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such a thing of your own composition . . .

, and then proceeded to fulminate


against me. Having completely exhausted the store of his anger, the hot-tempered
director of the Conservatory had kept nothing in reserve for the real culprit, so
when Pyotr Ilich arrived a few days later and went, in his turn, to hear the verdict,
he was greeted extremely affectionately and received only a few brief complaints.93

Tchaikovsky erred on the side of caution when he came to write his gradua-
tion piece the following yearthe cantata K Radosti [Ode to joy] set to the
words of Schiller. The work is a good deal more conventional, but it still failed
to gain the approbation of the Conservatorys director. According to Laroche,
Tchaikovsky asked whether Rubinstein would include the cantata and his Over-
ture in C minor in RMS concerts, but Rubinstein steadfastly refused, or at least
agreed to conduct the cantata only if Tchaikovsky made substantial changes.
Despite Rubinsteins apparent mistrust of Tchaikovskys judgment in composi-
tion, he nevertheless set his pupil the task of translating into Russian Gevaerts
Manual of Orchestration.94 The work was completed by 1 September, and Jur-
genson published it in 1866.
During January, February, and March 1865 Rubinstein appeared as conduc-
tor in RMS concerts and as a soloist, although less frequently than in earlier
years. On 7/19 January, for example, he conducted Schumanns overture Die
Braut von Messina and excerpts from Moniuszkos cantata Nijola. There were
also concerts of chamber music at the Bernardaki Hall, where Rubinstein ap-
peared with the pianists Mikhail Santis and Mariya Harder in works by Mo-
zart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert, and Volkmann. The mu-
sical life of Russia had been much enlivened by the concerts of the Free Music
School given by Balakirev and Lomakin in St. Petersburg and also by the RMS
concerts in Moscow, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein. By this time, the pro-
grams of the Moscow concerts had become as enterprising and varied as their
St. Petersburg counterparts, and appearances by artists such as Clara Schumann
helped to establish Moscow as a center of musical excellence. The works of
many contemporary European composers, such as Gade and Volkmann, were
already being heard in RMS concerts, and other composers were approaching
Rubinstein with their work. That winter, for example, Rubinstein received the
score of the program symphony Columbus by the Czech-German composer Jan
Abert who headed the court orchestra in Stuttgart.95 Aberts Symphony was per-
formed in Moscow by Nikolay Rubinstein in an RMS concert at the Hall of the
Nobility on 16 December 1865, together with extracts from Antons Die Kinder
der Haide.
Rubinsteins delicate negotiations with the government and the court con-
cerning the provision of new charters for the RMS and the Conservatory had
become bogged down in bureaucracy. Matters had been made worse by the de-
cision to restructure the organization of the Russian Music Society which, by
1865, had branches in Moscow (1860), Kiev (1863), and Kazan (1864). With the
prospect of further branches of the RMS being opened in other Russian cities,
the government decided to create a Chief Directorate to which the directorates

112 Anton Rubinstein

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