Consider Russian rulers’ influence on Enlightenment. Led by Alexandra Fedorovna (1798–1860), wife of Czar Nicholas I (1796–1855), the Imperial household loved music. Alexandra was an active patron of court musicals, where she and Nicholas played the piano, and she encouraged the nobility to get involved. Women’s education was now including literature, music, drawing, dancing and languages, designed to improve noble girls’ marriage prospects.
Only when St Petersburg Conservatoire and Moscow
Conservatoire opened in 1862 and 1866 respectively could musicians
aspire to high status in Russian society. Although much of this credit
belonged to Anton Rubinstein (1829–94), nothing could have
been done without the support of his Imperial patron, Grand Duchess
Elena Pavlovna (1807–73). The greatest beneficiaries of conservatoire
training were of course men. Young women students were dedicated, but they
would have no public careers.
Married at 16, Nadeshda von Meck (1831-1894) helped her railway
engineer husband in building his empire, while having 11 surviving children
and developing her reputation as a good musician. She could not make music a
career, because of Imperial Russia’s rigid societal-gender rules. But Madame was not satisfied just with giving private concerts for family and
friends. She preferred to be directly involved in the music world and she
certainly had the funds and passion to succeed.
When writing his will, engineer Karl von Meck knew his wife
could manage her power well, though he couldn’t have foreseen that she’d
become one of Russia’s best patrons of the arts. Karl’s sudden
death from heart-failure in 1876 left her controlling great wealth. But owing to his early death, 45 year old Madame von
Meck became a lonely recluse with 11 children.
Now examine the relationship between the brilliant Russian composer Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) and Madame von Meck. In 1876 the widow
was already a strong upper-class matron with cultivated tastes. She took the
family to Italy each summer, so the Paris Conservatoire of Music sent
young students there, to instruct and play music with her.
Tchaikovsky
and Von Meck got together because of young violinist Iosif Kotek,
Tchaikovsky’s ex-pupil. Kotek suggested to Madame, then his own patron and
employer, that she reach out to the composer. The friendship started
with a fan letter from the widow, sent Dec 1876. She’d
heard Tchaikovsky’s music at concerts, particularly The Tempest, and loved it. While she was grieving her husband, music sustained her.
After his disastrous marriage in 1877, gay Tchaikovsky had a breakdown and
fled across Europe. So von Meck stepped in properly, paying off his large debts
and providing a monthly cheque. They were equally lonely and depressed. The
widow needed him to provide arrangements of his own works, for violin and piano, for her to perform.
A way of supporting the later C19th career aspirations of men was by providing substantial financial support. In Tchaikovsky’s case, von Meck proved vital in dealing with his personal & professional difficulties. The composer was grateful & thrilled when she began to commission compositions from him, and paid him! Boldly he also began to ask von Meck for more loans. In time she gave him 6,000 Russian rubles a year, a lavish salary. He was able to quit the Moscow Conservatory, where he taught music theory, and devote himself to composing full time.
In mid 1880, teenage Claude Debussy (1862–1918) was among the
students sent to Villa Oppenheim in Florence. He too came under
Madame von Meck’s patronage. She engaged Debussy to play duets with her and
her children, travelling to her palatial residences in Europe in the
Conservatory’s summer holidays.
By mutual planning, the two never met and their relationship was conducted through a series of long letters. Their correspondence lasted from
1877-90, and 1,200+ of the letters between them survived! Madame’s money
was instrumental in allowing her mentee to establish himself as Russia’s first
full-time professional composer. Throughout this era, Tchaikovsky enjoyed
great financial security.
It was traditional for an artist to dedicate a masterpiece to the valued patron,
and Tchaikovsky did! He dedicated his Symphony #4, performed in
Moscow in Feb 1878, to Madame von Meck, thus also affirming her as an equal
partner in its creation. The letters suggested that she was directly involved
in planning the composition and the larger programme. She also patronised
him while he was writing the opera Eugene Onegin, premiered in Moscow
in 1879.
Tchaikovsky’s only obligations to von Meck were producing beautiful music AND replying to her impassioned letters. This was unusual back then; it was more common for patrons to show off their protégés and to keep them as companions in public events. In return, the musician added prestige and sophistication to the patron. But von Meck and Tchaikovsky remained solely correspondents.
