“He was too nervous to do justice to the work,” says Kashkin, “and rendered the music in a pointless and spiritless fashion, which produced an unfavourable impression upon his little audience. Tchaikovsky, observing the cool attitude of his hearers, played the opera hurriedly through to the end and left the piano, annoyed by our lack of appreciation.” At any other time such criticism would have been a momentary annoyance, soon forgotten. But just then, following upon his keen disappointment in _The Oprichnik_ and the exaggerated hopes he had set upon _Vakoula_, he was much mortified at this reception of his “favourite child.” Not only was he annoyed, but he considered himself affronted by what seemed to him an unjust criticism. Hence the bitterness with which, at that period, he spoke of his Moscow friends. They, however, kept the same warmth of feeling for him, as was amply proved during the crisis of 1877. With the coming of spring Tchaikovsky’s depression passed away, and he spent the Easter holidays very happily in the society of the twins, who came to visit him in Moscow. On May 4th (16th) _The Oprichnik_ was performed for the first time in Moscow. But all the composer’s thoughts were now concentrated on his “favourite child, _Vakoula the Smith_.” “You cannot imagine,” he wrote to his brother Anatol, “how much I reckon upon this work. I think I might go mad if it failed to bring me luck. I do not want the prize--I despise it, although money is no bad thing--but I want my opera to be performed.” Shortly before leaving Moscow for the summer, he was commissioned by the Imperial Opera to write a musical ballet entitled _The Swan Lake_. He did not immediately set to work upon this music, but went to Ussovo at the end of May, where he began his Third Symphony in D major. Late in June he visited his friend Kondratiev at Nizy, where he was exclusively occupied with the orchestration of this symphony until July 14th (26th), when he went to stay with his sister Madame Davidov at Verbovka. By August 1st the symphony was finished, and Tchaikovsky took up the ballet music, for which he was to receive a fee of 800 roubles (about £80). The first two acts were ready in a fortnight. Verbovka, the Davidovs’ estate, was in the neighbourhood of Kamenka, and Tchaikovsky was so fond of this spot that it became his favourite holiday resort, and cast the charms of Ussovo entirely in the shade. The summer of 1875 was spent not only in the society of his sister and her family, but also in that of his father and his brother Anatol. XII 1875-1876 _To N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov._ “MOSCOW, _September_ 10_th_ (22_nd_), 1875.