Rare and desirable ALS in French, signed “P. Tchaikovsky,” one page, 4.5 x 5.75, February 25, 1889. Letter to “Mon cher ami Paul,” [‘My dear friend Paul,’ most likely Paul Cossmann, German writer and director of the magazine Süddeutsche Monatshefte and a longtime friend of Tchaikovsky’s]. In full: “I beg you to excuse me. I will not be able to have the pleasure of having lunch with you today. I was wrong not to have taken your address the other day. This prevented me to advise you in time. This morning I have a rehearsal after which I absolutely need to have lunch with the Russian Consul. Please come tomorrow to my house at one in the afternoon. Pray excuse me.” In fine condition, with small pencil notation along hinge.
While in Frankfurt in February of 1889, the second stop on his itinerary through Germany, Tchaikovsky had the fortune of meeting with his old friend Bernhard Cossmann, a German cellist and former colleague at the Moscow Conservatory. Two days later, after Tchaikovsky’s hugely successful performance of his Suite No. 3, the Cossmanns saw him off at the railway station, asking the composer to get in touch with their son when he arrived in Berlin. Accepting their suggestion, he dashed off this letter to the young Paul Cossman, with whom he ended up meeting two days later. Cossman would go on to make quite a name for himself, founding the liberal cultural magazine Süddeutsche Monatshefte before losing his life in a concentration camp during World War II. A rare letter from the highly sought-after musical legend, written at the height of his fame. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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