Karl Albrecht - Tchaikovsky Research 14/02/2023, 02:32

Karl Albrecht
Cellist and teacher (b. 4 October 1836 in Elberfeld, Prussia;
d. 14/26 June 1893 in Moscow), known in Russia as
Konstantin Karlovich Albrekht (Константин Карлович
Альбрехт).

Karl was the son of the German conductor and composer

Karl Albrecht (1807–1863), and older brother to Eugen
Albrecht (1842–1894). In 1838, the Albrecht family moved
from Düsseldorf to Saint Petersburg, where they became
naturalised Russian citizens. Karl's father conducted the
premiere of Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Saint
Petersburg Bolshoi Theatre in 1842.

Contents
1 Dedications
2 Correspondence with Tchaikovsky
3 Bibliography
4 External Links
Karl Albrecht (1836-1893)

The younger Karl followed in his father's musical footsteps,

and became a cellist with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1854. Here he worked with Nikolay Rubinstein
to help found the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society in 1860, becoming a teacher in the
society's music classes. After the opening of the Moscow Conservatory in 1866, Albrecht was appointed as
supervisor and instructor in choral singing and elementary theory, a position he held until 1889. It was at the
Conservatory that Tchaikovsky and Albrecht first met as fellow tutors, and the two men remained good
friends for the rest of their lives.

In 1878, Albrecht also helped to found the Russian Choral Society in Moscow, and while working at the
Conservatory he also produced a Manual of Choral Singing after the Numerical Method of Chevé
(Руководство к хоровому пению по цифирной методе Шеве) and Collections of Choral Pieces for Single
and Mixed Voices (Сборники хоровых пьес, для однородных и смешанных голосов), to which
Tchaikovsky contributed the choruses Spring, Evening, and Blessed is He Who Smiles. Albrecht also
compiled and published catalogues of selected works by Beethoven, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mozart,
Schubert, Schumann, and Glinka.

Tchaikovsky's letters show that he thought highly of Albrecht's musical abilities, and regretted that the latter
had chosen not to develop them further.

Dedications
Two of Tchaikovsky's compositions were dedicated to Karl Albrecht:

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Modern Greek Song — No. 6 of the Six Romances, Op. 16 (1872–73)

Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 48 (1880).

Correspondence with Tchaikovsky

97 letters from Tchaikovsky to Karl Albrecht have survived, dating from 1869 to 1892, all of which have
been translated into English on this website:

Letter 174 – December 1869, from Moscow

Letter 175 – December 1869, from Moscow
Letter 186 – March 1870, from Moscow
Letter 220 – 1870, from Moscow
Letter 221 – 1870, from Moscow
Letter 222 – 1870, from Moscow
Letter 223 – 1870 (?), from Moscow
Letter 246 – November or December 1871, from Moscow
Letter 246a – November or December 1871, from Moscow
Letter 247 – 1871, from Moscow
Letter 248a – between 1871 and 1877 (?), from Moscow
Letter 272 – August–September 1872, from Moscow
Letter 281 – 1872, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Albrecht and Nikolay Rubinstein)
Letter 307 – 16/28 May 1873, from Moscow
Letter 331 – by 6/18 December 1873, from Moscow
Letter 342 – 24 March/5 April 1874, from Saint Petersburg
Letter 343 – 25 March/6 April 1874, from Saint Petersburg
Letter 344 – 25 March/6 April 1874, from Saint Petersburg
Letter 357 – late August/early September 1874, from Usovo
Letter 430 – 1875, from Moscow
Letter 431 – 1875, from Moscow
Letter 432a – 1875 (?), from Moscow (?)
Letter 448 – February 1876, from Moscow
Letter 458 – 28 March/9 April 1876 (?), from Moscow
Letter 466 – 2/14 June 1876, from Kiev
Letter 474 – 16/28 June 1876, from Kamenka
Letter 477 – 2/14 July 1876, from Vichy
Letter 530 – 1876, from Moscow
Letter 547a – March or April 1877, from Moscow
Letter 600 – between 11/23 September and 24 September/6 October 1877, from Moscow
Letter 605 – 24 September/6 October 1877, from Moscow
Letter 606 – 24 September/6 October 1877, from Moscow
Letter 608 – 1/13 October 1877, from Saint Petersburg
Letter 624 – 25 October/6 November 1877, from Clarens
Letter 653 – 21 November/3 December 1877, from Vienna
Letter 671 – 3/15 December 1877, from Venice
Letter 687 – 12/24 December 1877, from Venice
Letter 694 – 20 December 1877/1 January 1878, from San Remo
Letter 720 – 8/20 January 1878, from San Remo
Letter 731 – 17/29 January 1878, from San Remo

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Letter 748 – 3/15 February 1878, from San Remo

Letter 760 – 14/26 February 1878, from Florence
Letter 781 – 9/21 March 1878, from Clarens
Letter 877 – 22 July/3 August 1878, from Verbovka
Letter 905 – 31 August/12 September 1878, from Moscow
Letter 990 – 29 November/10 December 1878, from Florence
Letter 999 – 3/15 December 1878, from Florence
Letter 1030 – 20 December 1878/1 January 1879, from Paris
Letter 1158 – 19 April/1 May 1879, from Kamenka
Letter 1398 – 6/18 January 1880, from Rome
Letter 1518 – 24 June/6 July 1880, from Kamenka
Letter 1569 – 24 August/5 September 1880, from Kamenka
Letter 1630 – mid/late November 1880, from Moscow
Letter 1633 – between 27 November/9 December and 2/14 December 1880, from Saint Petersburg
Letter 1639 – between 8/20 December 1880 and 21 December 1880/2 January 1881, from Moscow
Letter 1650 – 18/30 December 1880, from Moscow
Letter 1663 – 3/15 January 1881, from Kamenka
Letter 1675 – 7/19 February 1881, from Saint Petersburg
Letter 2003 – 5/17 or 12/24 April 1882, from Moscow
Letter 2094 – 1/13 September 1882, from Kamenka
Letter 2327 – 11/23 August 1883, from Podushkino
Letter 2368 – 17/29 October 1883, from Kiev
Letter 2406 – 3/15 January 1884, from Moscow
Letter 2476 – 26 April/8 May 1884, from Kamenka
Letter 2634 – 1884, from Moscow
Letter 2676 – 27 March/8 April 1885, from Moscow
Letter 2706 – 9/21 May 1885, from Maydanovo
Letter 2716 – 3/15 June 1885, from Maydanovo
Letter 2780 – 30 September/12 October 1885, from Maydanovo
Letter 2844 – 28 December 1885/9 January 1886, from Maydanovo
Letter 2859 – 17/29–18/30 January 1886, from Maydanovo
Letter 2883 – 13/25 February 1886, from Moscow
Letter 3000 – 11/23 July 1886, from Maydanovo
Letter 3021 – 2/14 August 1886, from Maydanovo
Letter 3053 – 20 September/2 October 1886, from Maydanovo
Letter 3125 – 20 December 1886/1 January 1887, from Moscow (addressed jointly to Albrecht and
Sergey Taneyev)
Letter 3145 – 14/26 January 1887, from Moscow
Letter 3214 – 1/13 April 1887, from Maydanovo
Letter 3238 – 24 April/6 May 1887, from Maydanovo
Letter 3362 – 22 September/4 October 1887, from Moscow
Letter 3403a – 17/29 November 1887 (?), from Moscow
Letter 3428 – 2/14 December 1887, from Maydanovo
Letter 3431 – 7/19 December 1887, from Maydanovo
Letter 3852a – 11/23 May 1889 (?), from Moscow
Letter 3853 – 12/24 May 1889, from Moscow
Letter 3917a – 8/20 August 1889, from Moscow
Letter 4141 – 12/24 June 1890, from Frolovskoye
Letter 4313 – 23 January/4 February 1891, from Klin
Letter 4411 – 16/28 June 1891, from Maydanovo
Letter 4460 – 1/13 September 1891, from Moscow
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Letter 4485 – 27 September/9 October 1891, from Maydanovo

Letter 4614 – 4/16 February 1892, from Maydanovo
Letter 4636 – 9/21 March 1892, from Maydanovo
Letter 4665 – 17/29 April 1892, from Moscow
Letter 4669 – 22 April/4 May 1892, from Moscow
Letter 4758 – 27 August/8 September 1892, from Klin
Letter 4821 – 11/23 December 1892, from Saint Petersburg

27 letters from Albrecht to Tchaikovsky are also known, dating from 1877 to 1892 (of which 26 are
currently preserved in the Klin House-Museum Archive, and one in the Glinka National Museum
Consortium of Musical Culture in Moscow).

Bibliography
Переписка Чайковского. П. И. Чайковский и К. К. Альбрехт (1940)

External Links
Wikipedia
VIAF

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