“In 1868, at the age of 28, Tchaikovsky met the Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt, then on a tour of Russia. They became infatuated, and were engaged to be married. He dedicated his Romance in F minor for piano, Op. 5, to her.
However, on September 15, 1869, without any communication with Tchaikovsky, Artôt married a member of her company, the Spanish baritone Mariano Padilla y Ramos.
The general view has been that Tchaikovsky got over the affair fairly quickly. It has, however, been postulated that he coded her name into the Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and the tone-poem Fatum.
They met on a handful of later occasions, and in October 1888 he wrote Six French Songs, Op. 65, for her, in response to her request for a single song.
Tchaikovsky later claimed she was the only woman he ever loved.”
- – -
Black cats creep across my path
Until I’m almost mad
I must have ‘roused the devil’s wrath
’cause all my luck is bad
I make a date for golf and you can bet your life it rains
I try to give a party and the guy upstairs complains
I guess I’ll go through life just catchin’ colds and missin’ trains
I never miss a thing
I’ve had the measels and the mumps
And every time I play an ace
My partner always trumps
Guess I’m just a fool who never looks before he jumps
At first my heart thought you could break this jinx for me
That love would turn the trick to end despair
But know I just can’t fool this head that thinks for me
I’ve mortgaged all my castles in the air
I’ve telegraphed and phoned
I send an ‘airmail special’ too
Your answer was ‘goodbye’
And there was even postage due
I fell in love just once
And then it had to be with you
05/29/11 -- Stuff & Guff -- 0 Comments