Tchaikovsky House

The red-brick mansion with a crenellated tower served as an official apartment. From eighteen eighty-three to eighteen ninety-four, the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company rented it for its Taganrog agent, Ippolit Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Ippolit, a former naval officer, was paid to work with merchant vessels and lived here with his wife Sofya and daughter Natalya.

His older brother, Pyotr Ilyich, already a famous composer, rarely saw the family and came to this house three times: in eighteen eighty-six, eighteen eighty-eight, and eighteen ninety. He valued the chance to live without public ceremonies. Ippolit promised not to bring anyone to him, but news of Tchaikovsky's arrival quickly spread through the city. Acquaintances asked to be introduced to the composer, and parents brought their children for auditions.

One family truly needed a decision. Young Nikolai Averino wanted to become a professional violinist. Several years earlier, a visiting virtuoso had offered to take him to Germany and teach him music. However, the final word in the family belonged to his grandfather. The grandfather crossed himself and declared an artist's profession a disgrace to the family. The boy stayed in Taganrog and continued at the gymnasium and with private lessons.

After the grandfather's death, Averino's parents asked Ippolit to arrange another audition—this time with someone whose judgment the family could trust. Ippolit broke his promise and received the father and son here. Nikolai played for Pyotr Ilyich. The composer recognized his talent, advised him to apply to the Moscow Conservatory or the Prague Conservatory, and offered a letter of recommendation.

The family chose Moscow. At the entrance examination, Tchaikovsky himself introduced Nikolai to the panel, then sat down at the piano and accompanied him. The young man was immediately admitted to an advanced course. He graduated from the conservatory with a silver medal, became a professor, played in the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra, directed a music school in Rostov-on-Don, and later taught in Baltimore and joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The permanent resident of this house was the sailor Ippolit Tchaikovsky; Pyotr Ilyich remained a guest here. The surname became attached to the mansion thanks to both brothers—one had the apartment, while the other turned it into a place where Taganrog musicians came for a professional judgment.

Now it houses the sheet-music and music department of Chekhov Library, a chamber hall, and a memorial room. In the house where Ippolit did eventually admit a young violinist, scores are once again taken from the shelves and played before an audience.