Мекки

Софья Карловна фон Мекк (Соня, Сонечка)

Родилась в 1867 году между братьями Александром и Максимилианом, в большом московском доме на Мясницкой, 44 (дом трех композиторов). Родители - Карл Федорович фон Мекк (остзейский немец) и мать Надежда Филаретовна (из Смоленской губернии).

Общественный деятель, основательница Высших женских курсов в Москве. Замужем первым браком (с 1884 г.) за Алексеем Александровичем Римским-Корсаковым (1864—1920, Торжок), Зубцовским уездным предводителем дворянства. Вторым браком (с 1901 г.) — за князем Дмитрием Михайловичем Голицыным (?—1912, Москва), сотником Кубанского казачьего войска, офицером Конвоя.

Софья Карловна фон Мекк Соня Сонечка 1881 В детстве была энергичной, веселой девочкой, но также своевольной и вспыльчивой, как отмечалось в переписке Надежды Филаретовны с Петром Ильичом. С ранней юности любила читать философскую, спиритическую, мистическую литературу - от " Дракулы" Стокера, опубликованного в 1897 году, произведений французского писателя-мистика Э. Шюре, например “Les grands Inities” о Христе, Будде и других, до философии Владимира Соловьева, а потом и Дмитрия Мережковского. Также мемуары упоминают об увлечении йогой.

Учителем музыки у нее был Клод Ашильд Дебюсси, выпускник Парижской консерватории, который с июля 1880 три года подряд приглашался Надеждой Филаретовной учителем своим детям. Семья фон Мекк в те годы постоянно путешествовала по Европе, учителя и прислуга следовали за ней, что пошло на пользу и Клоду Дебюсси, получившему возможность бывать в музыкальных столицах мира. Есть расхожая легенда о влюбленности Сони в Дебюсси, однако воспоминания потомков не очень это поддерживают. Да и сама Соня, будучи взрослой не вспоминала о сколь нибудь значимых отношениях с тогда еще совсем юным французом - судя по вышеупомянутым интересам, она в те годы была более развитой, чем ровестники. Соня была весьма талантлива в музыке, особенно в игре на фортепьяно - в 15 лет играла "Аппассианату" Бетховена, могла свободно исполнять в 4 руки симфонии и увертюры Чайковского, а также "Шехеразаду“, увертюры Сен-Санса, рапсодии Листа и другие трудные для исполнения произведения. Но одна она играла редко и больше любила петь. Соня брала уроки пения у известной петербургской певицы А. В. Панаевой-Карцовой, родственницы Чайковского. По воспоминаниям они пели дуэт „Далеко, далеко“ из „Джоконды“ Понкиелли. Помню дуэты „Рассвет“ Чайковского, „Распятие“ Фора, „Скоро, увы“ Мендельсона и др. Из ее сольного репертуара запомнилась „Свадьба“ Даргомыжского, ария Любаши („Садко“), романсы Чайковского, и из них „Отчего“. Про Дебюсси Соня Мекк категорически утверждала, что когда Дебюсси появился у них в последний раз, летом 1882 года, то все обратили внимание, и, очевидно, в первую очередь сама Мекк, на то, что он как музыкант стал более зрелым, более интересным и оригинальным. Об этом говорили в семье, и уже не в шутку стали предрекать ему большое будущее.

NADEZDA VON MECK ita

NADEZDA VON MECK

DICEMBRE 1976 -INIZIO 1977

Si avvicina il 1877, l'anno del destino e della crisi, l'anno in cui accade un fatto destinato a dare piega del tutto nuova alla vita di Ciajkovskij. Uno degli allievi prediletti, il violinista Kotek,

KOTEK (a sinistra) e CIAJKOVSKIJ

ha ottenuto una specie di impiego fisso presso la signora Nadezda Filaretovna von Meck, ricchissima dama della società moscovita, che ha un amore appassionato per la musica.

Kotek le parla di Ciajkovskij e della sua penosa situazione. La dama manifesta il desiderio di conoscerne le composizioni e ben presto si accende di così forte entusiasmo per quella musica da decidere senz'altro di aiutare il compositore. Per mezzo di Kotek, chiede a Ciajkovskij, offrendo un elevato compenso, di trascrivere per violino e pianoforte alcune sue composizioni. Ecco la prima lettera:

Mosca, 18 dicembre 1876

Egregio Petr Iljic!
Mi permetta di esprimerle la mia sincera gratitudine per aver dato così sollecito seguito alla mia richiesta. Ritengo inopportuno dirle quale senso d'incanto abbiano destato in me le sue composizioni, perché ella è certamente avvezzo a ben altri omaggi e l'ammirazione di una creatura insignificante quale son io nei campo musicale, non potrà che sembrarle ridicola. Tuttavia, questa passione per la musica rappresenta per me un bene tanto prezioso che non permetto a nessuno di riderne tutto quanto le voglio dire, pregandola di credermi. In compagnia della sua musica, vivere diventa più facile e più piacevole.

Ciajkovskij, allora, risponde:

Mosca, 19 dicembre 1876

Egregia Nadezda Filaretovna!
La ringrazio di cuore per le amabili e lusinghiere parole che mi ha scritto. A un musicista come me, che ha incontrato tanti insuccessi e tante delusioni, è di grande conforto sapere che esiste un piccolo numero di persone come lei, così fervidamente e sinceramente appassionate per la sua arte.

Due mesi più tardi, facendo seguire una nuova ordinazione, la signora von Meck scrive fra l'altro:

Le racconterei molto, moltissimo a proposito della mia fanatica ammirazione per lei, se non temessi di abusare del suo poco tempo libero. Le voglio dire soltanto che una tale passione, per quanto possa apparire insensata, mi è cara come il più sublime di tutti i sentimenti di cui sia capace la natura umana. Mi consideri pure una visionaria, una pazza forse, ma non rida di me.

Immediatamente il musicista risponde:

Mi dispiace che lei non mi abbia detto tutto quanto aveva nel cuore. Le assicuro che sono profondamente toccato, dai suoi sentimenti poiché anch'io provo per lei la più calda simpatia. Non sono soltanto parole: la conosco meglio di quanto forse ella non creda. Se un bel giorno si decidesse a scrivermi tutto ciò che ha da dirmi, le sarei molto grato...

Mosca, 7 marzo 1877

Egregio Petr Iljic!
La sua cara risposta alla mia lettera mi ha procurato una gioia quale non provavo da tempo... Eccomi ora a lei con una fervida preghiera che potrà forse sembrarle strana. Ma un individuo che come me conduce vita da eremita, viene naturalmente a trovarsi in uno stato d'animo per cui convenzioni sociali, regole di buona creanza e cose del genere sembrano concetti vuoti di senso. Non so in realtà come la pensi lei, ma alcune osservazioni mi fanno ritenere che, meno di chiunque altro, possa esser lei a condannarmi per questo. Se però dovessi ingannarmi, la prego vivamente di dirmelo con franchezza e di respingere la mia istanza. Ecco che cosa vorrei: la sua fotografia. Posseggo già due suoi ritratti, ma vorrei riceverne uno proprio da lei. Mi piacerebbe ricercare sul suo volto le tracce delle ispirazioni e dei sentimenti sotto il cui influsso ella compone quelle opere capaci di rapirci in un mondo di sensazioni e di aneliti collocati al di là di quanto la natura può offrire. Quale godimento e quanta nostalgia suscita la sua musica!...
La prima delle sue opere orchestrali che ebbi occasione di ascoltare fu La tempesta. È impossibile descrivere le sensazioni evocate in me da questa musica. Per giornate intere mi sentii come in preda alla febbre senza che riuscissi a liberarmi da un tale stato di eccitazione.
Considero il musicista una creatura superiore e sebbene a tal riguardo abbia sofferto non poche delusioni, questa convinzione è ben radicata nel mio animo profondamente.
Come mi fui riavuta dalla prima violenta impressione suscitata in me dalla sua opera, provai l'impellente desiderio di sapere che razza di uomo fosse colui che aveva composto una tale musica. Cominciai a fare indagini sul suo conto, colsi ogni occasione per apprendere qualcosa di lei, ascoltai ogni osservazione, ogni giudizio che la riguardasse e le devo confessare che spesso era proprio quello che gli altri trovavano da biasimare che mandava me in visibilio. Anche recentemente mi è capitato di udire, per caso, riferire una sua opinione che mi ha entusiasmato tanto da rendermela caro ed amico ad un tempo. Come sono felice che in lei il musicista e l'uomo si integrino così armoniosamente! Sapesse cosa provo ascoltando la sua musica e come le sono grata per tali sensazioni!
Ci fu un tempo in cui avrei tanto voluto conoscerla di persona. Ma ora che subisco così intensamente il suo fascino, temo a incontro. Se un giorno dovessimo per avventura conoscerci, non potrei comportarmi con lei come un estraneo, non potrei stringerle la mano senza profferir parola. Preferisco quindi pensare a lei da lontano...
Ho ancora una preghiera da rivolgerle: nella sua opera Opricniki c'è un passaggio che mi rende addirittura pazza ogni volta che l'ascolto. Per tale musica che esprime la sublimità della morte, mi sentirei capace di dare la vita. Se ne ha voglia, faccia con tali motivi, una marcia funebre per me, e precisamente per pianoforte a quattro mani. Se la mia richiesta dovesse però riuscirle importuna, sia come non detto. Mi dispiacerebbe certo, ma non ne sarei offesa.
Vorrei inoltre pregarle di permettermi di omettere nelle mie lettere simili formalità come: «egregio». Non sono di mio gusto. E prego lei di fare altrettanto nelle sue. Non rifiuterà, nevvero?

Petr si sottomette a tutte queste condizioni:

Già la circostanza che soffriamo entrambi dello stesso male ci avvicina l'uno all'altra. Questo male si chiama misantropia... Ci fu un tempo in cui questa malattia mi faceva soffrire a tal punto da farmi perdere la ragione... Fu il lavoro a salvarmi, il lavoro che è per me necessità e godimento ad un tempo.

Quanto alla Marcia funebre che ha ordinato, Nadezda Filaretovna è fuori di sé dalla gioia:

La sua Marcia è talmente splendida che mi ha fatto sprofondare in una specie di follia, in uno stato in cui si dimentica tutto quanto la vita ha di amaro e di deprimente. Non è possibile descrivere quali sensazioni caotiche suscitino nel mio cuore e nella mia mente le note di quel lavoro. I miei nervi tremano, vorrei piangere, vorrei morire, anelo a un'altra vita; non a quella cui credono gli uomini, ma a un'altra, superiore ed inafferrabile. Il sangue pulsa nelle tempie, il cuore batte, davanti agli occhi cala un velo nero e soltanto l'orecchio ascolta rapito le magiche note di quella musica...
Oh Dio! Com'è grande l'uomo che può donare a un altro una simile beatitudine... Com'è bella la sua Francesca da Rimini!
Esiste un altro, capace di rendere meglio l'orrore dell'inferno e l'incanto dell'amore?

Ma chi è, dunque, questa signora von Meck, chiamata a rappresentare una parte così determinante nella vita del nostro musicista?
Nadezda von Meck, figlia di un possidente russo, aveva nove anni più di Ciajkovskij. A diciotto era andata sposa a Karl Georg von Meck, nobiluomo baltico, i cui antenati erano stati un tempo i signori del feudo di Sunzel, nelle vicinanze di Riga. Il giovane Karl Georg non aveva però ereditato alcun bene ed al momento del suo matrimonio occupava un modesto impiego come ingegnere. La giovane coppia dovette sostenere una dura lotta contro le difficoltà della vita.

Non sono sempre stata ricca - scrive Nadezda Filaretovna in una lettera a Petr. - Per gran parte della mia esistenza mi son trovata povera, poverissima. Mio marito era ingegnere delle comunicazioni, alle dipendenze dello Stato, guadagnava millecinquecento rubli all'anno, e queste entrate dovevano bastare per mantenere una famiglia con cinque figli. Situazione assai poco brillante, come vede. Ero allo stesso tempo la balia, la governante, la maestra, la sarta dei miei bambini e la cameriera e la segretaria di mio marito. Il lavoro era molto, ma lo facevo volentieri.
Ben altro mi affliggeva. Sa lei, Petr Iljic, che cosa significa avere un impiego? Lo sa che si deve dimenticare di essere individui dotati di ragione, di volontà propria, di dignità? Che bisogna essere automi, burattini? Non potevo sopportare che mio marito si trovasse in una situazione simile e perciò non cessavo di insistere e di pregarlo perché lasciasse quel posto. All'obiezione che non avremmo avuto più niente da mangiare, replicavo che avremmo lavorato e che di fame non saremmo morti. Quando finalmente cedette alle mie preghiere, venimmo ben presto a trovarci in grandi difficoltà, tanto che per il nostro sostentamento non potevamo spender più di venti copechi al giorno. Eppure non rimpiansi mai quella nostra decisione.

È l'epoca in cui in Russia si costruiscono strade e ferrovie in quantità: agli imprenditori accorti si offrono possibilità enormi. Progetti e stanziamenti son fatti senza economia. Trattandosi di collegare con una ferrovia le due capitali, Mosca e Pietroburgo, si chiede allo zar Nicola I di esprimere i suoi desideri. Il sovrano si fa dare allora una carta e una riga e con la matita congiunge le due città con una linea retta. La strada ferrata viene infatti costruita secondo quella direttiva, lunga quasi settecento chilomentri, senza curve, senza riguardo per gli ostacoli naturali, tale quale corre ancor oggi fra le due città maggiori della Russia. Karl von Meck è un abile ingegnere. Pungolato dalla volontà prepotente della moglie, compie imprese straordinarie e lega il suo nome a parecchie ferrovie di grande importanza. Non è però tagliato per gli affari e lascia quindi che la moglie si occupi della parte commerciale delle sue imprese. Quando muore nel 1876, dopo ventott'anni di matrimonio, lascia in eredità alla consorte undici figli e un patrimonio di molti milioni. La vedova si trova ad affrontare un compito gigantesco che assolve con molta energia e intelligenza. L'ultimogenito viene al mondo soltanto nel 1877. Si noti che Ciajkovskij appare all'orizzonte proprio nel momento in cui muore il marito.
Nadezda von Meck si ritira allora dalla vita di società quasi in modo assoluto e si dedica all'educazione dei figlioli, sette dei quali vivono ancora sotto il suo tetto, mentre gli altri sono già in grande parte sposati. Il figlio prediletto Vladimir, il maggiore, ha la natura tipica dell'autentico signore. Affascina la gente con la sua gentilezza, spende il denaro a piene mani e, insieme con la madre, sovraintende alle ferrovie che il padre ha costruito. Non sembra però che sia stato molto laborioso ed abile negli affari. Siamo dunque di fronte, una volta di più, a un caso assai frequente: quello di una seconda generazione che vale meno della prima. I figlioli sono cresciuti nella ricchezza; non hanno dovuto lottare per il pane quotidiano e non conoscono il valore del lavoro.
Nadezda von Meck, che è ormai la più ricca signora di tutta Mosca, abita in un severo palazzo di ben cinquantadue stanze. La casa è arredata col gusto sovraccarico del tempo: ovunque una profusione di velluti e di mazzi di fiori sotto campane di vetro. Un esercito di domestici è a disposizione, precettori e istitutrici si occupano dell'educazione dei figlioli. Un impiego stabile e molto apprezzato vi trovano i musicisti, che suonano insieme duetti e trio con la padrona di casa (pianista eccellente) e che dànno lezioni di musica ai ragazzi.
La signora Nadezda possiede inoltre alcune splendide tenute di campagna; fra tutte, la più bella è quella di Brailov, in Ucraina.
La salute di lei non è eccellente: il freddo, soprattutto, le riesce insopportabile e la spinge continuamente verso il sud. Quasi senza posa, intraprende lunghi viaggi all'estero dove un intero seguito di maestri, governanti, cuochi, cameriere e servitori accompagna lei e i figli. Abituata com'è a dominare, nei suoi viaggi si serve fino al confine di una propria vettura-salone. All'estero prende in affitto piani interi negli alberghi o lussuose ville ammobiliate. Ovunque le vengon resi onori come ad una principessa.
Con gli anni la sua misantropia aumenta. Nicolai Rubinstein, il signore della vita musicale moscovita, è una delle rare persone che di quando in, quando può andare a farle visita. Non di rado egli ha bisogno dl sovvenzioni per il suo Conservatorio ed ella allarga generosamente i cordoni della borsa. Non si lascia vedere neppure dalla maggior parte dei suoi parenti. Ai concerti e a teatro se ne sta nascosta in fondo ad un palco e non vuoi parlare con nessuno.
I membri della famiglia soffrono per il suo dispotismo: tutti devono sottomettersi alla sua volontà. Non è possibile opporre resistenza: quando essa comanda, agli altri non resta che obbedire. Ha il carattere dispotico ed ostinato che ricorda quello della «zia» nel romanzo di Dostojevski Il giocatore.
Conosciamo di lei l'alta figura slanciata, gli espressivi occhi scuri, la folta chioma castana. Come molte donne russe, è capricciosa e in certo qual modo irresponsabile. Tratti essenziali della sua natura sono tuttavia la passionalità irruenta e la bramosia di dominio. Si strugge dal desiderio di trovare persone su cui riversare il suo affetto. Adora i figli e non nasconde la sua netta preferenza per alcuni fra essi.
Quand'ecco, al suo orizzonte appare Ciajkovskij che ha allora trentasette anni. Questo singolare vincolo di amicizia durerà tredici anni, e mai uno udrà la voce dell'altra. La signora Nadezda ha posto infatti questa condizione: mai egli dovrà fare il tentativo di conoscerla personalmente. Di buon grado il musicista acconsente al suo desiderio e i due non si scambieranno mai una sola parola.
Non ci fu che qualche rarissimo incontro, fortuito e fugace, per lo più per la strada, incontri da cui tutti e due restarono profondamente sconvolti, cercando di allontanarsi quanto più presto possibile.

original: http://www.rodoni.ch/OPERNHAUS/onegin/bio/biosansoni0111.html

Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck

Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (Russian: Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк; 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1831 – 13 January 1894) was a Russian business woman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, supporting him financially for thirteen years, so that he could devote himself full-time to composition, while stipulating that they were never to meet. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Symphony No. 4 in F minor to her. She also gave financial support to several other musicians, including Nikolai Rubinstein and Claude Debussy.

Childhood

Nadezhda von Meck began life as Nadezhda Filaretovna Fralovskaya, in a family which

Надежда Филаретовна фон МеккNadezhda Filaretovna von Meck 1877

owned great landed estates. Her father, Filaret Frolovsky, embraced his love of music from an early age, while from her mother, Anastasia Dimitryevna Potemkina, she learned energy, determination, and business acumen.

In her youth a serious student of music, Nadezhda Filaretovna became a capable pianist with a good knowledge of the classical repertoire. She also mastered some foreign languages, learned to appreciate the visual arts, and read widely in literature and history, and philosophy, especially the work of Arthur Schopenhauer and the Russian idealist Vladimir Solovyov.

Marriage

At sixteen, Nadezhda Filaretovna was married to Karl Otto Georg von Meck, a 28-year-old engineer and the son of Major Otto Adam von Meck by his marriage to Wilhelmine Hafferberg – Baltic Germans from Riga. Together they had thirteen children, of whom eleven survived to adulthood.

As a government official, Karl von Meck's life was uneventful, and his work was poorly paid. With several children quickly added to his responsibilities, however, he was reluctant to make a break with a steady post.

Nadezhda von Meck saw things very differently. To her, filling the roles of mother, nurse, governess, dressmaker, housekeeper, and valet was far easier to bear than the humiliation of seeing her husband as a cog in the machine of a government organization. Neither did fulfilling all those domestic duties lower her resolve or weaken her energy in urging him to make a break. Russia, desperately short of railways, was expanding its communications network rapidly, and Nadezhda was far-sighted enough to see that a future for her husband lay there. She continually exerted pressure on him to find a partner with capital and to join the boom in Russian railway construction.

Meck finally gave in to his wife's urgings and resigned from the civil service, at which point they had an income of only twenty kopecks a day on which to live. Nadezhda was right, though, to trust her husband's talent as an engineer. In 1860, there were only 100 miles of railroad track laid in Russia. Twenty years later, there were over 15,000 miles of lines. Much of this explosion was due to Karl von Meck, and his investments made him a multi-millionaire. The railway lines for which he was responsible included that from Kursk to Kiev and the highly profitable Moscow to Ryazan line, with its effective monopoly of grain transportation from the Black Earth Region of Central Russia.

In 1873, Karl von Meck died suddenly, leaving a will which gave Nadezhda control of his vast financial holdings. This included two railway networks, large landed estates, and several million rubles in investments. With seven of their eleven children still at home, Nadezhda von Meck concentrated on her business affairs and on the education of the children still dependent on her. She sold one of Meck's railway companies and ran the other one with the help of her brother and her eldest son, Vladimir.

Obsessive despot

Nikolai Rubinstein.

After the death of her husband, Nadezhda von Meck took no part in social life, withdrawing into almost complete seclusion. She even refused to meet the relatives of those whom her children were going to marry, and she never attended any of their weddings.

By all accounts, Nadezhda von Meck was imperious by nature, presiding over her household despotically. She expected to have her own way, so surrounded herself only with people who would give it to her, and she ruled her children's lives in every detail. As they grew into adulthood, she arranged their marriages, bought houses for them, and even chose furniture for their houses. When she wanted to see her married children, she summoned rather than invited them. Understandably, her children were not always grateful for the extreme degree of their mother's care (or meddling, depending on the viewpoint of the person concerned).

Nadezhda von Meck was always compulsively busy. She took her elder servants on periodic inspection tours of her house, from cellar to roof, and cellar to roof never remained quite the same. String was saved for her to untangle and wind. Books were bought so that she might cut the pages. She purchased quantities of wool, which she then wound into balls and sent to her daughter, Countess Bennigsen. While engaging in this business, she would summon her daughter Julia to come and read to her. Julia did not mind. Of all the Meck children, she was the one most eager to please her mother, who demanded everything from her—and got it.

Meck was probably well aware that she was hard to tolerate. She wrote to Tchaikovsky, "I am very unsympathetic in my personal relations because I do not possess any femininity whatever; second, I do not know how to be tender, and this characteristic has passed on to my entire family. All of us are afraid to be affected or sentimental, and therefore the general nature of our family relationships is comradely, or masculine, so to speak."^[1]

Personal views

Nadezhda von Meck was a professed atheist, which was not unusual in aristocratic Russia in the 1870s. Her fierce need for independence, on the other hand, was very unusual for a woman of the time. Her division between that and concern for her family resulted in contradictions between her beliefs and actions. Her views on affairs of the heart were strictly moral, but she did not believe in marriage as a social institution and regularly professed her hatred of it to Tchaikovsky. "You may think, my dear Pyotr Ilyich, that I am a great admirer of marriage," she wrote on March 31, 1878, "but in order that you not be mistaken in anything referring to myself, I shall tell you that I am, on the contrary, an irreconcilable enemy of marriages, yet when I discuss another person's situation, I consider it necessary to do so from his point of view."^[2] On another occasion, she stated more genially but no less forcefully, "The distribution of rights and obligations as determined by social laws I find speculative and immoral." ^[2]

Even with her views on matrimony, Nadezhda von Meck was resigned to it as a means of social stability and procreation, and her own marital experience may have forced her to recognize its benefits. This realization may have also been why she strove to marry off her children as soon as possible—to ensure their stability in the event of her demise. Even in marriage, though, she considered sexual relations between men and women to be mutual exploitation. Russian radical thinkers of the period, such as Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Dmitry Pisarev, espoused views not far removed from Nadezhda von Meck's. Both men considered marriage to be a pillar of bourgeois society and called for its abolition. Meck especially respected Pisarev's work, as well as 19th-century positivism in general.

With these views in mind, it is easy to see how Tchaikovsky's seeming misogyny and professed aversion to marriage could attract someone like Nadezhda von Meck. Her second daughter, Alexandra, may have told her of his sexual preferences at the outset of her relationship with him. However, Meck may have already known of it, since she was extremely diligent in discovering all she could about her composer. She could interpret passionate love between two men as a sentimental excess, and therefore understandable. If anything, according to a Meck family tradition, that knowledge might have reassured her that there was no other woman in Tchaikovsky's emotional life.

Support of the performing arts

With her great wealth and her passion for music, Nadezhda von Meck became a major mover in the Russian performing arts. The sole exception to her general reclusiveness was the series of Russian Musical Society concerts given in Moscow, which she attended incognito, sitting alone in the balcony. Through these concerts she made the acquaintance of Nikolai Rubinstein, with whom she maintained a complex relationship. While she respected Rubinstein's talents and energy, that did not stop her from disagreeing strongly with him at times.

While her husband was still alive, Nadezhda von Meck began actively supporting and promoting young musicians, several of whom she continually employed, living in her household and playing her favorite works. She hired Claude Debussy as a music tutor for her daughters, and he wanted to marry one of them. She would not give her permission, preferring her daughters to marry men of her own choosing, which they did, but their marriages all ended in divorce.

In February 1880, Meck came to the assistance of the Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski, who had been taken ill in Odessa while on a concert tour. She moved him into her house and arranged medical treatment for him, but he died a few weeks later in Moscow.^[3]^[4]

Relationship with Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

In 1877, one of the musicians she supported was violinist Iosif Kotek, with whom she played chamber music. Kotek was a former student and friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, recommended to Meck by Nikolai Rubinstein. She had already been impressed with Tchaikovsky's music such as his symphonic poem The Tempest, and she asked Rubinstein at length about him. Perhaps urged by Kotek, Nadezhda von Meck wrote to the composer.

Introducing herself as a fervent admirer, she commissioned some pieces for violin and piano to be played at her house. Tchaikovsky, perhaps already knowing her reputation as a patron of the arts, quickly obliged. One of her first commissions was for a funeral march.^[5] They continued writing even as his marriage followed its brief though tortuous course. As their relationship developed, she subsequently provided him with an allowance of 6,000 rubles a year, large enough that he could leave his professorship at the Moscow Conservatory to focus on creative work full-time. This was a substantial income. A minor government official in those days had to support his family on 300–400 rubles a year.

Tchaikovsky was grateful for Nadezhda von Meck's financial support.

Epistolary friendship

They carried on a significant correspondence, exchanging over 1,200 letters between 1876 and 1890. The details they shared were extraordinary for two people who never met. He was more open to her about much of his life and his creative processes than to any other person. Her feedback became so important to him that, after the critics lambasted his Fifth Symphony, she provided him with the support to persevere with his composing.^[7] Nadezhda von Meck died believing these letters had all been destroyed. However, when Tchaikovsky received her request to do so, he assured her that he had destroyed them, but then filed that letter with all the rest for posterity to find.

Nadezhda Von Meck remained a devoted supporter of Tchaikovsky and all his works, but her bond with him depended on not meeting him. This was not simply because he would not live up to her expectations. She desired to think of Tchaikovsky as her ideal of a composer-cum-philosopher, much like the Übermensch or Superman about whom Friedrich Nietzschewould write. Tchaikovsky understood this, writing to Meck, "You are quite right, Nadezhda Filaretovna, to suppose that I am of a disposition sympathetic to your own unusual spiritual feelings, which I understand completely." ^[8]

The two did meet each other on one occasion, purely by chance. This happened on 14/26 August 1879, while Tchaikovsky was staying at the Meck estate at Simaki. He had gone for his daily walk in the forest somewhat earlier than usual, unaware that she was late for her daily drive through that same area with the rest of her family. As a result, they came face to face for a few moments; he tipped his hat politely, she was nonplussed, but no words were spoken. He wrote to her the same evening to apologise for the inadvertent breach of their arrangement. She responded, saying there was nothing to apologise for, and she even invited him to visit her home to see her new paintings, but at a time when she would be away.^[9]The previous year, while staying at her villa in Florence, Tchaikovsky had seen her and her entourage pass by every morning;^[10] and they also glimpsed each other once at the opera, but only from a distance. Alexander Poznansky says of this last encounter: "It is not clear whether their both being at the theater was wholly accidental or arranged by Mrs. von Meck in order to see him, as seems not unlikely."^[11]

Dedication of Fourth Symphony

Tchaikovsky, as a sign of appreciation, dedicated his Symphony No. 4 to her. This was important because, due to the nature of artistic patronage in Russian society, patron and artist were considered equals. Dedications of works to patrons were expressions of artistic partnership. By dedicating the Fourth Symphony to Nadezhda von Meck, he was affirming her as an equal partner in its creation.^[12]

Symbolic—and strained—union

Anna von Meck, Tchaikovsky's niece, with her husband Nikolai

In 1883, Nadezhda von Meck's son Nikolai married Tchaikovsky's niece Anna Davydova, after five years of matchmaking efforts by Meck and Tchaikovsky. Meck, who was in Cannes at the time, did not attend the wedding, thus staying true to her custom of avoiding all contact with the families of her children's spouses. However, Tchaikovsky did attend, meeting the rest of the Meck clan.

At first both Meck and Tchaikovsky rejoiced in this event, seeing in it a symbolic consummation of their own relationship, but later events would make them question their intentions. Anna, extremely strong-willed herself, dominated her husband. She also opposed her mother-in-law regarding family matters—most tellingly in a feud between her eldest son and business partner, Vladimir, and the rest of the family.

Rather than bringing Nadezhda von Meck and Tchaikovsky closer together, Anna and Nikolay's union may have helped drive a wedge between them. Tchaikovsky virtually disowned his niece in an effort to avert a falling-out, while Meck hid from him her true feelings about what was taking place.

The break

In October 1890, Nadezhda von Meck sent Tchaikovsky a year's allowance in advance, along with a letter ending her patronage. She claimed bankruptcy. Most surprising about the break was its extreme suddenness. Barely a week beforehand, she had sent him a typically intimate, loving and confessional letter. The letter dealt in large part with how her children were squandering their future inheritance. This was a persistent irritation for Meck and not necessarily a warning of her cutting off her patronage of Tchaikovsky. Nevertheless, one logical explanation of giving him a year's allowance at once would be that she feared not having the funds to send later, in their usual arrangement of monthly installments. Others discount this idea. Most tellingly, Meck asked Tchaikovsky, in her final letter, not to forget her. She would not have made such a request had she acted out of resentment at a perceived moral fault. It is perhaps more likely that her family had threatened to reveal Tchaikovsky's sexual preferences publicly. Meck would then have had to end her relationship with him to protect him from scandal.

Two facts contributed to Nadezhda von Meck's decision to make the break:

By 1890, she was gravely ill. She was in the latter stages of tuberculosis and would succumb two months after Tchaikovsky's death. An atrophy of her arm made writing nearly impossible.^[13] Dictating letters to a third party would have been awkward—especially messages as frank, informal and personal as the ones she and Tchaikovsky had exchanged.
She was under intense family pressure to end the relationship. Her children were embarrassed by her closeness with Tchaikovsky. There was society gossip about the composer and "La Meck." Increasingly, at least in the eyes of hostile relatives, the situation seemed scandalous. Worse, to them, he continued to take Meck's money freely even after he had received a generous pension from Tsar Alexander III.^[14] As the children's own financial situations worsened, they grew more resolved to end the arrangement between their mother and Tchaikovsky. By mid- to late 1890, over a two-month period, she had been visited by all but one of her elder children and may even have been given a final ultimatum. The final letter and payment from Meck to Tchaikovsky were delivered by a trusted servant of hers, Ivan Vasilyev, for whom he held warm feelings. She had never sent anything to him this way before and had always sent letters and checks by post. If she could not control her correspondence personally any longer, and if she wanted to conceal this action from everyone else around her, she would have essentially solved two problems with this one action.

Nadezhda von Meck also knew that Tchaikovsky was often in need of cash, despite the large sums she gave him. Tchaikovsky was a poor manager of money and would ask Meck for the next year's allowance several months in advance. Knowing of this habit, she might have anticipated his needing the money. She may have started preparing for the break from the middle of 1889, knowing it would come sooner or later.

Brotherly jealousy

Modest Tchaikovsky

One person who may have welcomed the break was Tchaikovsky's brother Modest. When the two brothers discussed Meck's action, Modest did not try to explain her behavior. Instead, he stated his opinion that what had been to Tchaikovsky the unique and mutual relationship of two friends had been for Meck merely the passing fancy of a wealthy woman.

This judgment on Modest's part might be accepted with a certain degree of doubt. For all his adulation for his brother, Modest's feelings were actually deeply ambivalent. Modest may have been intensely jealous of his brother's creative success and equally insecure about this secret friend being his closest rival for his brother's attention and affections. Just as Tchaikovsky's break with his wife Antonina might have brought joy to Meck, so now the break with Meck may have brought joy to Modest.

Modest became the composer's biographer and maintained that Tchaikovsky considered Meck's cutting off of their relationship to be an act of betrayal. He also said that Tchaikovsky's bitterness remained unassuaged, and that on his deathbed the composer constantly repeated Nadezhda von Meck's name, reproaching her. However, a very different story persisted within the Meck family.

Possible reconciliation

Galina von Meck—the daughter of Nadezhda von Meck's son Nikolay and Tchaikovsky's niece Anna—maintained that the rift was secretly healed. In September 1893, only weeks before Tchaikovsky's death, Anna was about to leave for Nice, where Meck was dying, and Anna was travelling there to nurse her. Tchaikovsky asked her to beg his former friend for forgiveness for his own silence. This apology was reportedly accepted wholeheartedly by Meck and reciprocated.

The Tchaikovsky biographer Dr. David Brown maintains that Galina's account "contains much hearsay and a good deal that is romantically heightened." Regardless of this, he concedes some plausibility in her account, especially since Galina received the story directly from her mother.^[15]

Financial problems

Nadezhda von Meck's claim of bankruptcy was not entirely untrue. Along with his fortune, Karl von Meck had left a sizable amount of debt upon his death, and this debt proved to be far more extensive than his wife had previously known. Rumors of this debt started circulating publicly in the early 1880s. Tchaikovsky had questioned her about it in his letters.

The problem of the debts was compounded by the financial mismanagement of Nadezhda von Meck's business affairs by her son Vladimir. While he was as gifted in public relations as his father had been in engineering, Vladimir proved as extravagant as his mother in spending. He was the favorite among the Meck children, which may have been why his mother tolerated his ways as long as she did. Unfortunately, it was also largely what pitted her and Vladimir against his siblings and sister-in-law, Anna (Tchaikovsky's niece). They claimed, among other things, that he was pocketing company funds for his own use. Regardless of the truth of these charges, the Meck estate was in serious financial peril.

In 1890, Vladimir von Meck suffered a nervous breakdown, and that summer his mother relieved him of his position. His replacement was his mother's personal assistant Władysław Pachulski. Originally employed as a musician, Pachulski became a member of the family by marrying Julia von Meck. He was also far more experienced in financial management than Vladimir had been, and was able to save the Meck estates from bankruptcy.^[16] Meanwhile, Vladimir was found to have an advanced case of tuberculosis, the same disease from which his mother suffered, and he would die from it in 1892.

Death

Nadezhda von Meck died from tuberculosis on January 13, 1894 in Nice, in the south of France, barely two months after Tchaikovsky's demise Nadezhda was buried in the cemetery Alekseevskogo convent in Moscow.

After her mother-in-law's death, Anna von Meck was asked how the late patroness had endured Tchaikovsky's death. She replied, "She did not endure it." ^[17]

Donation by Galina Nikolayevna von Meck

In 1985 Galina von Meck donated to Columbia University a collection including her translation of 681 letters written by Tchaikovsky to his family. The collection covered the period from March 1861 to September 1893.

Notes

Перейти^ Tchaikovsky, P. I., Perepiska s N. F. fon Mekk (1876–1890) [Correspondence with N. F. von Meck], ed. Zhdanov, Vladimir and Zhegin, Nikolai (Moscow and Leningrad, 1934–1936), 3:197. As quoted in Poznansky, 197.
^ Перейти к:^a ^b As quoted in Poznansky, 198.
Перейти^ Classical Archives
Перейти^ David Mason Greene, Greene’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers
Перейти^ This work, never published, is now considered lost.
Перейти^ Tchaikovsky, P.I., Perepiska s N.F. fon Mekk (1876–1890) [Correspondence with N. F. von Meck], ed. Zhdanov, Vladimir and Zhegin, Nikolai (Moscow and Leningrad, 1934–1936), 1:14. As quoted in Poznansky, 200.
Перейти^ While these letters have proved invaluable to Tchaikovsky researchers over the years, many of them suffered from cuts made by previous editors. A collection currently being published by Musik Produktion International is planned to include all surviving letters in full, including many new letters which have been discovered recently.
Перейти^ Letter to Nadezhda von Meck, 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1877. As quoted in Holden, 139.
Перейти^ Poznansky, p. 344
Перейти^ Poznansky, pp. 319–20
Перейти^ Poznansky, p. 316-17
Перейти^ Maes, 140–141.
Перейти^ This problem was not news to Tchaikovsky. The growing atrophy, accompanied by sharp cramping in the hands, had continued to worsen since the summer of 1882. It had already slowed the pace of Meck's correspondence tremendously, as it made every line, then every few words, physically painful to write. She had made him aware of it in past letters.
Перейти^ This state pension, granted in 1888, totaled 3,000 rubles a year. While only half the amount Tchaikovsky received annually from Meck, it was still ten times the annual salary of the average public servant.
Перейти^ Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Final Years (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992), 292–293
Перейти^ There is also some conjecture that, as Nadezhda von Meck's assistant, he had been in a position to enforce the family's wishes by intercepting any letters to or from Tchaikovsky. However, the full extent of his efforts in this regard cannot be determined with certainty until more archival evidence is unearthed.
Перейти^ Vospominanya (1980). As quoted in Holden, 401.

Karl Otto Georg von Meck

Karl von Meck (date unknown)

Karl Otto Georg von Meck (Fedorovich) (Карл Фёдорович фон Мекк), (22 June 1821 – 26 January 1876, Moscow) was an important 19th century Russian businessman of German descent, one of the founders of Russian railways.

Family

Baron Karl von Meck came from an old Baltic-German noble family originally from Silesia. His father was major Otto Adam von Meck a customs officer in Riga. His mother was Wilhelmine Hafferberg - a daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm and Catharine Constanze Nott, who in her second marriage was the wife of Carl Ludwig von Veichtner, a son of composer Franz Adam Veichtner.

In 1844 Karl von Meck graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Communications and joined the Moscow-Warsaw road upgrade project as a service road engineer. In 1860 von Meck left public service and entered business. After the military defeat in Crimea many people became aware of the importance of rail transportation. Von Meck entered the Saratov Railway Association with the aim of constructing a private rail line between Moscow and Saratov with independent finance. The first phase of construction was the line between Moscow and Kolomna. This site was put into operation, after only two years work, as the funds of the company had been exhausted and the entire operation quickly went bankrupt.

Karl von Meck persevered and in 1863 found work with the new Moscow-Ryazan Railway Association. The Chairman of the Board appointed von Meck as the main contractor and the road was built over a year and a half, and made an enormous profit. Karl von Meck participated in several other railway ventures but none with such financial success. However his diligence, tenacity and effort were widely recognised and acknowledged.

After his death his widow, Nadezhda von Meck, provided invaluable assistance to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Karl von Meck's son, Nikolai von Meck, played a significant role in the development of Russian railways and worked on the People's Commissariat of Railroads until he was arrested for wrecking in 1928. He was convicted and executed in 1929.

Галина Николаевна фон Мекк

Галина Николаевна фон Мекк (1891-1985) дочь Николая Карловича фон Мекка и Анны Львовны Давыдовой. Галина Николаевна фон Мекк в 14 лет

Родилась в доме бабушки Надежды Филаретовны на Пречистинском (Гоголевском) бульваре. После трехлетия Гали, переехали в дом 27 по Денежному переулку. В детстве училась танцам у Литавкина, артиста кордебалета Большого театра. Зимами семья жила в Москве, летом в имении Копылово (под Киевом) или Аркашоне (Франция).

Училась в частном пансионе (женской гимназии) Ю.П. Бесс (Мага и Бесс), который был куплен ее родителями и позже подарен Софье Карловне фон Мекк (Римской-Корсаковой, Галицыной).

Осенью 1904 поступила в Московский Александровский институт, окончив его поступила "пепиньеркой" на университетские двухгодичные классы туда же.

Благодаря увлечениям отца, стала одной из первых автолюбительниц в России - первый семейный автомобиль Фаэтон (Даймлер) был заказан в Германии еще в 1898 году.

Познакомилась со своим первым мужем, который был на 11 лет старше, Вильямом Ноэлем Пэррот в поездке в Англию в 1912 году. Сводьбу сыграли 11 января 1913. Галина приняла Английское подданство, но при условии переезда в Россию. 19 апреля 1915 года родилась дочька Анна. Жили в Собакино, Юрьино, Ермише (до 1920). В октябре 1917 муж, как подданный Британской короны был призван в армию и вернулся в Англию.

После революции жила с дочерью вместе с родителями в Большом Афанасьевском, дом 8. Недолго работала в Народном комиссариате внешней торговли, возглавляемом Красиным. Неоднократно вызволяла своего отца из застенок ГПУ. Вместе со своим дальним родственником Сергеем Сухотиным организовывала побег из тюрьмы графа Д.Г., с которым пыталась пересечь границу в августе 1923 году, но была арестована и попала в тюрьму - сначала Коростеньскую, потом Житомирскую, Киескую... Пока Галина была в тюрьмах, вторая жена дедушки Л.В. Давыдова - Екатерина Николаевна Ольховская вывезла в Англию дочь Анну, с которой удалось увидеться лишь через 25 лет.

Тайным обожателем Галины Николаевны на протяжении многих лет был известный архитектор Таманов (Таманян), который много работал с отцом Николаем Карловичем, разрабатывая известный город-сад в Прозоровке, планируя центральное депо МКЖД в Люберцах и т.д. Позже женал на на Камилле Эдвардс, представительнице рода Бенуа, их оба сына — Геворг и Юлий Таманян — также стали архитекторами, продолжателями дела отца.

Подрабатывала костюмером в театре Вахтангова и других. Недолго работала переводчиком. Жить переехали в Сходню к Моисеевым.

Вспоминая 1928 год Галина пишет об отце:

В начале мая я зашла к нему на работу в Наркомат, и он сказал мне: “Дочка, следующей будет моя очередь”.

Пока Николай Карлович был в тюрьме, зимой 1928-1929 года Галина по просьбе директора музея Чайковского передала ему переписку Н.Ф. фон Мекк с П.И. Чайковским. Как утверждается в книге "Как я их помню", всю, кроме первых 30 писем, которые отец взял откопировать к себе на работу, но был арестован, а письма забрали агенты ГПУ при обыске его рабочего места.

А в 1929 году, когда последний раз видела отца в тюрьме перед расстрелом услышала от него:

“Дочка моя, не надо за всё это ненавидеть свою страну”

В мае 1929 года Николай Карлович был расстрелян, а Анна Львовна вылана в Нижний Новгород на 3 года. Глина Николаевна фон Мекк газета Galina von meck Вскоре арестовали Галину и началась ее многолетние мытарства по тюрьмам и лагерям - Бутырка, Мариинск, лагерь "Стройгородок" (Новосибирск), Боровлянка (Бийск), снова Новосибирск, где встретилась с двоюродным братом князем Аникитой Ширинским-Шихматовым (в монашестве отец Николай), который строил Беломорканал и провел в лагерях более 10 лет... Дочь Люцеллы Николаевны - Татьяна переехала жить к Анне Львовне в ссылку. В лагерях Галина познакомилась со своим будущим вторым мужем Орловским. После освобождения из лагерей 26 мая 1934 года ссылка в Томск на полтора года. В 1933 году умерла сестра Люцелла и Анна Львовна получила разрешение на посещение Галины вместе с детьми Люцеллы Василием (1928г.р.) и Татьяной (1918 г.р.) которую позже отправили одну в Москву в школу. В июле 1935 года было разрешено вернуться в Москву. Но на следущее утро после приезда была выслана снова с запретом приближаться ближе 120 км к Москве.

Выехав в городок Нара, Галина пригласила к себе Орловского и вскоре поехали в Киев, где их обвенчал архиепископ Украины Константин, который знал Орловского с детства.

Рыбинск, в 1938 Полтава, арест мужа, приговор 10 лет лагерей. переезд в Малоярославец. Возвращение в Москву, в Большой Афанасьевский к маме и детям Люцеллы. По объявлению войны с Германией, опять Малоярославец все вместе с дочерью Татьяны Еленой (Ладой). Оккупация. Немецкие офицеры-корреспонденты, до войны учителя музыки в школе узнали о фамилии фон Мекк и предложили помощь в эвакуации с фронта. Галина, потеряв маму в зиму 1942 года решила выбираться с детьми Люцеллы в Англию для воссоединения со своей дочерью Анной, которую не видела уже 18 лет.

English:

цитата с сайта http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Galina_von_Meck

Writer and translator, grand-niece of Tchaikovsky (b. 13/25 October 1891 in Moscow; d. 9 April 1985 at Hounslow, nearLondon), born Galina Nikolayevna fon Mekk (Галина Николаевна фон Мекк).

Galina was the third child of Nadezhda von Meck's son Nikolay (1863–1929) and Tchaikovsky's niece Anna (b. Davydova, 1864–1942). On a visit to England in 1912 she met her first husband, William Noel Burrowes Perrott (1880–1942), by whom she had a daughter Anna (1915–1995); however, he failed to settle into Russian life and the marriage was dissolved in 1925. Galina was later arrested for trying to assist a prisoner over the Russian frontier, and spent several years inMoscow's Lubyanka prison and exile in Siberia, where she married for the second time to a fellow prisoner, Dmitry Orlovsky, who later disappeared. She was released in 1935 and made her way to England via Germany.

In England she wrote her autobiography — As I remember them (1973) — concerning her early family life. She also translated much of the correspondence between Tchaikovsky and her grandmother into English.

Contributors	Meck, Galina Nikolayevna von, 1891-1985 (author)
Title	As I remember them
Published	London : Dobson, 1973
Extent	448, (33) p. ; illus.
Standard No.	ISBN 0234774541
Format	Book
Language	English
Notes	Memoirs of Nadezhda von Meck's granddaughter and Tchaikovsky's grand-niece, Galina von Meck

История рода Фон Мекк