In one respect the present edition shows a clear improvement upon the German. In the latter the dates have been given throughout in the Old Style, thereby frequently causing confusion in the minds of Western readers. In the English version--with a few unimportant exceptions--the dates are given according to both calendars. The most romantic episode of Tchaikovsky’s life--his friendship extending over thirteen years with a woman to whom he never addressed a direct personal greeting--is told in a series of intimate letters. In these I have spared all but the most necessary abridgements. The account of his tour in America, which takes the form of a diary kept for the benefit of his near relatives, cannot fail to amuse and interest all those who remember the favourable impression created by his appearance at the inauguration of the Carnegie Hall, New York, in May, 1891. The illustrations are the same as those published in the Russian and German publications, with two notable additions: the photograph of Tchaikovsky and Siloti, and the fine portrait by Kouznietsov. My thanks are due to Mr. Grant Richards for permission to republish the facsimile from the score of the Overture “_1812_”; also to Mr. W. W. Manning and Mr. Adolf Brodsky for the kind loan of autographs. In conclusion, let me say that in planning and carrying out this work it is not so much the needs of the specialist I have kept most constantly in view, as those of that large section of the musical public whose interest in Tchaikovsky has been awakened by the sincerely emotional and human elements of his music. ROSA NEWMARCH CONTENTS PAGE PART I. CHAPTERS I.-V. 1840-1861 1 PART II. CHAPTERS I.-VII. 1861-1866 30 PART III. CHAPTERS I.-XIII. 1866-1877 64 PART IV. CHAPTERS I.-VIII. 1877-1878 204 PART V. CHAPTERS I.-XX. 1878-1885 318 PART VI. CHAPTERS I.-XIII. 1885-1888 468 PART VII. CHAPTERS I.-XIX. 1888-1893 539 APPENDICES--A, B, C 726 ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF NAMES 773 ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF MUSICAL WORKS 779 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. TCHAIKOVSKY IN 1893, FROM A PORTRAIT BY KOUZNIETSOV _Frontispiece_ TO FACE PAGE 2. ILIA PETROVICH TCHAIKOVSKY, THE COMPOSER’S FATHER, IN 1860 4 3. THE HOUSE IN WHICH TCHAIKOVSKY WAS BORN, AT VOTINSK 8 4. THE TCHAIKOVSKY FAMILY IN 1848, FROM A DAGUERROTYPE 14 5. ALEXANDRA ANDREIEVNA TCHAIKOVSKY, THE COMPOSER’S MOTHER, IN 1848 20 6. TCHAIKOVSKY IN 1859 (VIGNETTE) 26 7. THE COMPOSER’S FATHER, WITH HIS TWIN SONS MODESTE AND ANATOL 34 8. TCHAIKOVSKY IN 1859 (CARTE DE VISITE) 42 9. TCHAIKOVSKY IN 1863 56