ALS in Russian, signed “P. Tchaikovsky,” one page, 4.5 x 6, March 27, 1891. Letter to Yekaterina Ivanovna Laroche. In full (translated): “Excuse my writing! It was difficult for me to find a minute. I am going to America by a ship leaving on April 18th. My concert will take place the 5th of April and after it I will go somewhere to work in solitude. Here in Paris I am leading an insanely agitated life from which my head is turning. What will come next! There is nothing else to write. Many kisses to you and the children.” In fine condition, with trivial toned mounting remnants to top edge. The recipient was the third wife of Tchaikovsky’s close friend, the critic and teacher Herman Laroche, whom he had met at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Writing from Paris, Tchaikovsky was preparing to conduct the 23rd Colonne Concert at the Theatre Chatelet on April 5. The works performed included his Suite No. 3, Piano Concerto No. 2, Serenade Melancolique, the Andante Cantabile from his String Quartet No. 1, The Tempest, and the Slavonic March. He then boarded the steamer La Bretagne at Le Havre on April 18, bound for America on a week-long voyage. Earlier in the year, Tchaikovsky had accepted an invitation to conduct what would become a historically important concert—the opening of Carnegie Hall. The building had been completed and in use beginning in April but the official opening night was May 5, and featured a concert conducted by Tchaikovsky and the maestro Walter Damrosch. Tchaikovsky conducted several other performances at Carnegie Hall throughout the week, with works including his Coronation March and Suite No. 3. A sought-after letter from the masterful Russian composer.
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