“Read through Korsakov’s ‘Snow-Maiden,’ and was astonished at his mastery. I envy him and ought to be ashamed of it.”
“March 30th (April 11th).
“After supper I read the score of A Life for the Tsar. What a master! How did Glinka manage to do it? It is incomprehensible how such a colossal work could have been created by an amateur and—judging by his diary—a rather limited and trivial nature.”
“April 16th (28th).
“Played through The Power of the Evil One.[119] An almost repulsive musical monstrosity; yet, at the same time, talent, intuition, and imagination.”
To N. F. von Meck.
“Maidanovo, April 24th (May 6th), 1887.
“My very dear Friend,—I wished to leave Maidanovo a month ago, and yet I am still here. My work (the orchestration of the opera) detains me. This work is not really difficult, but it takes time. I notice that the older I grow, the more trouble my orchestration gives me. I judge myself more severely, am more careful, more critical with regard to light and shade. In such a case the country is a real boon. Saint-Saëns has invited me to be present at both his concerts at Moscow, but I have courteously refused. Poor Saint-Saëns had to play to an empty room. I knew it would be so, and that the poor Frenchman would take it deeply to heart, so I did not wish to be a witness of his disappointment. But also I did not want to interrupt my work.”
Tchaikovsky stayed at Maidanovo to complete the instrumentation of the whole score of The Enchantress, and left on May 9th to visit his sick friend, Kondratiev, before starting on his journey to the Caucasus.