In response to Edward Wilson’s letter (8 April) about referring to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 2 as the Ukrainian symphony rather than the “Little Russian”, it should be pointed out that although Tchaikovsky was born in Russia, his paternal family came from Ukraine. The original family name was Chaika (“Seagull”) before it was changed to the more noble-sounding Chaikovsky by the composer’s grandfather, who eventually moved to Russia.
Tchaikovsky’s Ukrainian origins were hardly celebrated by the Soviets nor today’s Russians. On 2 April, Russian missiles were blasted at the city of Kremenchuk, the birthplace of Pyotr Ilyich’s great-grandfather, Fedor Chaika, a Cossack who served in the Zaporozhian army. The great composer’s Ukrainian roots should be celebrated as much as possible.
Amanda Turner
Norman, Oklahoma, US
• For this week’s closing concert at Caernarfon’s annual Welsh Harp Festival, the Ukrainian harpist Veronika Lemishenko performed three solo pieces, as part of her current European fundraising tour for her charitable foundation. Sadly, she could not travel from France to the UK due to difficulties in arranging a visa, so her performance had to be virtual. Another example, perhaps, of the alleged “infinite compassion” of our political masters for those in trouble and needing urgent help (UK to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, 13 April)?
Fr Alec Mitchell
Holyhead, Anglesey
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