Support of The Performing Arts
With her great wealth and a passion for music, Nadezhda von Meck became a major mover in Russian performing arts. The sole exception to her general reclusiveness was the series of Russian Musical Society concerts given in Moscow. She attended them incognito, sitting alone in the balcony. Through these concerts she made the acquaintance of Nikolai Rubinstein, with whom she maintained a complex relationship. While she respected Rubinstein's talents and energy, that did not stop her from disagreeing strongly with him at times.
While her husband was still alive, she began actively supporting and promoting young musicians. Several of these musicians were continually employed by her. They lived in her household and played her favorite works. She hired Claude Debussy as a music tutor to her daughters, and he wanted to marry one of them.
In February 1880, she came to the assistance of the Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski, who had been taken ill in Odessa while on a concert tour. She moved him into her home and arranged medical attention for him. He died a few weeks later in Moscow.
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