2. Tchaikovsky Wrote About His Visit to The Dakota

Peter Illiyich Tchaikovksy was the opening night draw for the new Carnegie Hall in 1891, where he conducted five pieces. In a letter to a friend, he noted that he returned after a rehearsal to the “immense house where [music publisher Gustav] Schirmer lives…We found a number of people there who had come merely to see me. Schirmer took us on the roof of his house. This huge, nine-storied house has a roof so arranged that one can take quite a delightful walk on it and enjoy a splendid view from all sides. The sunset was indescribably beautiful. When we went downstairs we found only a few intimate friends left, with whom I enjoyed myself most unexpectedly.”

He also kept a notebook entitled Trip to America, inside which he noted humorous musings wondering whether the water was safe, what type of hats men wore and noted “in other countries, if somebody comes up to you and they’re nice, you suspect, ‘What do they want?’ Here in America, they don’t want anything. They just want to be nice.”