NADEZHDA VON MECK

'Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck' (Russian: Надежда Филаретовна вон Мекк) (10 February 1831 - 13 January, 1894; both dates New Style) was a wealthy Russian widow best known for her relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. She was also active in providing financial support to Nikolai Rubinstein and Claude Debussy.

Contents

Early life

Business Success of Karl von Meck

Support of the Performing Arts

Relationship with Tchaikovsky

Dedication to Nadezhda von Meck

Death

Donation by Galina Nikolaevna von Meck

Books

References

Early life

She was born 'Nadezhda Filaretovna Frolovskaya', into a family with large landholdings. From an early age her father, Filaret Frolovsky, embraced a love of music. From her mother, Anastasia Dimitryevna Potemkin, came her own energy, determination and business acumen. In 1847, before she was 17 years old, she married Karl von Meck, the engineer son of a German Balt family from Riga. Together they had 18 children, of whom 11 survived into adulthood.

Business Success of Karl von Meck

As a government official, Karl von Meck's life was uneventful and his work 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 for her to bear than the humiliation of seeing her husband as a cog in the machine of a government organization. She continued to urge him to make a break.
When von Meck finally gave in to his wife's requests and resigned, his family had only 20 kopeks a day on which to live. Nadezhda was right, though, in trusting in his talent as an engineer. Russia, desperately short of railways, was expanding its communications network rapidly, and Nadezhda was far-sighted enough to see a future for her husband lay there.
In 1860, there were only 100 miles of railroad track laid in Russia. Twenty years later, there were over 15,000 miles. Much of this explosion was due to Karl von Meck, and it made him a a multi-millionaire. Lines for which he was responsible included Kursk to Kiev and the highly profitable Moscow to Ryazan line, with its monopoly of grain transport from the black earth area. When he died in 1871, he left his widow in charge of vast financial holdings, including large estates and several million rubles. This allowed her to become a major patron of the arts.

Support of the Performing Arts

In the years following her husband's death, Nadezhda von Meck became increasingly involved in the performing arts through financial support to composers such as Nikolay Rubinstein and Claude Debussy. Debussy was music tutor to her daughters, and he wanted to marry one of them. She would not give her permission, wanting her daughters to marry men of her own choosing (which they did, but these marriages all ended in divorce).

Relationship with Tchaikovsky

In 1877 she began a platonic relationship with Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Despite her insistence that they not meet, the two carried on a significant correspondence, which lasted until 1890. They did encounter each other on two occasions, purely by chance, but did not converse. As their relationship developed, she subsequently provided him with a financial allowance large enough (6,000 rubles a year) that he could leave his professorship at the Moscow Conservatory to focus on his creative work full-time. (This was a small fortune. A minor government official in those days had to support his family on 300-400 rubles a year.)
As well as financial support, she expressed her interest in his musical career and admiration for his music. Her feedback became so important to Tchaikovsky that, after the critics lambasted his Symphony No. 5, she provided him with the support to persevere with his composing.
However, in October 1890, she abruptly cut off her support for the composer. It is widely believed that she did so because she found out about Tchaikovsky's homosexuality. It is possible she was planning to marry off one of her daughters to Tchaikovsky. In 1883, her son Nikolay had married Tchaikovsky's niece Anna Davydova.

Dedication to Nadezhda von Meck

Tchaikovsky, as a sign of appreciation, dedicated his Symphony No. 4 and his Похороний Марш (''Funeral March''), written in 1877; now lost to her.

Death

Nadezhda von Meck died from tuberculosis in early January 1894, barely two months after Tchaikovsky's death.

Donation by Galina Nikolaevna von Meck

In 1985 Galina Nikolayevna von Meck (the daughter of Nikolay von Meck and Anna von Meck née Davydova, Tchaikovsky's niece) donated to Columbia University a collection of papers in her possession. The papers include her translation of 681 letters written by Tchaikovsky to his family covering the years March 1861 to September 1893.

Books

★ (1993)

★ (1975)
La Baronne et le Musicien. Madame von Meck et Tchaïkovski. Henri Troyat de l'Académie française. Editions Grasset. 2006.

References

★ The Invisible Muse by Poznansky, Alexander

★ essay 1

★ Letter on Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony

★ html New York Philharmonic Notes on Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony'

★ Los Angeles Philharmonic Notes on Tchaikovsky's Dumka for piano, Op. 59 By Hiroshima, Grant

★ - 45k Claude Debussy - the Composer bbc h2g2 reference to Claude Debussy being music teacher to her daughters

★ Warrack, John, ''Tchaikovsky'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973)