THE LAST LOVE LETTER OF TCHAIKOVSKY*

My angel,  life of my life
Fate would never allow me to meet thee
Only in thy letters to me
Do I feel the touch of love’s ecstasy.

Would but that upon thy sweet face
I would  just once behold
All my sixth symphonies I would gladly exchange
In love’s name and in its wondrous beauty untold.

Here with all my rapturous kisses
I send thee the music of ‘Love’s Sorrow’
Every note swims in the sea of my restless heart
None would such grievous pain of mine ever know.

Let history judge
All that is between thee and me
Even the deluge that drowns the whole world
Would never obliterate every melody I dedicate to thee.

• Tchaikovsky’s benefactress was Madame Von Meck  (Nadezhda) who exchanged 260 love- letters (1876—1887)with him and endowed him with a regular income on the understanding that they should never meet.
Her late  husband was a millionaire whose fortune was derived from  his railway business.
Finally, she broke up the relationship leaving the composer in complete  devastation.
This is one of the most poignant love-stories of all time.