NAPRAVNIK EDUARD: (1839-1916) Czech Conductor, and Composer. Close friend of Tchaikovsky. Best known as the ...

NAPRAVNIK EDUARD: (1839-1916) Czech Conductor, and Composer. Close friend of Tchaikovsky. Best known as the principal conductor of the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg for many decades, 1869-1916. He conducted the premieres of many operas by Russian composers, including Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. A good and lengthy A.L.S., `E. Napravnik«, in Cyrillic, six pages, 8vo, St. Petersburg, 24th January 1891, to Julia Karlovna, in Cyrillic. The document bears to the upper left corner a blind embossed attractive crowned monogramme, Napravnik stating in part `..There is no escaping fate! We all submit to it against our will. Life gives many a lot of pleasure, while others live a vegetative life. While not reckoning myself among either one of the groups, am immersing myself into constant activity and caring for my family. I am grateful to my fate for everything it has given to me. Work for the benefit of my favourite art makes my existence fairly goodÉ« Napravnik also refers to each of his five children, and further says `Newspaper gossips and rumours about my appointment to the post of Director of St. Petersburg Conservatory have, to a certain extent, ground under them. The entire board of Directors of the Russian Musical Society, and even more than any other A. G. Rubinstein himself, are incessantly beseeching me to accept that unenviable legacyÉI offered a question to the Director of the Imperial Theatre and State Minister of the Imperial Court asking about my future presence in Russian opera..« Napravnik also refers to the proposals he has suggested `..to transform the Conservatory into the Imperial Russian Academy of Music under the Ministry of the Imperial Court. This way it is possible to achieve quality instead of today«s quantity. The Minister asked me to prepare for him a memorandum for His Imperial MajestyÉ I have no intentions of abandoning Russian opera, and the Count told me that His Majesty would not allow it. We fill up the orchestras with mediocrity from the Conservatory due to the ban on hiring foreigners.« Napravnik concludes stating in part `..A.G. Rubinstein has always treated me with hostility, and I am all the more surprised by his persistent wish for me, and none else, to be his successorÉNow, everyone is captivated by the De Reszke brothers tour and soprano MelbaÉPatti is not coming to Russia!..« A letter of very interesting content. VG £150-200 Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) Russian Pianist, Composer and Conductor. Founder of the Moscow Conservatory.