The history of the creation of one of the main masterpieces of P. I. Tchaikovsky is presented in the materials of the Presidential Library

This year marks the 140th anniversary of the events that have become fateful in the life of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose birthday the entire music world celebrates on May 7. In 1878, the composer completed the creation of his most important masterpiece - the opera “Eugene Onegin”, and put an end to his relationship with his wife, Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova. These events have common ground.

Let's turn to materials that are freely available on the portal of the Presidential Library. The circumstances of writing the opera and the marriage of the composer are known from his correspondence with his brothers Anatoly and Modest Tchaikovsky and sister Alexandra Davydova (Letters to Relatives, V. 1. 1850-1879), with Nadezhda von Meck, patron and admirer of the composer's talent (Correspondence with N. F. von Meck, 1. 1876-1878), with the composer S. I. Taneev (Letters from Tchaikovsky and Taneev), and from the memoirs of a conservative friend of Nikolai Kashkin (Memoirs of P. I. Tchaikovsky).  

For his new opera, Pyotr Ilyich has plotted for a long time. He wrote to the composer Taneev: "I'm looking for an intimate but powerful drama based on a conflict of positions that I have experienced or seen, which can hurt me for living".

In the spring of 1877, the singer E. A. Lavrovskaya invited the composer to write an opera on the plot of "Eugene Onegin". "This thought seemed to me wild, and I did not answer. Then, having lunch in the tavern alone, I thought of "Onegin", I thought about it, then I began to find the idea of ​​Lavrovskaya possible, then I got carried away and decided at the end of dinner. Immediately I ran to find Pushkin. I found it with difficulty, went home, read with delight and spent a sleepless night, the result of which was the script of a charming opera with the text of Pushkin, "the composer shared with his brother Modest (Letters to His Family, V. 1. 1850-1879).  

From Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" Tchaikovsky took for the opera only what is connected with personal destinies, emotional experiences of heroes, with their sensuous and emotional inner world. "What an abyss of poetry in "Onegin", I'm not mistaken. I know that the stage effects and movements will be few in this opera. But the general poetry, humanity, the simplicity of the plot in conjunction with the brilliant text replaces these shortcomings with interest", he writes to his brother Anatoly (Letters to His Family, V. 1, 1850-1879).

By this time Tchaikovsky himself is in a situation similar to Pushkin's plot. When all his thoughts were only taken by "Eugene Onegin", especially the scene of Tatiana's letter, he receives love letters from Antonina Milyukova, whom he has been acquainted by about 5 years ago. At first Tchaikovsky acted the same way as Onegin: his answer was a cold refusal. He was completely "buried in his work" and so comprehended the character of Tatiana and fell in love with this image, that she and all the heroes of the poem began to appear to him real. Tchaikovsky admitted that, as much as he loved Tatyana, he was so angry at Onegin, whom he saw as simply cold and heartless. When Pyotr Ilyich received another letter from Antonina, he realized how heartlessly he felt about the girl he loved: "He himself behaved infinitely worse than Onegin". "I came to the conclusion that if I went so far I suddenly turned away from this girl, then I will make her really unhappy, I will bring her to a tragic end", - he writes to Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck.

Perhaps, trying to avoid repeating the mistake of Pushkin's hero, Tchaikovsky himself makes a rash act. "I was as if delirious", - the composer later admitted. "Thus, I had a difficult alternative: either to preserve my freedom at the cost of the death of this girl (d e a t h here is not an empty word: she really loves me boundlessly) or t o g e t m a r r i e d I could not choose the latter", - we read in Tchaikovsky's correspondence with N. F. von Meck. Pyotr Ilyich believes that linking his life to Antonina Milyukova will be the right step: "I decided that my destiny cannot be avoided and that in my encounter with this girl there is something fatal ... Let it be what will happen", - he wrote to his admirer and philanthropist.

Pyotr Ilyich married Antonina Milyukova in the summer of 1877, but frankly told his wife that he does not love her, although she would be a devoted friend.

Soon his relationship with his wife ends up. He is seriously experiencing the current situation, there are even thoughts of suicide. At the end of the year, Tchaikovsky left for Switzerland. In this period only creativity becomes its main need and salvation. "I have to finish those scenes of the opera that will go to the conservatory performance. I got down to work and did in 6 days as much as I could not wait. This work absorbed me".

In February 1878 he finished his brilliant work - the opera “Eugene Onegin”, full of great creative power, love of life, but at the same time connected with the moods of disappointment and confusion that the composer himself experienced. From a letter to her sister A. I. Davydova (Letters to relatives, V. 1. 1850-1879): "I must overcome my modesty and tell you the following: in addition to being the husband of Antonina Ivanovna, mercilessly acting with her, in addition to the fact that she is not guilty of anything, that it is poor, etc., etc., there is one more circumstance. I am an artist who can and should bring honor to his homeland. I feel a great artistic force. I have not done a tenth of what I can do. And I want to do all this with my soul".

After the death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonina Milyukova wrote memoirs that were published on the pages of the "Russian Music Gazetter" in 1913, which contains such words: "Eugene Onegin", the best of all his operas. It is good because it is written under the influence of love. It is directly written about us. Onegin is himself, and Tatyana is me. Before and after written operas, not warmed by love, are cold and jerky. There is no wholeness in them. This one is good from beginning to end".

Pyotr Ilyich himself in a letter to S. I. Taneev admitted: "I will tell you about music that if music was ever written with sincere interest, with love for the story and for the characters in it, it is music for Onegin. I melted and trembled with unspeakable pleasure when I wrote it. And if the listener will respond at least the slightest part of what I experienced writing this opera, then I will be very pleased and I do not need more".