Dostoevsky and the Lyadovs (letter to the editors)

The author of the article in the format of a “letter to the editor” appeals to the researchers of life and work of F. M. Dostoevsky for aid in establishing the facts of possible acquaintance and communication between the writer and K. N. Lyadov, the chief bandmaster of the Russian Opera theatre staff and the first band director of the Mariinsky theatre. The publication presents the systematized information and puts forward an hypothesis about the possible contacts between Dostoevsky and K. N. Lyadov, it describes the biographical intersection of the writer with two relatives of the bandmaster. Young A. K. Lyadov, later a famous composer and band director, was fond of Dostoevsky’s works and attended the literary evening in 1879, where Dostoevsky read a scene from “The Brothers Karamazov”. The author notices that K. N. Lyadov’s niece was Dostoevsky’s correspondent O. A. Antipova (her married name was Korsakevich), he provides some biographical data about her, unfamiliar to researchers of Dostoevsky, and underlines the influence of Dostoevsky’s prophetic words in his letter addressed to the 17-year-old girl for the rest of her life.