From letters to Taneyev it seems that Tchaikovsky had been intending to contribute three 'gifts' for this notable centenary the following year: a Mozart suite, a translation of the libretto of Don Giovanni, and an essay.
The 100th anniversary of the premiere of Don Giovanni was due to be celebrated across Europe in 1887, and already a few years earlier, in the summer of 1884, Tchaikovsky was considering writing an article, in collaboration with Laroche, to pay tribute to Mozart. This article was never written, but Tchaikovsky's determination to contribute something to mark the centenary of Don Giovanni was spurred on by a memorable meeting with Pauline Viardot in Paris on 12 June 1886 [N.S.], when she showed him the original score of the opera in Mozart's own hand! From letters to Taneyev it seems that Tchaikovsky had been intending to contribute three 'gifts' for this notable centenary the following year: a Mozart suite, a translation of the libretto of Don Giovanni, and an essay. In the end only the first of these projects came to fruition: the Suite No. 4 ("Mozartiana") [6].