At the beginning of the summer vacation Tchaikovsky went to stay with Kondratiev at Nizy, and set to work without loss of time. He was under the misapprehension that the score had to be ready by August 1st of that year (1874), besides which he felt a burning desire to wipe out the memory of _The Oprichnik_ as soon as possible. By the middle of July, when he left Nizy for Ussovo, he had all but finished the sketch of the opera, and was ready to begin the orchestration. At Ussovo he redoubled his efforts, and the work was actually completed by the end of August. The entire opera had occupied him barely three months. He wrote no other dramatic work under such a long and unbroken spell of inspiration. To the end of his days Tchaikovsky had a great weakness for this particular opera. In 1885 he made some not very important changes in the score. It has been twice renamed; once as _Cherevichek_ (“The Little Shoes”), and later as _Les Caprices d’Oxane_, under which title it now appears in foreign editions. During this season Tchaikovsky’s reputation greatly increased. The success of his Second Symphony, and the performance of _The Oprichnik_, made his name as well known in Petersburg as it had now become in Moscow. In his account of the first performance of _A Life for the Tsar_, at Milan, Hans von Bülow, referring to Tchaikovsky, says:--[38] “At the present moment we know but one other who, like Glinka, strives and aspires, and whose works--although they have not yet attained to full maturity--give the complete assurance that such maturity will not fail to come. I refer to the young professor of composition at the Moscow Conservatoire--Tchaikovsky. A beautiful string quartet by him has won its way in many German towns. Many of his works deserve equal recognition--his pianoforte compositions, two symphonies, and an uncommonly interesting overture to _Romeo and Juliet_, which commends itself by its originality and luxuriant flow of melody. Thanks to his many-sidedness, this composer will not run the danger of being neglected abroad, as was the case with Glinka.” XI 1874-1875 It was not until his return to Moscow that Tchaikovsky found out his mistake as to the date of the competition. This discovery annoyed him exceedingly. Like all composers, he burned with impatience to hear his work performed as soon as possible. In his case such impatience was all the greater, because he was not accustomed to delay; hitherto Nicholas Rubinstein had brought out his works almost before the ink was dry on the paper. Besides which Tchaikovsky had never before been so pleased with any offspring of his genius as with this new opera. The desire to see _Vakoula_ mounted, and thus to wipe out the bad impression left by _The Oprichnik_, became almost a fixed idea, and led him to a course of action which in calmer moments would have seemed to him reprehensible.