Reflecting on #CarnegieHall's decision to bar #Gergiev from conducting, it is worth recalling a historic event. The first concert ever performed at the illustrious theater, which opened in 1891, was conducted by the great Russian composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. 1/ 
He was allowed to perform despite the fact that Russia was ruled at the time by Tsar Alexander III. During the reign of this brutal monarch, there occurred bloody attacks on Jews throughout Russia. The worst of these occurred in Kiev, Odessa, and Warsaw. 2/
The tsar and his police encouraged the violence. The word "pogrom" (from the Russian "pogromu', meaning "devastation") was understood throughout the world as synonymous with homicidal anti-Semitism. 3/
But no one at the time suggested that Tchaikovsky should not be allowed to conduct at Carnegie Hall, despite NYC's large Jewish population. In his diary, Tchaikovsky noted the kindness with which he was treated in the United States. 4/4
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