[Russian Music] Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich. (1840–1893) [Tchaikovsky, Modest. (1850–1916)]. The Life of Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky - INSCRIBED by Modest Tchaikovsky to his brother's Doctor. Moscow & Leipzig: Jurgenson. 1901 - 1903. First edition. The rare complete set of three volumes published in pre-revolutionary Russia, with highly interesting and very special history and provenance, signed and gifted by the composer's younger brother Modest - a dramatist, librettist to his brother on several operas and eventually the author of this critical biography - to Tchaikovsky's physician, who was a trusted member of the Composer's household and present at the composer's death.



The Life of Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. In Russian, signed and inscribed by Modest Tchaikovsky to Doctor Lev Bertenson, Tchaikovsky's personal doctor. Complete set of 3 volumes, each approx. 22.5 cm. Original cloth binding with ornate gilt-stamped titles, with the personal stamp of Bertenson, and an additional pre-revolutionary Russian collector's POS and stamp. Bindings worn, hinges partially broken, lacking one of the portraits but otherwise complete, scattered foxing, soiling and wear, the age defects somehow rather beautiful in this case.



Author of several plays, Modest prepared the libretti for his brother's operas "The Queen of Spades" (1890) and "Iolanta" (1891), and for operas by Napravnik, Koreshchenko, Arensky and Rachmaninoff. Proficient in various foreign languages, he translated works by Corneille and Shakespeare into Russian and various Russian works into other European languages. After the composer's death, Modest Tchaikovsky helped to found the Tchaikovsky House-Museum at Klin (1895), where he became the director. His lasting legacy is the three-volume biography of his brother. Published less than a decase of Pyotr Ilyich's mysterious death in 1893, the present biography was the first published about this significant composer.