LOUIS DIÉMER AS A CORRESPONDENT OF I. S. TURGENEV (TOWARDS THE HISTORY OF LITERARY AND MUSICAL BENEFIT CONCERTS IN PARIS)

Abstract

The article concentrates on the little-known aspects of the history of literary and musical matinées held in Paris by I. S. Turgenev, and explores his active contribution to them. The writer is known to have taken part in the benefi t concerts together with Pauline Viardot and numerous other performers. Turgenev’s letter to the celebrated French pianist and composer Louis Diémer, kept at the Manuscript Department of Pushkinskij Dom, is introduced here for the first time. This newly published letter makes it possible to date one of the matinées, as well as to reproduce the list of the performers. The letter also traces Turgenev’s links with the Parisian musical world and adds a number of corrections to the Chronicle of Ivan Turgenev’s life and literary career.