Tchaikowsky's last symphony

[gurnemanz]

We write 'Chekhov', not 'Tchekhov', so why not 'Chaikovsky'? The T is there only because his music was first taken up by German publishers. But I fear it will never catch on now.

German is more consistent, using the spelling "Tschechow" for the playwright.

[Parry1912]

We write 'Chekhov', not 'Tchekhov', so why not 'Chaikovsky'? The T is there only because his music was first taken up by German publishers. But I fear it will never catch on now.

My Collins Encyclopaedia of Music from c.1980 uses Chaikovsky. But, as you say, it's not caught on.

[richardfinegold]

Well - I found it interesting: but don't let that put you off. I was a little surprised to see his Russian Cyrillic autograph - I had thought that as a middle-class educated Russian, his language of conditioning was French?

However, when he did use Western letters, he was uncertain about "v" or "w", but definitely felt that there should be an "s" after the "T", even when signing his forename as "Pierre".

Nationalism was the dominant Political Philosophy of his day, and in Late 19th Century Tsarist Russia there was an effort among the educated French Speaking Russians to replace French with Russian

[kea]

Some people do, particularly musicologists these days. I don't think I could get used to it though.

The most recent musicological articles I've seen spell it Čajkovskij. As per musicological custom, I would expect the adherents of that spelling to challenge the musicologists who prefer Chaikovsky to a trial by combat, or at least a rap battle.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Nationalism was the dominant Political Philosophy of his day, and in Late 19th Century Tsarist Russia there was an effort among the educated French Speaking Russians to replace French with Russian

[Ferretfancy]

The most recent musicological articles I've seen spell it Čajkovskij. As per musicological custom, I would expect the adherents of that spelling to challenge the musicologists who prefer Chaikovsky to a trial by combat, or at least a rap battle.

Location? Pedant's Corner maybe.