Musicology Annotation << Back Joseph Derffel – а court pianist of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovnа and а correspondent of Hector Berlioz Grigory A. Moiseev The relevance of the study and its scientifi c novelty are determined by the fact that the biography of the austrian musician Joseph Derffel (1823–1884), the court pianist of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and the correspondent of Hector Berlioz, is reconstructed for the fi rst time. The research hypothesis consists, fi rst, in substantiating the interaction of Russian court musical culture and metropolitan concert life in the second half of the XIXth century; secondly, in the fact that in west european and russian berliosiana since the end of the XIX century and up to the present time there is an erroneous point of view according to which Berlioz’s «russian correspondent» is the leipzig publisher and musicologist Alfred Dörffel (1821–1905). The object of the study is Joseph Derffel’s creative biography, the subject of the study is Hector Berlioz’s letters for 1867–1868 (the period of the second russian tour of the composer). The purpose of research is to draw attention to the incorrect attribution of the addressee of Berlioz’s six letters and the erroneous comments in the academic publication «Correspondance générale», to identify the personality of Joseph Derffel as the true addressee of these letters, to return his figure to the history of music, to introduce into scientific circulation unknown and previously unpublished materials and documents - letters from Joseph Derffel to the Baroness Edithа von Rahden. Keywords: Joseph Derffel, Hector Berlioz, letters, tours, attribution, court pianist, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, Alfred Dörffel, Russian Musical Society, Palais Michel, «Correspondance générale». Contacts: E-mail: gmoiseev@yandex.ru Pp. 39-50.