Editing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (section)

==Voice recording==
A recording was made in Moscow in January 1890, by {{ill|Julius Block (entrepreneur)|ru|Блок, Юлиус|lt=Julius Block}} on behalf of [[Thomas Edison]].<ref name="tchaikovskyresearch-phonograph">[http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Endorsement_of_Thomas_Edison%27s_%22Phonograph%22 "Endorsement of Thomas Edison's 'Phonograph{{'"}}], tchaikovsky-research.net</ref> A transcript of the recording follows (identification of the speakers is speculative<ref name="tchaikovskyresearch-phonograph"/>):
{{Listen|type=speech|image=none|help=no|filename=Tchaikowsky & Anton Rubinstein & friends(1890).ogg|title=Tchaikovsky's voice}}
{|
| align="right" | [[Anton Rubinstein]]: || What a wonderful thing. || Какая прекрасная вещь ....хорошо... {{in lang|ru}}|| ''Kakaya prekrasnaya veshch' ....khorosho...''
|-
| align="right" | Julius Block: || At last. || Наконец-то. || ''Nakonets-to.''
|-
| align="right" | [[Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya]]: || You're disgusting. How dare you call me crafty? || Противный *** да как вы смеете называть меня коварной? || ''Protivnyy *** da kak vy smeyete nazyvat' menya kovarnoy?''
|-
| align="right" | [[Vasily Safonov]]: || (sings) || ||
|-
| align="right" | Pyotr Tchaikovsky: || This trill could be better. || Эта трель могла бы быть и лучше. || ''Eta trel' mogla by byt' i luchshe.''
|-
| align="right" | Lavrovskaya: || (sings) || ||
|-
| align="right" | Tchaikovsky: || Block is a good fellow, but Edison is even better. || Блок молодец, но у Эдисона ещё лучше! || ''Blok molodets, no u Edisona yeshchyo luchshe!''
|-
| align="right" | Lavrovskaya: || (sings) A-o, a-o. || А-о, а-о. || ''A-o, a-o.''
|-
| align="right" | Safonov: || [[Peter Jurgenson]] in Moscow. || Peter Jurgenson in Moskau. {{in lang|de}} || ''Peter Jurgenson in Moskau.''
|-
| align="right" | Tchaikovsky: || Who's speaking now? It seems like Safonov's voice. || Кто сейчас говорит? Кажется голос Сафонова. || ''Kto seychas govorit? Kazhetsya golos Safonova.''
|-
| align="right" | Safonov: || (whistles) || ||
|}
According to musicologist [[Leonid Sabaneyev]], Tchaikovsky was not comfortable with being recorded for posterity and tried to shy away from it. On an apparently separate visit from the one related above, Block asked the composer to play something on a piano or at least say something. Tchaikovsky refused. He told Block, "I am a bad pianist and my voice is raspy. Why should one eternalize it?"<ref>As quoted in Poznansky, ''Eyes'', 216.</ref>