What is Nadezhda von Meck?
{{nosources|article|date=May 2020}} [[Image:Nadezhda von Meck.jpeg|thumb|right|Nadezhda von Meck]] '''Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck''' ({{lang-ru|Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк}}) ({{OldStyleDate|10 February|1831|29 January}} - {{OldStyleDate|13 January|1894|1 January}}) was a rich [[Russia]]n businesswoman. She is remembered today for her strange relationship with the famous [[composer]] [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]. For many years she paid him a lot of money each month so that he could compose. They wrote passionate love letters to one another, yet they never actually met one another. She also gave financial support to other people in the [[arts]] and [[music]], especially to the composers [[Nikolai Rubinstein]] and [[Claude Debussy]]. == Life == === Childhood === She was born '''Nadezhda Filaretovna Frolovskaya'''. Her family owned a lot of land. Her father loved music. Her mother was a very determined business woman. Nadezhda learned to play the piano and she read many books, learned foreign [[language]]s and learned about [[painting]]s. === Marriage === When she was 16 it was arranged for her to marry Karl von Meck, a 28-year-old [[engineer]]. Together they had 18 children, of whom 11 grew up to be adults. Her husband worked for the government. He did not earn much money and the family was growing quickly. Nadezhda wanted her husband to be rich. At this time the [[steam engine]] had recently been invented, and railways were just starting to be built in Russia. Nadezhda thought her husband could earn a lot of money building railways. She was right. As an engineer he became responsible for buildings thousands of miles of railroad tracks. The new railways allowed [[grain]] to be transported from Central Russia to places like [[Moscow]]. He soon became a multi-millionaire. Karl died suddenly in 1873. Nadezhda took over his business matters. She sold one railway and controlled the other one with the help of her brother. She kept away from other people, living a solitary life with her childre