Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive) Every attempt has been made to replicate the original as printed. No attempt has been made to correct or normalize the spelling of non-English words. Some typographical errors have been corrected; a list follows the text. The Illustrations have been moved from mid-paragraph for ease of reading. (etext transcriber's note) THE LIFE & LETTERS OF PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY THE LIFE & LETTERS OF PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY BY MODESTE TCHAIKOVSKY EDITED FROM THE RUSSIAN WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ROSA NEWMARCH: ILLUSTRATED LONDON : JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANY : MCMVI WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LIMITED, PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH TO SERGEÏ IVANOVICH TANEIEV AND TO ALL WHO STILL CHERISH THE MEMORY OF PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY I DEDICATE THIS WORK INTRODUCTION In offering to English and American readers this abridged edition of _The Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky_, my introduction must of necessity take the form of some justification of my curtailments and excisions. The motives which led to this undertaking, and the reasons for my mode of procedure, may be stated in a few words. In 1900 I published a volume dealing with Tchaikovsky,[1] which was, I believe, the first attempt to embody in book form all the literature--scattered through the byways of Russian journalism--concerning the composer of the Pathetic Symphony. In the course of a year or two--the book having sold out in England and America--a proposal was made to me to prepare a new edition. Meanwhile, however, the authorised _Life and Letters_, compiled and edited by the composer’s brother, Modeste Ilich Tchaikovsky, was being issued in twenty-five parts by P. I. Jurgenson, of Moscow.[2] This original Russian edition was followed almost immediately by a German translation, published in Leipzig by the same firm.[3] In November, 1901, the late P. I. Jurgenson approached me on the subject of a translation, but his negotiations with an American firm eventually fell through. He then requested me to find, if possible, an English publisher willing to take up the book. Both in England and America the public interest in Tchaikovsky seemed to be steadily increasing. Frequent calls for copies of my small book--by this time out of print--testified that this was actually the case.