Many visitors of the Tchaikovsky Museum in Moscow take a great interest in an original rocking chair that belonged to two outstanding musical geniuses: first to Nikolay Grigoryevich Rubinstein, and then to Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev. In 1915, when Taneyev died, his niece Elena Vladimirovna Shchelkan donated this rare item to the Nikolay Rubinstein Museum, established at the Moscow Conservatory in 1912.
Tchaikovsky’s move to Moscow had a truly fateful significance in his creative biography. He found himself in the atmosphere of the “old capital”, much of which he enjoyed both as an individual and a musician, and established a close circle of colleagues, with whom he never parted.
Tchaikovsky often visited Rubinstein’s house, where he could see this cozy rocking chair and even sit in it. Taneyev acquired the chair after Rubinstein’s death in 1881.
Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev was a student of Nikolay Rubinstein in the piano class. He also studied under Tchaikovsky in the composition class. For the latter, Taneyev became not only a beloved student, but also a friend. It was Tchaikovsky who secured his appointment as director of the Moscow Conservatory. Later, Tchaikovsky wrote, “to my greatest joy, I am convinced that Taneyev is the kind of director that is needed at the present time and under the present circumstances. His management reveals in him steadfastness, firmness, energy and, at the same time, the ability to stand above all squabbles, petty quarrels, and gossip.”
The cozy chair was beloved by Vasily Vasilyevich, Taneyev’s favorite cat: one day the composer sat down in the chair to rest, but suddenly the cat ran out of the next room, scared the master away and got comfortable on the chair. A nobleman by birth, Taneyev addressed animals with utmost politeness. One can imagine how Taneyev, yielding the chair, talked quietly and affectionately with Vasily Vasilyevich. But the cat was not as well-mannered as its master: it took over this chair. When someone came close, the animal hissed menacingly. Since then, the chair, like a royal throne, belonged to “Its Majesty” the cat.
