Museums anniversary folder

There are quite a few places , both in Russia and abroad , where P.T. Tschaikowsky stayed or lived , and the memory of the great composer is carefully preserved there. Nevertheless, no one of these places possesses such attractiveness for visitors as the ancient town of Klin and its environs where Tschaikowsky spent eight last years of his life. Here some eighty kilometers north west of Moscow, at first in the nearby Frolovskoye and Maidanovo estates and then in Klin itself Tschaikowsky wrote operas "Charodeika", "Cherevichki", and "Iolante", made instrumentation of "The Queen of Spades" opera, created balletts "The Sleeping Beauty" and "The Nutcracker", symphonies - "Manfred" Nr.5 and Nr.6 many romances, chamber, instrumental and piano compositions.

The house in Klin where Tschaikowsky settled in May 1892 and wherefrom seventeen months later he left for St.Petersburg for his last concert trip has been preserved , and for a century already it is known the world over as P.I. Tschaikowsky House-Museum in Klin.

"I've become awfully attached to Klin and can't imagine myself in another Place", - the composer wrote. To settle in the village by purchasing or renting an estate near Moscow was an old dream of Tschaikowsky. Frequent concert tours abroad where he felt torments of nostalgia, a lot of impressions and new acquaintances combined with the work at musical compositions - all this called Tschaikowsky to be close to nature, gave rise to dreams about quietness and solitude. And it became a small provincial town of Klin where such conditions were available.

A spacious two-storey house which Tschaikowsky rented from V. Sakharov, J.P. of Klin was situated rather far from the town centre, deep in a small old park near the Moscow-St.Petersburg road. Surrounding nature with endless bewitching distances, meandering Sestra-river, fields changed by hills and coppices, and the consciousness that "no one will come and interfere with work, reading or walk", facilitated creative activity. It was in his Klin house that among his last compositions Tschaikowsky created concert Nr.3 for piano and orchestra, symphony Nr.6 which the composer himself thought "the best and most sincere" out of all this compositions was also written here.

In his Klin house Tschaikowsky had two specious apartments at his disposal: the reception-room and the bedroom. "I'am well at home, and nowhere, else did I have stich comfortable conditions", - he wrote about this period of his life.

Despite the fact that more than a hundred years have passed since the composers death, in no way does the house look lifeless - it is still alive thanks to music which never stopped sounding here. According to one of the Museum's tradition's, twice a year - on May 7, Tschaikowsk's birthday, and on November 6, the memory day - fairy melodies of the old Becker's grand piano fill the house. Taking part in the musical meetings in the House-Museum is an honour for the best musicians.

The Museum's collection initiated by M.I. Tschaikowsky, the composer's brother, has become one of the largest of this kind and made it possible to carry out vast scientific work on studying Tschaikowsky's life and popularising his creative work, publish his musical and literary heredity, arrange conferences and exhibitions, both in this country and abroad.

P.I. Tschaikowsky House-Museum in Klin is a real Mecca of all Music lovers. During the Museum's century-old history it was visited by millions of people from all spots of the world. Tschaikowsky's music, his life, the greate master's house with his library, manuscripts, personal effects - all this continues to exite people, remain attractive and assential for them.

Galina Belonovich