[126] For Press notices see [Appendix C], p. [764].
[127] Chairman of the Committee of the Philharmonic Society. In the Diary of My Tour Tchaikovsky says: “This venerable old man of over eighty paid me great attention.... In spite of his age and his infirmity, he attended two rehearsals, the concert, and the party at Dr. Bernuth’s. Herr Lallemant candidly confessed that many of my works which had been performed in Hamburg were not at all to his mind; that he could not endure my noisy instrumentation and disliked my use of the instruments of percussion. For all that he thought I had in me the making of a really good German composer. Almost with tears in his eyes he besought me to leave Russia and settle permanently in Germany, where classical conventions and traditions of high culture could not fail to correct my faults, which were easily explicable by the fact of my having been born and educated in a country so unenlightened and so far behind Germany.... I strove my best to overcome his prejudice against our national sentiments, of which, moreover, he was quite ignorant, or only knew them through the speeches of the Russophobist section. We parted good friends.”
[128] For Press notices see [Appendix C], p. [767].
[129] The Artists’ Club.
[130] In a later letter to Jurgenson he says: “One has to choose between never travelling, or coming home with empty pockets. I had hardly decided to throw up everything and fly home, when paid engagements were offered me on all sides; at Angers, with a fee of £40; the same at Geneva, in London (at the Crystal Palace) for a sum not stated; but I gave them all up. You are mistaken in your calculations as to the result of my journey. For London I received £25 instead of £20 (thanks to my great success, the Directors of the Philharmonic were moved to add an extra £5), and you omitted the £25 from Hamburg. My journey was certainly not a financial success; but I did not undertake it for the sake of the money.”
[131] The Grand Duke Constantine had sent Tchaikovsky a volume of his verses.
[132] Julius Zet had been secretary to Sophie Menter, and so became acquainted with Tchaikovsky. Their friendship lasted until the latter’s death, but their business relations were of brief duration. Zet was not sufficiently calculating. Rather an enthusiast than a man of business, he was unpractical and inaccurate.
[133] Unfortunately it will always remain unknown in what way this sympathy was shown to Tchaikovsky.
[134] A favourite game of cards in Russia.
[135] A well-known Russian poet.