Colin Bell
Three Tchaikovsky Poems
3. à M. Pierre Moskaleff

Who
was
Pierre
Moskaleff?
Tchaikovsky's secret.
He was no rock-a-bye-baby.
So why the melancholy lullaby mystery?
Ambiguous piano music redolent of sleeplessness – not a cradle song.
Berceuse for the shadowy monsieur from Odessa.
Poor Pierre, lost to history,
half-remembered here.
A sad man's
cryptic
night
song.




Pierre Moskaleff remains a mystery. He was the dedicatee of one of Tchaikovsky's
last piano pieces Berceuse (Lullaby), Op. 72 No. 2 (1893). The composer may have
met Moskaleff in Odessa but historians have been unable to find any trace of him
or their meeting. The dedication on the piano score reads : à M. Pierre Moskaleff à Odessa.