This morning, perhaps subliminally primed by hearing the Nutcracker Suite: Nadezhda von Meck.
From Wikipedia:
Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (… 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1831 – 13 January 1894) [born Nadezhda Filaretovna Frolovskaya] was a Russian business woman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, supporting him financially for thirteen years, so that he could devote himself full-time to composition, while stipulating that they were never to meet. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Symphony No. 4 in F minor to her. She also gave financial support to several other musicians, including Nikolai Rubinstein and Claude Debussy.
The full story is strange indeed.
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