wednesday books
18 December 2024 20:12![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
landofnowhereRomeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare. Read-aloud. The language in this play is, of course, fantastic, and I love the first three acts, but I seem to lose interest around act 4, either because of my attention span, or because Friar Laurence's plan is just such a dumb idea, why can't Juliet run off to joint Romeo in Mantua without faking death! (Yes, I know part of the point is that Juliet is just a 13-year-old girl, she doesn't have the resourcefulness of most of Shakespeare's heroines, but really Friar Laurence you should know better!)
Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson. Lots of Shallan, yay Shallan! Just about at the climax in my reading now.
"To My Best Friend": Correspondence between Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von Meck, 1876-1878. Reading Princess Napraxine led to a chain of thought that reminded me of Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky's wealthy patroness, who paid his living expenses so he could compose without distraction, on the condition that they should never meet in person. I'd heard about her as a kid, but had never stopped to think -- what was the story like from her point of view? what was she like as a woman, and what was her life like? The blog post I linked answered some of those questions, her Wikipedia article, which is long but full of [citation needed]s, answered others, but both left me wanting to know more about this unusual woman.
So I read this, the only English translation of both sides of the Tchaikovsky/von Meck correspondence, covering the first two years 1876-1878 of their intense epistolary friendship, and it was delightful! I was disappointed, wanting more, when it just stopped abruptly at the end of 1878, though there is something to be said for stopping before the friendship starts to go downhill. Von Meck is just so very much a fan of Tchaikovsky -- she expresses how much she loves his music, and how she feels from it that he is the only person who understands her, and is happy to do whatever she can to help Tchaikovsky when he's extricating himself from his disastrous attempt at marriage and dealing with his own mental health problems. And Tchaikovsky recognizes her as a kindred spirit -- though of course it helps that she's offering so much while asking so little, but he appreciates the friendship she can give and writes back to her sharing what he can of himself and his thoughts on music and life. He values her opinions as a fan and amateur rather than a professional musician or a critic, even when he respectfully disagrees on matters of taste.
Here's an intersting bit where Von Meck talks about herself:
(Content note: there is occasional nasty anti-Semitism on Tchaikovsky's part.)
Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson. Lots of Shallan, yay Shallan! Just about at the climax in my reading now.
"To My Best Friend": Correspondence between Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von Meck, 1876-1878. Reading Princess Napraxine led to a chain of thought that reminded me of Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky's wealthy patroness, who paid his living expenses so he could compose without distraction, on the condition that they should never meet in person. I'd heard about her as a kid, but had never stopped to think -- what was the story like from her point of view? what was she like as a woman, and what was her life like? The blog post I linked answered some of those questions, her Wikipedia article, which is long but full of [citation needed]s, answered others, but both left me wanting to know more about this unusual woman.
So I read this, the only English translation of both sides of the Tchaikovsky/von Meck correspondence, covering the first two years 1876-1878 of their intense epistolary friendship, and it was delightful! I was disappointed, wanting more, when it just stopped abruptly at the end of 1878, though there is something to be said for stopping before the friendship starts to go downhill. Von Meck is just so very much a fan of Tchaikovsky -- she expresses how much she loves his music, and how she feels from it that he is the only person who understands her, and is happy to do whatever she can to help Tchaikovsky when he's extricating himself from his disastrous attempt at marriage and dealing with his own mental health problems. And Tchaikovsky recognizes her as a kindred spirit -- though of course it helps that she's offering so much while asking so little, but he appreciates the friendship she can give and writes back to her sharing what he can of himself and his thoughts on music and life. He values her opinions as a fan and amateur rather than a professional musician or a critic, even when he respectfully disagrees on matters of taste.
Here's an intersting bit where Von Meck talks about herself:
Stories generally made a strong impression on me and had a great influence on my system and consequently on my whole life; they developed my imagination and heart to a passion and rebelliousness with which I have never been able to cope. That is why I forbid my children to read stories, I wish them to have as much equanimity, as little susceptibility and passion as possible. But I would never exchange my own rebelliousness for the most blissful serenity, for the simple reason that, if one lives with one’s whole being, one does not wish to relinquish any part of oneself: a living person does not want to be a dead one. I don’t at all like Dante’s Indifferent Ones, but, as I don’t bring up my children for my own enjoyment, I think it is more tranquil for them to be a little more placid in all things than I am.
(Content note: there is occasional nasty anti-Semitism on Tchaikovsky's part.)
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Date: 19 Dec 2024 10:38 (UTC)Fascinating!
I'm sad she tried to keep her kids away from stories. I bet it didn't work.
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Date: 19 Dec 2024 13:35 (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Dec 2024 11:22 (UTC)The relationship of patronage is such a complex one. Your review makes me think that their relationship eventually sours. What happens?
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Date: 19 Dec 2024 13:24 (UTC)It's complicated, but in the late 1880s the letters became less frequent because Tchaikovsky's career had taken off and von Meck's health was declining. At the same time, various stuff was going on in the von Meck family, including the eldest son Vladimir wasting the family fortune, and she was under pressure from her family to cut off the relationship with Tchaikovsky, which was causing gossip.
In 1890 Nadezdha von Meck wrote a letter to Tchaikovsky cutting things off completely, citing her financial ruin as an excuse. Tchaikovsky tore up the letter and wrote back that he didn't need the money anymore, but his reply didn't reach von Meck. Some messages were eventually exchanged, and there might have been a reconciliation if Tchaikovsky hadn't died in 1893 (officially of cholera -- his death caused much speculation, but there's very little evidence), and von Meck died of tuberculosis a few months after.
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Date: 19 Dec 2024 22:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Dec 2024 15:59 (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Dec 2024 16:47 (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Dec 2024 17:03 (UTC)