in his symphonic poem 'Fatum,' which he dedicated to his friend. As the composition did not please Balakireff, though he performed it for the first time, Tschaikowsky destroyed it later and it was never published or performed again. This is what Balakireff wrote to Tschaikowsky after his attempt at modern composition: 'You are too little acquainted with modern music. You will never learn freedom of form from the classic composers. They can only give you what you already knew when you sat at the student's benches.' As irritable as Tschaikowsky was in such critical matters, he never took the expression of Balakireff in an offended spirit. How highly Tschaikowsky appreciated Balakireff is evident from his letter to Mme. von Meck: 'Balakireff's songs are actually little masterpieces and I am passionately fond of them. There was a time when I could not listen to his "Selim's Song" without tears in my eyes.']
[13]'The Russian Opera.'
[13]'The Russian Opera.'
[14]'Reminiscences.'
[14]'Reminiscences.'
[15]Quoted by Mrs. Newmarch,op. cit.
[15]Quoted by Mrs. Newmarch,op. cit.