1.
Modest Mussorgsky
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Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as The Five. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period and he strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, such works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. For many years Mussorgskys works were known in versions revised or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have posthumously come into their own in their original forms, the spelling and pronunciation of the composers name has occasioned some confusion. The family name derives from a 15th- or 16th-century ancestor, Roman Vasilyevich Monastyryov, who appears in the Velvet Book, Roman Vasilyevich bore the nickname Musorga, and was the grandfather of the first Mussorgsky. The composer could trace his lineage to Rurik, the legendary 9th-century founder of the Russian state, in Mussorgsky family documents the spelling of the name varies, Musarskiy, Muserskiy, Muserskoy, Musirskoy, Musorskiy, and Musurskiy. The baptismal record gives the name as Muserskiy. In early letters to Mily Balakirev, the composer signed his name Musorskiy, the g made its first appearance in a letter to Balakirev in 1863. Mussorgsky used this new spelling to the end of his life, the addition of the g to the name was likely initiated by the composers elder brother Filaret to obscure the resemblance of the names root to an unsavory Russian word, мусoр — n. m. The first syllable of the originally received the stress, and does so to this day in Russia. The mutability of the vowel in the versions of the name mentioned above gives evidence that this syllable did not receive the stress. Doubling the consonant thus reinforces its voiceless sibilant /s/ sound, Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Toropets Uyezd, Pskov Governorate, Russian Empire,400 km south of Saint Petersburg. His wealthy and land-owning family, the family of Mussorgsky, is reputedly descended from the first Ruthenian ruler, Rurik. At age six Mussorgsky began receiving lessons from his mother. His progress was sufficiently rapid that three years later he was able to perform a John Field concerto and works by Franz Liszt for family, at 10, he and his brother were taken to Saint Petersburg to study at the elite German language Petrischule. While there, Modest studied the piano with the noted Anton Gerke, in 1852, the 12-year-old Mussorgsky published a piano piece titled Porte-enseigne Polka at his fathers expense. Mussorgskys parents planned the move to Saint Petersburg so that both their sons would renew the tradition of military service
2.
Apollinary Vasnetsov
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Apollinary Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov was a Russian painter and graphic artist whose elder brother was the more famous Viktor Vasnetsov. He specialized in scenes from the history of Moscow. Vasnetsov was a painter and a graphic artist and he did not receive a formal artistic education. He studied under his older brother Viktor Vasnetsov, the famous Russian painter, from 1883, he and his brother lived and worked in Abramtsevo where he fell under the influence of Vasily Polenov. In 1898–1899, he traveled across Europe, in addition to epic landscapes of Russian nature, Apollinary Vasnetsov created his own genre of historical landscape reconstruction on the basis of historical and archaeological data. His paintings present a picture of medieval Moscow. He was a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions from 1899, and he became one of the founders and supervisors of the Union of Russian Artists. The future painter had three elder and two younger brothers, the only sister died in the age of four month. His father played an important role in upbringing and education of his sons and he taught them to love nature, told a lot about birds and animals life. The death of his father in 1870 was for him a terrible blow, in 1890 he made a journey across the North of Russian Empire. He was deeply impressed by the beauty of the hoary Caucasus mountains, whilst there he climbed the glacier Elbrus, visited Tiflis and lived in Darial Gorge. A minor planet 3586 Vasnetsov, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1978 is named after Viktor Vasnetsov, list of Russian artists Apollinary Vasnetsov by Vasnetsova, Yekaterina & Schmidt, Igor, Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo, Moscow,1980, Book ID V112131. Direct media, Kiev,2011, Short biography 1 Short biography 2
3.
Russian Private Opera
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At first the company was organised in Abramtsevo Estate located north of Moscow. The company was joined by Feodor Chaliapin in the autumn of 1896 and he invited such composers as Sergei Vasilenko, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Vasily Kalinnikov, Sergei Rachmaninov, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The success of the Private Opera in the province was followed by a triumph in Moscow, in Moscow the opera was located in the house at the Bolshaya Dmitrovskaya street, known as Solodovnikov Theatre, built in 1894–1895 by Russiant merchant and music lover Gavrila Solodovnikov. Later the house was burned down and the Private Opera moved into the theatre Paradis, at 19/13, Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street. In late 1890s, Mamontov consolidated a large lot of land in central Moscow, across from Theatre Square, for building a civic center with his opera hall. He appointed William Walcot as lead architect, however, in 1899 Mamontov was unjustly arrested, the project, known as Hotel Metropol, was completed without theater by Petersburg Insurance Company. Meanwhile, from 1899 until 1904 the company existed without Mamontov, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov became its director and conductor. In 1909, the last opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, The Golden Cockerel, had its premiere at the Solodovnikov Theatre but was also performed by the Zimin Opera. Russian opera Russian opera articles Haldey, Olga, mamontovs Private Opera, the search for modernism in Russian theater. The Russian Cultural Navigator, THE MOSCOW MEDICI The Russian Cultural Navigator, SAVVA MAMONTOV Moskva
4.
Red Square
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Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. It separates the Kremlin, the royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia. Red Square is often considered the central square of Moscow since Moscows major streets, the name Red Square neither originates from the pigment of the surrounding bricks nor from the link between the colour red and communism. Rather, the name came about because the Russian word красная, several ancient Russian towns, such as Suzdal, Yelets, and Pereslavl-Zalessky, have their main square named Krasnaya ploshchad. The rich history of Red Square is reflected in paintings by Vasily Surikov, Konstantin Yuon. The square was meant to serve as Moscows main marketplace and it was also the site of various public ceremonies and proclamations, and occasionally a coronation for Russias Tsars would take place. The square has been built up since that point and has been used for official ceremonies by all Russian governments since it was established. The relevant decrees were issued in 1493 and 1495 and they called for the demolition of all buildings within 110 sazhens of the wall. Three square gates existed on this side of the wall, which in the 17th century, were known as, the last two are directly opposite Red Square, while the Konstantino-Elenensky gate was located behind Saint Basils Cathedral. In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, from this gate, wooden and stone bridges stretched across the moat. Books were sold on this bridge and stone platforms were built nearby for guns – raskats, the Tsar Cannon was located on the platform of the Lobnoye mesto. The square was called Veliky Torg or simply Torg, then Troitskaya by the name of the small Troitskaya Church, after that, the square held the name Pozhar, which means burnt. It was not until 1661–62, when it was first mentioned by its contemporary Krasnaya – Red name, Red Square was the landing stage and trade centre for Moscow. Ivan the Great decreed that trade should only be conducted from person to person, but in time, after a fire in 1547, Ivan the Terrible reorganised the lines of wooden shops on the Eastern side into market lines. The streets Ilyinka and Varvarka were divided into the Upper lines, Middle lines and Bottom lines, after a few years, the Cathedral of Intercession of the Virgin, commonly known as Saint Basils Cathedral, was built on the moat under the rule of Ivan IV. This was the first building which gave the square its present-day characteristic silhouette, in 1595, the wooden market lines were replaced with stone. By that time, a platform for the proclamation of the tsars edicts. Red Square was considered a sacred place, during the expulsion of Poles from Moscow in 1612, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky entered the Kremlin through the square
5.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
6.
Mariinsky Theatre
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The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre, today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanovs retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as the general director. The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II, there is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The theatres name has changed throughout its history, reflecting the climate of the time, Note. The theatre building is called the Mariinsky Theatre. Originally, the ballet and opera performances were given in the wooden Karl Knipper Theatre on Tsaritsa Meadow, the Hermitage Theatre, next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances for an elite audience of aristocratic guests invited by the Empress. A permanent theatre building for the new company of opera and ballet artists was designed by Antonio Rinaldi, known as the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre the structure was situated on Carousel Square, which was renamed Theatre Square in honour of the building. Both names – Kamenny and Bolshoi – were coined to distinguish it from the wooden Little Theatre, in 1836, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was renovated to a design by Albert Cavos, and served as the principal theatre of the Imperial Ballet and opera. On 29 January 1849, the Equestrian circus opened on Theatre Square and this was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to double as a theatre and it was a wooden structure in the then-fashionable neo-Byzantine style. Ten years later, when this circus burnt down, Albert Cavos rebuilt it as an opera, with a seating capacity of 1,625 and a U-shaped Italian-style auditorium, the theatre opened on 2 October 1860, with a performance of A Life for the Tsar. The new theatre was named Mariinsky after its patroness, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre and its predecessor, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, hosted the premieres of many of the operas of Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, when the theatre was designated as principal venue of the Imperial Ballet and Opera in 1886, the theatre was extensively renovated. Other notable productions included Rimsky-Korsakovs opera The Golden Cockerel in 1909, the imperial and Soviet theater was the home of numerous great impresarios, conductors, and musicians. Conductors, Mikhail Zhukov, Israel Chudnovsky and others, under Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, the Opera Company continued to stage innovative productions of both modern and classic Russian operas. Although functioning separately from the Theatre’s Ballet Company, since 1988 both companies have been under the leadership of Valery Gergiev as Artistic Director of the entire Theatre
7.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
8.
St. Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
9.
Libretto
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A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata. Libretto, from Italian, is the diminutive of the word libro, sometimes other language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, livret for French works and Textbuch for German. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. The relationship of the librettist to the composer in the creation of a work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources. In the context of a modern English language musical theatre piece, Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries generally were written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Metastasio was one of the most highly regarded librettists in Europe and his libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libretti for three of Mozarts greatest operas, as well as for other composers. Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer, Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. The French writers duo Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote a number of opera and operetta libretti for the likes of Jacques Offenbach, Jules Massenet. Arrigo Boito, who wrote libretti for, among others, Giuseppe Verdi and Amilcare Ponchielli, the libretto is not always written before the music. Some composers wrote their own libretti, Richard Wagner is perhaps most famous in this regard, with his transformations of Germanic legends and events into epic subjects for his operas and music dramas. Hector Berlioz, too, wrote the libretti for two of his works, La Damnation de Faust and Les Troyens. Alban Berg adapted Georg Büchners play Woyzeck for the libretto of Wozzeck, sometimes the libretto is written in close collaboration with the composer, this can involve adaptation, as was the case with Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist Belsky, or an entirely original work. In the case of musicals, the music, the lyrics, thus, a musical such as Fiddler on the Roof has a composer, a lyricist and the writer of the book. In rare cases, the composer writes everything except the dance arrangements - music, lyrics and libretto, Other matters in the process of developing a libretto parallel those of spoken dramas for stage or screen. A famous case of the latter is Wagners 1861 revision of the original 1845 Dresden version of his opera Tannhäuser for Paris, since the late 19th century some opera composers have written music to prose or free verse libretti. The libretto of a musical, on the hand, is almost always written in prose
10.
Boris Godunov (opera)
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Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky. The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia and it is Mussorgskys only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles, and his nemesis, the False Dmitriy. Among major operas, Boris Godunov shares with Giuseppe Verdis Don Carlos the distinction of having an extremely complex creative history, Boris Godunov comes closer to the status of a repertory piece than any other Russian opera, even Tchaikovskys Eugene Onegin, and is the most recorded Russian opera. Note, Dates provided in this article for events taking place in Russia before 1918 are Old Style, Mussorgskys next project would be a very original and successful synthesis of the opposing styles of these two experiments—the romantic-lyrical style of Salammbô, and the realistic style of Marriage. Production was permitted on condition that certain scenes were cut, although enthusiasm for the work was high, Mussorgsky faced a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to his plans in that an Imperial ukaz of 1837 forbade the portrayal in opera of Russian Tsars. Pushkins drama consists of 25 scenes, written predominantly in blank verse, Mussorgsky adapted the most theatrically effective scenes, mainly those featuring the title character, along with a few other key scenes, often preserving Pushkins verses. Mussorgsky worked rapidly, composing first the vocal score in nine months. In 1870, he submitted the libretto to the censor for examination. However, the opera was rejected by a vote of 6 to 1, how can there be an opera without the feminine element. Mussorgsky has great talent beyond doubt, let him add one more scene. The freshness and originality of the music nonplussed the honorable members of the committee, for a long time he stood up for his creation, the fruit of his inspiration and meditations. He yielded only after Boris had been rejected, the management finding that it contained too many choruses and ensembles and this rejection proved very beneficial to Boris. He added three scenes, cut one, and recomposed another, the modifications resulted in the addition of an important prima donna role, the expansion of existing female roles, and the expansion of the first tenor role. Mussorgsky augmented his adaptation of Pushkins drama with his own lyrics, assisted by a study of the monumental History of the Russian State by Karamzin, the Revised Version was finished in 1872, and submitted to the Imperial Theatres in the autumn. Most Mussorgsky biographers claim that the directorate of the Imperial Theatres also rejected the version of Boris Godunov, even providing a date,6 May 1872. César Cuis review noted the enthusiasm, The success was enormous and complete, never. The success of this performance led V. Bessel and Co. to announce the publication of the vocal score of Mussorgskys opera
11.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
12.
Vladimir Stasov
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Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov, son of Russian architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov, was probably the most respected Russian critic during his lifetime. Stasov became a figure and, some critics argue, a tyrant—in mid-19th-century Russian culture. He discovered a number of its greatest talents, inspired many of their works and fought their battles in numerous articles. As such, he carried on a debate with Russian novelist and playwright Ivan Turgenev. He wanted Russian art to liberate itself from what he saw as Europes hold, by copying the west, he felt, Russian artists could be, at best, second-rate. However, by borrowing from their own traditions, they might create a truly national art that could match Europes with its high artistic standards. By national Stasov meant an art that would not only portray peoples lives but also be meaningful to them, in 1847, Stasov published a monograph on Mikhail Glinkas use of folk motifs in his music, from that time, Stasov advocated Russianness over European influence in music. In the years which followed he served as an adviser to the group of Russian composers known as The Five. He also warmed to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky after hearing the play the finale of his Little Russian Symphony at a Christmas 1872 gathering at Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakovs home. Shortly after this gathering, Stasov prompted Tchaikovsky to write a piece based on Shakespeares The Tempest and he also drafted a program, initially for Hector Berlioz, that Tchaikovsky eventually used for his Manfred Symphony. In between those two works, Stasov suggested an opera based on Alfred de Vignys historical romance Cinq-Mars, Tchaikovsky was then intent on writing Eugene Onegin, and Charles Gounod had already written an opera based on Cinq-Mars. Beginning in the 1870s, Stasov ardently supported the realistic painters known as Peredvizhniki as well as Ilya Repin, when artists did not follow his precepts, Stasov could become both intolerant and vocal. Stasov called the finale of Tchaikovskys Little Russian symphony one of the most important creations of the whole Russian school. Otherwise, his verdict on Tchaikovskys work was negative, The Conservatoire, academic training, eclecticism and overworking of musical materials laid its dread. Of his total output, a few works are first-rate and highly original, founder Mily Balakirev confided to Stasov that he thought Mussorgsky almost an idiot. Stasov replied, I think he is a total idiot and he was harsher still with the modernist art magazine Mir iskusstva and its founders, Alexandre Benois, Léon Bakst and Sergei Diaghilev when the magazine appeared in 1898. He called Diaghilev a decadent cheerleader in print and Mir iskusstva the courtyard of the lepers, stasovs correspondence with leading personalities of Russian art life is invaluable. He is known also for his opposition to music critic and erstwhile friend Alexander Serov concerning the merits of Glinkas two operas
13.
Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky (Taratui)
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Prince Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky was a Russian boyar who led the Streltsy during the Moscow Uprising of 1682, alternatively known as the Khovanshchina. His life was dramatized by Modest Mussorgsky in the eponymous opera, khovanskys moniker, Tararui, derives from the old Russian word for chatterbox. Khovansky came from a senior Gediminid family, whose ancestors moved from Podolia to Moscow in 1408 and he started his employment under Mikhail I as a stolnik. In 1650 he was sent to Tula to counter the raids of Crimean Tatars, in 1651–1654 he was governor in Vyazma, and in 1656 he was governor of Mogilev. During the Russian-Polish-Swedish war he served as a voivod, in 1657 he blitzed a number of Swedes under Gdov. He was promoted to boyar on March 27,1659, in January 1660 he attacked Brest and set it on fire. During the Copper Riot in Moscow on 25 July 1662 he dealt with insurgents, in 1663 he was proclaimed a judge of the Yamskoi Prikaz. Between 1669–1678 he governed Pskov, Smolensk, and Novgorod and he was reputed as a dour and masterful manager who did not look kindly on local licentiousness and manners. Upon Feodor IIIs death in April 1682, taking advantage of his popularity among the Streltsy and he engineered the great Streltsy uprising, during which their old and unpopular leader, Prince Mikhail Dolgorukov, was murdered and Khovansky named his successor. Thus, he became de facto Minister of War of Muscovite Russia, wishing to secure the allegiance of the Streltsy, he announced total forgiveness to those who took part in the uprising. Through the support of the Streltsy he established a dual-reign regime, as he supported the Old Believers he organized in 1682 a schismatic demonstration and forced Patriarch Joachim to agree to a public debate with one of the Old Believer leaders, Nikita Pustosvyat. The patriarch refuted Pustosvyats arguments and the next day Sophia had Pustosvyat executed, relying on the Streltsy, Khovansky wielded enormous political influence and often interfered in the government affairs. In June 1682 he was appointed to lead the Prikaz of Judges and his uncommon arrogance and vanity alienated Sophia and her Miloslavsky relatives, while inducing jealousy on the part of other boyars. In September a royal ukase declared Khovansky the mutineer and the patron of heretics and he was captured in Pushkino near Moscow and taken to Vozdvizhenskoe where he was beheaded together with his son
14.
Old Believers
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Old Believers continue liturgical practices that the Russian Orthodox Church had maintained before the implementation of these reforms. Russian speakers refer to the schism itself as raskol, etymologically indicating a cleaving-apart, in 1652, Patriarch Nikon introduced a number of ritual and textual revisions with the aim of achieving uniformity between the practices of the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches. Nikon, having noticed discrepancies between Russian and Greek rites and texts, ordered an adjustment of the Russian rites to align with the Greek ones of his time. In doing so, according to the Old Believers, Nikon acted without consultation with the clergy. Those who maintained fidelity to the existing rite endured severe persecutions from the end of the 17th century until the beginning of the 20th century as Schismatics and they became known as Old Ritualists, a name introduced during the reign of Catherine the Great. They continued to call themselves simply Orthodox Christians, by the middle of the 17th century, Greek and Russian Church officials, including Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, had noticed discrepancies between contemporary Russian and Greek usages. Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church had become dissonant from the other Orthodox churches, later research was to vindicate the Muscovite service-books as belonging to a different Greek recension from that which was used by the Greeks at the time of Nikon. The unrevised Muscovite books proved to be older than the current Greek books, which had been revised over the centuries, were newer, and contained innovations. Nikon wanted to have the rite in the Russian tsardom and in majority-ethnic Slavic lands, then part of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Their rite was closer to the Greek than that in the Moscow duchy, Nikon did not want to adopt two different rites in the same church. Supported by Tsar Alexis, Nikon carried out some preliminary liturgical reforms, in 1652, he convened a synod and exhorted the clergy on the need to compare Russian Typikon, Euchologion, and other liturgical books with their Greek counterparts. Monasteries from all over Russia received requests to send examples to Moscow in order to have subjected to a comparative analysis. Some scholars allege that the visiting patriarchs each received both 20,000 rubles in gold and furs for their participation and this council officially established the reforms and anathematized not only all those opposing the innovations, but the old Russian books and rites themselves as well. As a side-effect of condemning the past of the Russian Orthodox Church and her traditions, instead of the guardian of Orthodox faith, Moscow seemed an accumulation of serious liturgical mistakes. The numerous changes in both texts and rites occupied approximately 400 pages, the authorities imposed the reforms in an autocratic fashion, with no consultation of the subject people. Those who reacted against the Nikonian reforms would have objected as much to the manner of imposition as to the alterations, in addition, changes often were made arbitrarily in the texts. For example, wherever the books read Христосъ, Nikons assistants substituted Сынъ, another example is that wherever the books read Церковь, Nikon substituted Храмъ and vice versa. The protest was indeed global, the episcopate, the clergy, opponents of the ecclesiastical reforms of Nikon emerged among all strata of the people and in relatively large numbers
15.
Streltsy
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For the similarly-named Polish units, see Chorągwie strzelcze Streltsy were the units of Russian guardsmen from the 16th to the early 18th centuries, armed with firearms. They are also known as Marksman Troops. These standing forces reinforced the mounted nobility militia mobilized during wartime, the first streltsy units were created by Ivan the Terrible sometime between 1545 and 1550 and armed with arquebuses. During his reign, Russia was fighting wars almost continuously, including the Livonian War in the North and they first saw combat at the Siege of Kazan in 1552. Initially, the streltsy were recruited from among the free tradespeople, subsequently, military service in this unit became lifelong and hereditary. Thus, while earlier in the 16th century they had been a force, their effectiveness was reduced by poor training. Streltsy were subdivided into vyborniye, or electives and gorodskiye, or municipal, the streltsy of Moscow guarded the Kremlin, performed general guard duty, and participated in military operations. They also carried out police and fire-brigade functions in Moscow. The municipal streltsy performed garrison and border duty and carried out orders of the local administration, Streltsy came under the control of the Streltsy Department, however, in times of war they came under their superiors. The municipal streltsy were also under the jurisdiction of the local voevodes, the largest military administrative unit of the streltsy forces was pribor, that would later be renamed into prikaz and in 1681 – into regiment. Commanders of the Streltsy unit and colonels in charge of regiments were chiefs of prikazi and they had to be nobles and appointed by the government. The regiments were subdivided into sotni and desyatki and they could be mounted and unmounted. Streltsy had identical uniforms, training and weapons, uniforms consisted of red, blue or green coats with orange boots. Their primary weapon was an arquebus or musket, and they carried poleaxes or bardiches, the longer weapons were also used to support the arquebus or musket while firing. The Muscovite government was short of cash and so did not often pay the streltsy well. While entitled to an estimated four rubles a year in the 1550s and this reduced their combat effectiveness and often their desire to go on campaigns. Streltsy and their families lived in their own neighborhoods or districts settlements and received money, in certain locations, Streltsy were granted strips of land instead of money. The Streltsy settlement in Moscow was located near where the campus of Moscow State University now stands
16.
Sofia Alekseyevna of Russia
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Sophia Alekseyevna ruled as regent of Russia from 1682 to 1689. She allied herself with a capable courtier and politician, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, to install herself during the minority of her brother Ivan V. She carried out her regency with a firm and heavy hand, Sophia was the third surviving daughter of Tsar Alexis by his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya. She was the one of her sisters educated by Simeon Polotsky who also taught Tsar Alexis heirs Tsarevich Alexei. Although Sophia emerged on the scene during the struggles of 1682. At the previous change of rule, Sophia may have acted in the interest of her brother, Feodor, Feodor’s capability to lead Russia was questioned, based on his weak nature and poor health. His mental ability developed quite nicely over time, however, as he was taught by Simeon Polotsky, during his brief reign, many historians argue that Feodor actually ruled under the protectorate of Sophia his sister. As his health began to decline, more individuals rose up to counsel Feodor, taking advantage of a court never open to a woman in her position, she utilized her connections, making allies and formally planning on securing the throne. As Feodor’s health declined, Sophia immediately returned to the scene, attending her brother’s funeral. In Sophia’s age, the relatives of the tsar were kept away from the courtroom and other political workrooms. Sophia stormed into the funeral, insisting on her presence and simultaneously setting off a chain of events that would result in her regency, the Miloslavsky party took advantage of the Moscow Uprising of 1682 to place Sophia on the seat of power. Tsar Alexis left behind him two families by his two wives, both of which boasted at least one male heir, as the clans of Alexis two wives were in conflict, Sophia crafted her scheme to ensure power for herself and her family. Promoting the case of her brother Ivan as the heir to the throne, Sophia attempted to convince the patriarch. Insisting that Peter’s election broke monarchic laws by skipping over her brother, upon the court’s swift and unanimous rejection of the proposal, Sophia reached out to the discouraged military troop, the Streltsy, for their aid and support. The unjust dismissal of Ivans rights acted as a catalyst to the already displeased and frustrated troops, multiple issues, including merciless motivational tactics and lack of rest, drove the Streltsy to violently oppose the unjust election of Peter. As the fighting ceased and Peter’s life was left scarred by the blood spilt by his Naryshkin relatives. Building on the momentum of the Streltsy rebellion, the incompetent Ivan was crowned tsar and Peter, only nine years old. Sophia had been deemed the sole intellectually mature member of the family at the time of Feodor’s death, making her the favourite to govern in place of the child, Peter, and the inept Ivan
17.
Peter I of Russia
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Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a larger empire that became a major European power. He led a revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized. Peters reforms made an impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government trace their origins to his reign. From an early age, Peters education was put in the hands of tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peters elder half-brother and this position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family and Naryshkin family over who should inherit the throne, Peters other half-brother, Ivan V, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent and this arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis daughters from his first marriage, in the subsequent conflict some of Peters relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and this throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name and he engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peters mother sought to force him to adopt a conventional approach. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun, by the summer of 1689, Peter planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with the leaders of the Streltsy, Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name, still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina and it was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became an independent sovereign
18.
Ivan V of Russia
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Ivan V Alekseyevich was a joint Tsar of Russia who co-reigned between 1682 and 1696. He was the youngest son of Alexis I of Russia by his first wife Maria Miloslavskaya, Ivans reign was only formal, since he had serious physical and mental disabilities. He sat still for hours at a time and needed assistance in order to walk, Ivan V was the 12th child of Tsar Alexis, but he had only two older brothers who reached adulthood. His eldest brother, Alexei, died aged 16 in 1670, however, Feodor suffered from a disfiguring disease, probably scurvy, and it was feared that he would not be able to sire an heir. This meant that Ivan could well succeed his brother as Tsar, fortunately, Ivan had a younger half-brother, Peter, who was the son of his step-mother Natalia Naryshkina, and was healthy of mind and body. This did not happen, perhaps because Feodor III never gave up hope of producing a son, and this rumour fomented the Moscow Uprising of 1682, and major riots broke out in the city. These disturbances subsided only after Ivan appeared in person in the city and proved to everybody that he was alive, in fact, Ivan enjoyed a close relationship with his step-mother and young step-brother. Natalia Naryshkina, who had married Tsar Alexei when Ivan was only four years old, had grown fond and protective of her simple-minded. In any case, the fact was that during this period, it was not Ivans step-mother but his elder sister, Sofia Alekseyevna. That court was now in a dilemma, on the one hand, Ivan was genuinely and clearly incapable of running the government of Russia, and was not even interested in doing that. The good news was that Ivan himself was a boy who did not wish to cause trouble. Ivan did not really want to become Tsar, but was persuaded to agree to this plan and his full elder sister, Sofia Alekseyevna, was made regent in order to balance various factions at court and ensure that the Naryshkin family would not become too powerful. On 25 June 1682, less than two months after the death of Feodor III, Ivan and Peter were both crowned in the Cathedral of the Dormition as dvoetsarstvenniki, a special throne with two seats was commissioned for the occasion. While Ivan was 16 years old at time, his co-ruler Peter I was only ten. Although Ivan was considered the senior Tsar, actual power was wielded by his sister, Sophia Alekseyevna. It was she who ruled Russia for the seven years. Although Sophia was always considerate towards Ivan, he neither sought nor received any role in government, however, she was anxious that every outward sign of respect and deference be paid to Ivan, which was a subtle way of undermining the influence of Peters faction in court. Thus, every wish or opinion expressed by Ivan deferred to, as Peter the Great grew up, he and his faction, led by his mothers Naryshkin family, contended with Regent Sophia for influence and power
19.
Moscow Uprising of 1682
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The Moscow uprising of 1682, also known as the Streltsy uprising of 1682, was an uprising of the Moscow Streltsy regiments which resulted in supreme power devolving on Sophia Alekseyevna. Behind the uprising lurked the rivalry between the Miloslavsky and Naryshkin relatives of the two wives of the late Tsar Aleksey for dominant influence on the administration of the Tsardom of Russia, the death of Tsar Feodor III of Russia on 27 April 1682 triggered the uprising. The Naryshkin brothers of Tsarina Natalia Naryshkina availed themselves of the interregnum, the Miloslavsky conspirators stirred up riots in the streets of the capital. Mobs of poor people joined with the Streltsy, and the streets of Moscow saw several days of looting, in the fall of 1682 Prince Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky — Sophias close associate and one of the leaders of the rebellious Streltsy — turned against her. Supported by the Old Believers, Khovansky — who supposedly wanted to install himself as the new regent — demanded the reversal of Nikons reforms, Sophia and her court had to flee the Moscow Kremlin and sought refuge in the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. Eventually, Sophia managed to suppress the so-called Khovanshchina with the help of Fyodor Shaklovity, Streltsy Uprising Copper Riot Khovanshchina, an opera by Modest Mussorgsky based on the events of the uprising. Moscow Uprising of 1682 in the History of Russia of Sergey Solovyov
20.
Raskol
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Raskol was the event of splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It was triggered by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1653, the members of an influential circle called the Zealots of Piety stood for purification of Russian Orthodox faith. They strove to reform Muscovite society, bringing it into accordance with Christian values. As a consequence, they also were engaged in the removal of alternative versions, the most influential members of this circle were Archpriests Avvakum, Ivan Neronov, Stephan Vonifatiyev, Fyodor Rtishchev and, when still Archbishop of Novgorod, Nikon himself, the future Patriarch. Ignoring these protests, the reforms were approved by the church sobors in 1654–1655, in 1653–1656, the Print Yard under Epifany Slavinetsky began to produce corrected versions of newly translated divine service books. However, these reforms, apart from their arbitrariness, established radically different relations between the church and the faithful and it soon became obvious that Nikon had used this reform for the purpose of centralization of the church and strengthening of his own authority. Nikons forcible introduction of the new service books and rituals caused a major estrangement between the Zealots of Piety and Nikon. Some of its members stood up for the old faith and opposed the reforms, Avvakum and Daniel petitioned to the tsar in favour of the two-finger sign of the cross and bows during divine services and sermons. Ivan Neronov spoke against the strengthening of authority and demanded democratization of ecclesiastic management. This conflict between Nikon and defenders of the old faith took a turn for the worse and soon Avvakum, Ivan Neronov and others would be persecuted and eventually executed in 1682. The case brought by the defenders of the old faith found many supporters among different strata of the Russian society, a part of the old faith low-ranking clergy protested against the increase of feudal oppression, coming from the church leaders. Some members of the clergy joined the Raskol movement due to their discontent over Nikons aspirations. Some of them, such as Bishop Paul of Kolomna, Archbishop Alexander of Vyatka, stood up for the old faith, boyarynya Feodosiya Morozova, her sister Princess Urusova, and some other courtiers openly supported or secretly sympathized with the defenders of the old faith. The unification of such heterogeneous forces against what had become the church could probably be explained by the somewhat contradictory ideology of the Raskol movement. Different social strata were attracted to different sides of this ideology, the Raskol movement thus became a vanguard of the conservative and at the same time democratic opposition. The Raskol movement gained in strength after the church sobor in 1666–67, especially members of the low-ranking clergy, who had severed their relations with the church, became the leaders of the opposition. Propagation of the split with the church in the name of preservation of the Orthodox faith as it had existed until the reforms was the postulate of their ideology. The Old Believers would soon split into different denominations, the Popovtsy and this was a mass exodus of common Russian people, who had refused to follow the new ecclesiastic rituals
21.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
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Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration, Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects. Rimsky-Korsakov believed, as did fellow composer Mily Balakirev and critic Vladimir Stasov, however, Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka. His techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner and he wrote that he developed a passion for the ocean in childhood from reading books and hearing of his older brothers exploits in the navy. This love of the sea might have influenced him to two of his best-known orchestral works, the musical tableau Sadko and Scheherazade. Through his service as Inspector of Naval Bands, Rimsky-Korsakov expanded his knowledge of woodwind and brass playing and he passed this knowledge to his students, and also posthumously through a textbook on orchestration that was completed by his son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg. Rimsky-Korsakov left a body of original Russian nationalist compositions. He prepared works by The Five for performance, which brought them into the classical repertoire. Rimsky-Korsakov is therefore considered the architect of what the classical music public considers the Russian style of composition. Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin,200 kilometres east of Saint Petersburg, the father of the composer, Andrei Petrovich Rimsky-Korsakov, though born out of wedlock, went on to serve first as the vice-governor of Novgorod, and then in the Volhynian Governorate. The composers mother, Sofya Vasilevna, was the daughter of a peasant serf, the Rimsky-Korsakov family had a long line of military and naval service. Nikolais older brother Voin,22 years his senior, became a well-known navigator and he later recalled that his mother played the piano a little, and his father could play a few songs on the piano by ear. Beginning at six, he took lessons from local teachers and showed a talent for aural skills. Although he started composing by age 10, Rimsky-Korsakov preferred literature over music and he later wrote that from his reading, and tales of his brothers exploits, he developed a poetic love for the sea without ever having seen it. This love, and prompting from Voin, encouraged the 12-year-old to join the Imperial Russian Navy and he studied at the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in Saint Petersburg and, at 18, took his final examination in April 1862. While at school, Rimsky-Korsakov took piano lessons from a man named Ulikh and these lessons were sanctioned by Voin, who now served as director of the school, because he hoped they would help the youth to develop social skills and overcome his shyness. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that, while indifferent to lessons, he developed a love for music, fostered by visits to the opera and, later, Ulikh perceived that he had serious musical talent and recommended another teacher, Feodor A. Kanille
22.
Dmitri Shostakovich
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Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian pianist and composer of the Soviet period. He is regarded as one of the composers of the 20th century. Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. A polystylist, Shostakovich developed a voice, combining a variety of different musical techniques into his works. Shostakovichs orchestral works include 15 symphonies and six concerti and his chamber output includes 15 string quartets, a piano quintet, two piano trios, and two pieces for string octet. His solo piano works include two sonatas, an set of preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. Born at Podolskaya street in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Shostakovich was the second of three children of Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina, Shostakovichs paternal grandfather, originally surnamed Szostakowicz, was of Polish Roman Catholic descent, but his immediate forebears came from Siberia. When his term of exile ended, Szostakowicz decided to remain in Siberia and he eventually became a successful banker in Irkutsk and raised a large family. His son, Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich, the father, was born in exile in Narim in 1875 and studied physics and mathematics in Saint Petersburg University. He then went to work as an engineer under Dmitri Mendeleev at the Bureau of Weights, in 1903 he married another Siberian transplant to the capital, Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina, one of six children born to a Russian Siberian native. Their son, Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, displayed significant musical talent after he began lessons with his mother at the age of nine. In 1918 he wrote a march in memory of two leaders of the Kadet party, murdered by Bolshevik sailors. In 1919, at the age of thirteen, he was allowed to enter the Petrograd Conservatory, then headed by Alexander Glazunov, Shostakovich also attended Alexander Ossovskys history of music classes. Steinberg tried to guide Shostakovich in the path of the great Russian composers and he also suffered for his perceived lack of political zeal, and initially failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926. His first major achievement was the First Symphony, written as his graduation piece at the age of nineteen. After graduation, Shostakovich initially embarked on a career as concert pianist and composer. He nevertheless won a mention at the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1927. He explained the disappointment at the competition to suffering from appendicitis and he later had his appendix removed in April 1927
23.
Igor Stravinsky
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Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century, Stravinskys compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. His Russian phase which continued with such as Renard, The Soldiers Tale. The works from this tended to make use of traditional musical forms, drawing on earlier styles. In the 1950s, Stravinsky adopted serial procedures, Stravinsky was born on 17 June 1882 in Oranienbaum, a suburb of Saint Petersburg, the Russian imperial capital, and was brought up in Saint Petersburg. It is believed that Stravinsky’s ancestry is traceable back to the 17th and 18th centuries, to the bearers of the Soulima, ivan Sulima, was a famous Ukrainian hetman 1628–1635. Stravinskys family branch most likely came from Stravinskas, polonized Lithuanian land owners and it is still unclear to when exactly the Soulima part of the surname was dropped. Stravinsky recalled his schooldays as being lonely, later saying that I never came across anyone who had any attraction for me. Stravinsky began piano lessons as a boy, studying music theory. In 1890, he saw a performance of Tchaikovskys ballet The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre, despite his enthusiasm for music, his parents expected him to study law. Stravinsky enrolled at the University of Saint Petersburg in 1901, Stravinskys father died of cancer that year, by which time his son had already begun spending more time on his musical studies than on law. Thereafter, he concentrated on studying music, in 1905, he began to take twice-weekly private lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov, whom he came to regard as a second father. These lessons continued until Rimsky-Korsakovs death in 1908, in 1905 Stravinsky was betrothed to his cousin Katherine Gavrylivna Nosenko, whom he had known since early childhood. Diaghilev was sufficiently impressed by Fireworks to commission Stravinsky to carry out some orchestrations and then to compose a ballet score. The early period of Igor Stravinsky’s work would be incomplete without a research of his life while in Ukraine. From approximately 1890 till 1914 the composer was frequently visiting Ustyluh, town in Volyn Oblast and he spent most of his summers there and that’s where he met his cousin, Katherine Nosenko who he married in 1906. In 1907 Stravinsky designed and built his own house in Ustyluh where his own family stayed often during summer times until 1914 and his new Ukrainian home he called “My heavenly place”. In this house Igor Stravinsky worked on his seventeen early compositions, among which were orchestral fantasy Fireworks, ballets Firebird, Petrushka, currently, after its renovation this house is the only composers house-museum opened to the public
24.
Maurice Ravel
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Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, in the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as Frances greatest living composer. After leaving the conservatoire Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity, incorporating elements of baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. He liked to experiment with form, as in his best-known work, Boléro. He made some arrangements of other composers music, of which his 1922 version of Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known. As a slow and painstaking worker, Ravel composed fewer pieces than many of his contemporaries. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, many of his works exist in two versions, a first, piano score and a later orchestration. Some of his music, such as Gaspard de la nuit, is exceptionally difficult to play. Ravel was among the first composers to recognise the potential of recording to bring their music to a wider public, from the 1920s, despite limited technique as a pianist or conductor, he took part in recordings of several of his works, others were made under his supervision. Ravel was born in the Basque town of Ciboure, France and his father, Pierre-Joseph Ravel, was an educated and successful engineer, inventor and manufacturer, born in Versoix near the Franco-Swiss border. His mother, Marie, née Delouart, was Basque but had grown up in Madrid, in 19th-century terms, Joseph had married beneath his status – Marie was illegitimate and barely literate – but the marriage was a happy one. Both Ravels parents were Roman Catholics, Marie was also something of a free-thinker, a trait inherited by her elder son and he was baptised in the Ciboure parish church six days after he was born. The family moved to Paris three months later, and there a younger son, Édouard, was born and he was close to his father, whom he eventually followed into the engineering profession. Maurice was particularly devoted to their mother, her Basque-Spanish heritage was an influence on his life. Among his earliest memories were folk songs she sang to him, the household was not rich, but the family was comfortable, and the two boys had happy childhoods. Ravel senior delighted in taking his sons to factories to see the latest mechanical devices, in later life, Ravel recalled, Throughout my childhood I was sensitive to music. My father, much better educated in art than most amateurs are, knew how to develop my taste. There is no record that Ravel received any formal schooling in his early years
25.
Sergei Diaghilev
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Sergei Diaghilev was born to a wealthy and cultured family in Selishchi, Russia, his father, Pavel Pavlovich, was a cavalry colonel, but the familys money came mainly from vodka distilleries. After the death of Sergeis mother, his father married Elena Valerianovna Panaeva, the family lived in Perm but had an apartment in Saint Petersburg and a country estate in Bikbarda. In 1890, Sergeis parents went bankrupt, having for a time lived beyond their means. After graduating in 1892 he abandoned his dreams of composition, during his years at University, Diaghilevs cousin Dmitry Filosofov introduced him to a circle of art-loving friends who called themselves The Nevsky Pickwickians. They included Alexandre Benois, Walter Nouvel, Konstantin Somov, although not instantly received into the group, Diaghilev was aided by Benois in developing his knowledge of Russian and Western art. In two years, he had voraciously absorbed this new obsession and came to be respected as one of the most learned of the group, with financial backing from Savva Mamontov and Princess Maria Tenisheva, the group founded the journal Mir iskusstva. In 1899, Diaghilev became special assistant to Prince Sergei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky, in 1900–1901 Volkonsky entrusted Diaghilev with the staging of Léo Delibes ballet Sylvia, a favorite of Benois. The two collaborators concocted an elaborate plan that startled the established personnel of the Imperial Theatres. At the same time, some of Diaghilevs researchers hinted at his homosexuality as the cause for this conflict. However, his homosexuality had been known long before he was invited into the Imperial Theatres. In the following year he took a major exhibition of Russian art to the Petit Palais in Paris and it was the beginning of a long involvement with France. In 1907 he presented five concerts of Russian music in Paris and this led to an invitation to return the following year with ballet as well as opera, and thus to the launching of his famous Ballets Russes. The company included the best young Russian dancers, among them Anna Pavlova, Adolph Bolm, Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina and Vera Karalli, and their first night on 19 May 1909 was a sensation. During these years Diaghilevs stagings included several compositions by the late Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, such as the operas The Maid of Pskov, May Night and his choreographer Michel Fokine often adapted the music for ballet. Diaghilev also worked with dancer and ballet master Léonide Massine, the artistic director for the Ballets Russes was Léon Bakst. Together they developed a complicated form of ballet with show-elements intended to appeal to the general public. The exotic appeal of the Ballets Russes had an effect on Fauvist painters, coco Chanel is said to have stated that Diaghilev invented Russia for foreigners. Perhaps Diaghilevs most notable composer-collaborator, however, was Igor Stravinsky, Diaghilev heard Stravinskys early orchestral works Fireworks and Scherzo fantastique, and was impressed enough to ask Stravinsky to arrange some pieces by Chopin for the Ballets Russes
26.
Feodor Chaliapin
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Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. He himself spelled his surname, French-style, Chaliapine in the West, in English texts, his given name is most usually rendered as Feodor or Fyodor, and his surname is most usually seen as Chaliapin. This spelling also better reflects the fact that the name is pronounced with three syllables, not four, Feodor Chaliapin was born into a peasant family on February 1,1873 in Kazan, in the wing of merchant Lisitzins house on Rybnoryadskaya Street 10. This wing no longer exists, but the house with the yard where the wing was situated is still there, the next day, Candlemas, he was baptized in Epiphany Church on Bolshaya Prolomnaya street. His godparents were his neighbors, the shoemaker Nikolay Tonkov and Ludmila Kharitonova and his vocal teacher was Dmitri Usatov. Chaliapin began his career at Tbilisi and the Imperial Opera, St. Petersburg in 1894 and he was then invited to sing at the Mamontov Private Opera, his first role there was as Mephistopheles in Gounods Faust, in which he was a considerable success. At Mamontov he also met Sergei Rachmaninoff, who was serving as an assistant conductor there, with Rachmaninoff he learned the title role of Mussorgskys Boris Godunov, which became his signature character. Chaliapin returned the favor by showing Rachmaninoff how he built each of his interpretations around a culminating moment or point, Rachmaninoff put this approach to considerable use when he became a full-time concert pianist after World War I. On the strength of his Mamontov appearances, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow engaged Chaliapin, during the First World War, Chaliapin also appeared regularly at the Zimin Private Opera in Moscow. At the end of his career, Toscanini observed that the Russian bass was the greatest operatic talent with whom he had ever worked. In 1925, while performing in New York, his piano accompanist was a young Harry Lubin, Chaliapin toured Australia in 1926, giving a series of recitals which were highly acclaimed. Privately, Chaliapins personal affairs were in a state of disarray as a consequence of the Russian Revolution of 1917, at first he was treated as a revered artist of the newly emerged Soviet Russia. He still maintained, however, that he was not anti-Soviet, Chaliapin initially moved to Finland and later lived in France. Cosmopolitan Paris, with its significant Russian émigré population, became his base, and ultimately and he was renowned for his larger-than-life carousing during this period, but he never sacrificed his dedication to his art. Chaliapins attachment to Paris did not prevent him pursuing a international operatic and concert career in England, the United States. In May 1931 he appeared in the Russian Season directed by Sir Thomas Beecham at Londons Lyceum Theatre and his most famous part was the title role of Boris Godunov. Chaliapin made one film for the director G. W. Pabst. The film was made in three different versions – French, English, and German, as was sometimes the prevailing custom, Chaliapin starred in all three versions, each of which used the same script, sets, and costumes, but different supporting casts
27.
Tsar
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Tsar /zɑːr/ or /tsɑːr/, also spelled tzar, csar, or czar, is a title used to designate certain Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, occasionally, the word could be used to designate other secular supreme rulers. Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have borne the title Tsar, the title Tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors, Caesar. In the history of the Greek language, basileus had originally meant something like potentate and it gradually approached the meaning of king in the Hellenistic Period, and it came to designate emperor after the inception in the Roman Empire. Thus, tsar was not only used as an equivalent of Latin imperator but was used to refer to Biblical rulers. From this ambiguity, the development has moved in different directions in the different Slavic languages, thus, the Bulgarian language and Russian language no longer use tsar as an equivalent of the term emperor/imperator as it exists in the West European tradition. Currently, the term refers to native sovereigns, ancient and Biblical rulers, as well as monarchs in fairy tales. The title of king is sometimes perceived as alien and is by some Russian-speakers reserved for European royalty, foreign monarchs of imperial status, both inside and outside of Europe, ancient as well as modern, are generally called imperator, rather than tsar. Biblical rulers in Serbian are called цар and in Croatian kralj, in the Polish language however tsar is always used as imperator, never as king. The term tsar is very used to refer to the Russian rulers after Peter the Great. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named Tervel of Bulgaria Caesar, the first foreigner to receive this title, the sainted Boris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his time Bulgaria was converted to Christianity. However, the tsar was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for two emperors, Eastern and Western, the Bulgarian ruler was crowned basileus as a spiritual son of the Byzantian basileus. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated Emperor of Zagora, various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks. During the five-century period of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, the sultan was referred to as tsar. This may be related to the fact that he had claimed the legacy of the Byzantine Empire or to the fact that the sultan was called Basileus in medieval Greek, after Bulgarias liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at first autonomous prince. With the declaration of independence, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria adopted the traditional title tsar in 1908. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of emperor any longer, in the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted
28.
Grand Duchy of Moscow
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The Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Grand Principality of Moscow, was a late medieval Rus principality centered on Moscow and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia. The state originated with Daniel I, who inherited Moscow in 1283, eclipsing and it later annexed the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485. After the Mongol invasion of Rus, Muscovy was a vassal to the Mongol ruled Golden Horde until 1480. By his marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, he established Muscovy as the state of the Roman Empire. Ivans successor Vasili III also enjoyed success, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512. Vasilis son Ivan IV was an infant at his fathers death in 1533 and he was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar together with the proclamation of Tsardom of Russia. As with many states the country had no particular official name. The Duke of Moscow or the Sovereign of Moscow were common short titles, in rivalry with other duchies Moscow dukes also designated themselves as the Grand Dukes, claiming a higher position in the hierarchy of Russian dukes. During the territorial growth and later acquisitions, the title became rather lengthy. Since the 14th century various Moscow dukes added of all Rus to their titles, after the title of Russian metropolitans, Dmitry Shemyaka was the first Moscow duke who minted coins with the title the Sovereign of all Rus. Under the Polish-Lithuanian influence the country began to be called Muscovy in Western Europe, the first appearances of the term were in an Italian document of 1500. Initially Moscovia was the Latinized name of the city of Moscow itself, not of the state, later it acquired its meaning and has been used alongside of the older name. The term Muscovy persisted in the West until the beginning of the 18th century and is used in historical contexts. When the Mongols invaded the lands of Kievan Rus in the 13th century, the first ruler of the principality of Moscow, Daniel I, was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky of Vladimir-Suzdal. He started to expand his principality by seizing Kolomna and securing the bequest of Pereslavl-Zalessky to his family, daniels son Yuriy controlled the entire basin of the Moskva River and expanded westward by conquering Mozhaisk. He then forged an alliance with the overlord of the Rus principalities, Uzbeg Khan of the Golden Horde, the Khan allowed Yuriy to claim the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, a position which allowed him to interfere in the affairs of the Novgorod Republic to the north-west. Yuriys successor, Ivan I, managed to retain the title of Grand Duke by cooperating closely with the Mongols and by collecting tribute and taxes from other Rus principalities on their behalf. This relationship enabled Ivan to gain regional ascendancy, particularly over Moscows chief rival, the city of Tver
29.
F major
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F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B♭, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat, B♭, F majors relative minor is D minor, and its parallel minor is F minor. F major is the key of the English horn, the basset horn, the horn in F, the trumpet in F. Thus, music in F major for these instruments is written in C major. Most of these sound a perfect fifth lower than written, with the exception of the trumpet in F which sounds a fourth higher
30.
G major
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G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F♯. Its key signature has one sharp, F♯, G majors relative minor is E minor, and its parallel minor is G minor. For orchestral works in G major, the timpani are typically set to G and D, in the Baroque era, G major was regarded as the key of benediction. Of Domenico Scarlattis 555 keyboard sonatas, G major is the key for 69. Pianist Jeremy Denk observes that the Goldberg Variations are 80 minutes in G major, twelve of Joseph Haydns 104 Symphonies are in G major. See also, List of symphonies in G major, likewise one of Haydns most famous piano trios, No. 39, and one of his last two complete published string quartets, are in G major, G major is the home key of Mozarts Eine kleine Nachtmusik, serving as the tonic for three of its four movements. However, almost none of his works such as his symphonies or concertos are in this key. 17, Flute Concerto No.1 and his String Quartet No,14, along with some examples among his juvenilia. G sometimes called the key, is one of the most frequently-employed keys across classical. It is the key stipulated by Queen Elizabeth II to be used for God Save the Queen in Canada, the music to the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, was originally written in G major. God Defend New Zealand was originally composed by John Joseph Woods in A-flat, key Major and minor Chord Chord names and symbols Media related to G major at Wikimedia Commons
31.
Moscow
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Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
32.
Konstantin Korovin
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Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin was a leading Russian Impressionist painter. Konstantin was born in Moscow to a merchant family officially registered as peasants of Vladimir Gubernia and his father, Aleksey Mikhailovich Korovin, earned a university degree and was more interested in arts and music than in the family business established by Konstantins grandfather. Konstantins older brother Sergei Korovin was a notable realist painter, Konstantins relative Illarion Pryanishnikov was also a prominent painter of the time and a teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1875 Korovin entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and his brother Sergei was already a student at the school. During their student years, the Korovins became friends with fellow students Valentin Serov and Isaac Levitan, in 1881–1882, Korovin spent a year at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, but returned disappointed to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He studied at the school under his new teacher Vasily Polenov until 1886, in 1885 Korovin traveled to Paris and Spain. Paris was a shock for me … Impressionists… in them I found everything I was scolded for back home in Moscow, Polenov introduced Korovin to Savva Mamontovs Abramtsevo Circle, Viktor Vasnetsov, Apollinary Vasnetsov, Ilya Repin, Mark Antokolsky and others. The groups love for stylized Russian themes is reflected in Korovins picture A Northern Idyll, in 1885 Korovin worked for Mamontovs opera house, designing the stage decor for Giuseppe Verdis Aida, Léo Delibes Lakmé and Georges Bizets Carmen. In 1888 Korovin traveled with Mamontov to Italy and Spain, where he produced the painting On the Balcony, Konstantin traveled within Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia and exhibited with the Peredvizhniki. He painted in the Impressionist, and later in the Art Nouveau, in the 1890s Korovin became a member of the Mir iskusstva art group. Korovins subsequent works were influenced by his travels to the north. In 1888 he was captivated by the northern landscapes seen in The Coast of Norway. His second trip to the north, with Valentin Serov in 1894, Korovin painted a large number of landscapes, Norwegian Port, St. Triphons Brook in Pechenga, Hammerfest, Aurora Borealis, The Coast at Murmansk and others. The paintings are built on a web of shades of grey. The etude style of works was typical for Korovins art of the 1890s. Using material from his trip, Korovin designed the Far North pavilion at the 1896 All Russia Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod and he painted ten big canvasses for the pavilion as well, depicting various aspects of life in the northern and Arctic regions. After the closure of the Exhibition, the canvasses were eventually placed in the Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal in Moscow, in the 1960s, they were restored and transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery. In 1900 Korovin designed the Central Asia section of the Russian Empire pavilion at the Paris World Fair and was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government, in the beginning of the 20th century, Korovin focused his attention on the theater
33.
Sergey Malyutin
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Sergey Vasilyevich Malyutin was a Russian painter of fine crafts, designer, illustrator and architect, initially associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. Most of his oil paintings are portraits, outside of Russia, he is perhaps best known for designing the first set of Matryoshka dolls, created by Vasily Zvyozdochkin in 1890. Malyutin was born in Moscow to a family of merchants in 1859 and was raised in Voronezh where, in 1870, from 1883 to 1886, he attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied with Illarion Pryanishnikov and Vladimir Makovsky. Upon graduating, he was awarded a silver medal, in 1890, he was named a Free Artist. From 1891 to 1893, he was an instructor at the Elizabethan Institute, during this time, he also created illustrations for the works of Pushkin and some Russian folk tales. While there, he designed a building for the school library and his designs for a church were later realized by the architect Vladimir Suslov. Later, he would work with Nikolai Zhukov to create the Pertsov House in Moscow and his architectural designs were basically part of the Russian Revival movement, but were also embellished with fantastic folk motifs. From 1903 to 1917, he taught at the MSPSA, during that time, he joined the Peredvizhniki and was named an Academician by the Imperial Academy of Arts. After the 1917 Revolution, he worked as an instructor at the Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops, from 1918 to 1921, he also participated in the creation of the propaganda posters known as Rosta Windows. In 1922, he was one of the co-founders of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, which held its first meeting at his home and he died in Moscow in 1937. Alina Abramova, Жизнь художника Сергея Малютина, Изобраз, искусство,1978 Galina Vladimirovna Golinets, Сергей Васильевич Малютин, Selected Works of Soviet Artists series, Советский художник,1987 Arcadja Auctions, More works by Malyutin
34.
Zimin Opera
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The Zimin Opera was founded by the Russian entrepreneur Sergei Zimin in Moscow, Russia in 1903. The company staged the premieres of operas as Rimsky-Korsakovs Golden Cockerel, Gretchaninoffs Beatris Sister. It also staged the Russian premieres of Puccinis La fanciulla del West, Wagners Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Mascagnis Iris and Leoncavallos Zazà. Many well-known Russian and Italian opera singers performed with the company, including Georges Baklanoff, Lina Cavalieri, Feodor Chaliapin, Leonid Sobinov, Valeria Barsova, stage sets and costumes were designed by such Russian artists as Ivan Bilibin, Viktor Vasnetsov and Nicholas Roerich. During its fourteen-year history, Zimin Opera staged more than 120 operas, the company closed in May 1917
35.
Albert Coates (musician)
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Albert Coates was an English conductor and composer. He was a success in England conducting Wagner at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1914 and his strengths as a conductor lay in opera and the Russian repertoire, and he was not thought as impressive in the core Austro-German symphonic repertoire. After 1923 he failed to secure a permanent conductorship in the UK, and for much of the rest of his life he guest conducted in continental Europe, in his last years he took orchestral appointments in South Africa, where he died at 71. As a composer, Coates is little remembered, but he composed seven operas and he also wrote some concert works for orchestral forces. He learned the violin, cello and piano as a child in Russia, from 12, he was raised in England. After attending the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, he studied science at Liverpool University, Coates returned to Russia to join his fathers company, but he also studied composition with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1902, he entered the Leipzig Conservatory, to study the cello with Julius Klengel and the piano with Robert Teichmüller, Nikisch appointed Coates répétiteur at the Leipzig opera, and he made his debut as a conductor in 1904 with Offenbachs The Tales of Hoffmann. He was engaged as the conductor of the Elberfeld opera house in 1906, from there he progressed to the post of assistant conductor at the Semperoper, Dresden, under Ernst von Schuch and Mannheim in 1909 under Artur Bodanzky. The Times judged him sound and artistic, though not particularly inspiring to watch, in the same year, he was invited by Eduard Nápravník to conduct at Saint Petersburgs Mariinsky Theatre. In July 1910, he married Ella Lizzie Holland, Coates first appeared at Covent Garden in 1914 in a Wagner season. He won critical praise for his performance of Tristan und Isolde and his conducting of Puccinis Manon Lescaut later in the same season was also well received, his Parsifal less so. The Russian Revolution in 1917 did not at first adversely affect Coates, the Soviet government appointed him President of all Opera Houses in Soviet Russia, based in Moscow. By 1919, however, living conditions in Russia had become desperate, Coates became seriously ill, and with considerable difficulty left Russia with his family by way of Finland in April 1919. After his arrival in England, he was appointed conductor of the LSO. Reviewing his first performance in the post, The Times praised him warmly, along with the younger Adrian Boult and Geoffrey Toye, in September 1919, he was appointed to teach a new class for operatic training at the Royal College of Music. Reporting the appointment, The Times wrote, There can scarcely be a musician in this country with so wide, the following month, there occurred an incident for which Coates is remembered in many books and articles. As a result, the gave a notoriously inadequate performance. Elgar did not complain publicly, but the world knew privately of Coatess behaviour
36.
Emil Cooper
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Emil Albertovich Cooper, also known as Emil Kuper was a Russian conductor and violinist, of English ancestry. He graduated music school in Odessa, Ukraine as violinist and composer, until 1898 he played recitals as violinist and learned conducting independently. He also studied conducting with Arthur Nikisch, in 1899 together with Leonid Sobinov and Feodor Chaliapin he performed on tour around Russia cities as operatic conductor. He conducted in a variety of locations in Russia, Western Europe and he premiered Rimsky-Korsakovs opera The Golden Cockerel in 1909. Kuper / Cooper conducted the first performance of Reinhold Glières epic Third Symphony, Ilya of Murom and he also conducted Rimsky-Korsakovs Kashchey the Immortal in January 1917 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Emil Cooper emigrated to the West in 1924 and he was a long-time staff conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. From 1944 until his death in 1960 Cooper conducted for Pauline Donaldas Opera Guild of Montreal
37.
Claudio Abbado
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Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian conductor. The Abbado family for several generations enjoyed both wealth and respect, Abbados great-grandfather squandered the family fortune and reputation by gambling. His son, Abbados grandfather, became a professor at the University of Turin and his grandfather re-established the familys reputation and also showed talent as an amateur musician. Born in Milan, Italy, Claudio Abbado was the son of violinist and composer Michelangelo Abbado, and his father, a professional violinist and a professor at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, was his first piano teacher. His mother also was an adept pianist, Marcello Abbado later became a concert pianist and teacher at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. His sister also exhibited talent in music, but did not pursue a career after her marriage. His other brother became a successful architect. Abbados childhood encompassed the Nazi occupation of Milan, during that time, Abbados mother spent time in prison for harbouring a Jewish child. This period solidified his anti-fascist political sentiments and he later recalled that Toscaninis periods of abusive behaviour to musicians in rehearsal repelled him. Other conductors who influenced him as a child were Victor de Sabata and it was not until hearing Antonio Guarnieris conducting of Claude Debussys Nocturnes that Abbado resolved to become a conductor himself. At age 15, he met Leonard Bernstein, who commented, Abbado studied piano, composition, and conducting at the Milan Conservatory, and graduated with a degree in piano in 1955. The following year, he studied conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music, Abbado and Mehta both joined the Academy chorus to be able to watch such conductors as Bruno Walter and Herbert von Karajan in rehearsal. He also spent time at the Chigiana Academy in Siena, in 1958, Abbado made his conducting debut in Trieste. That summer, he won the international Serge Koussevitzky Competition for conductors at the Tanglewood Music Festival, in 1959, he conducted his first opera, The Love for Three Oranges, in Trieste. He made his La Scala conducting debut in 1960, in 1963, he won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Prize for conductors, which allowed him to work for five months with the New York Philharmonic as an assistant conductor to Bernstein. Abbado made his New York Philharmonic professional conducting debut on 7 April 1963, a 1965 appearance at the RIAS Festival in Berlin led to an invitation from Herbert von Karajan to the Salzburg Festival the following year to work with the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1965, Abbado made his British debut with the Hallé Orchestra, Abbado taught chamber music for 3 years during the early 1960s in Parma. His early advocacy of music included conducting the world premiere of Giacomo Manzonis Atomtod, on 25 March 1965
38.
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
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The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, a West End theatre, is a Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane, the building is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could reasonably have claimed to be Londons leading theatre. For most of time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres. The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration. Initially known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, the proprietors hired a number of prominent actors who performed at the theatre on a regular basis, including Nell Gwyn. In 1672 the theatre caught fire and Killigrew built a theatre on the same plot, renamed the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under the leaderships of Colley Cibber, David Garrick and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, in 1791, under Sheridans management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794. This new Drury Lane survived for 15 years before burning down in 1809, the building that stands today opened in 1812. It has been the residency of a number of known actors including, Edmund Kean, comedian Dan Leno. From the Second World War, the theatre has primarily hosted long runs of musicals and my Fair Lady, 42nd Street and Miss Saigon, the theatres longest-running show. The theatre is owned by the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, soon after, Charles issued Letters Patent to two parties licensing the formation of new acting companies. One of these went to Thomas Killigrew, whose company became known as the Kings Company, the new playhouse, architect unknown, opened on 7 May 1663 and was known from the placement of the entrance as the Theatre Royal in Bridges Street. It went by names as well, including the Kings Playhouse. The building was a wooden structure,112 feet long and 59 feet wide. Set well back from the streets, the theatre was accessed by narrow passages between surrounding buildings. The King himself frequently attended the productions, as did Samuel Pepys. The day after the Theatre Royal opened, Pepys attended a performance of Francis Beaumont, performances usually began at 3 pm to take advantage of the daylight, the main floor for the audience, the pit, had no roof in order to let in the light
39.
Mariinsky Theater
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The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre, today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanovs retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as the general director. The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II, there is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The theatres name has changed throughout its history, reflecting the climate of the time, Note. The theatre building is called the Mariinsky Theatre. Originally, the ballet and opera performances were given in the wooden Karl Knipper Theatre on Tsaritsa Meadow, the Hermitage Theatre, next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances for an elite audience of aristocratic guests invited by the Empress. A permanent theatre building for the new company of opera and ballet artists was designed by Antonio Rinaldi, known as the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre the structure was situated on Carousel Square, which was renamed Theatre Square in honour of the building. Both names – Kamenny and Bolshoi – were coined to distinguish it from the wooden Little Theatre, in 1836, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was renovated to a design by Albert Cavos, and served as the principal theatre of the Imperial Ballet and opera. On 29 January 1849, the Equestrian circus opened on Theatre Square and this was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to double as a theatre and it was a wooden structure in the then-fashionable neo-Byzantine style. Ten years later, when this circus burnt down, Albert Cavos rebuilt it as an opera, with a seating capacity of 1,625 and a U-shaped Italian-style auditorium, the theatre opened on 2 October 1860, with a performance of A Life for the Tsar. The new theatre was named Mariinsky after its patroness, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre and its predecessor, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, hosted the premieres of many of the operas of Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, when the theatre was designated as principal venue of the Imperial Ballet and Opera in 1886, the theatre was extensively renovated. Other notable productions included Rimsky-Korsakovs opera The Golden Cockerel in 1909, the imperial and Soviet theater was the home of numerous great impresarios, conductors, and musicians. Conductors, Mikhail Zhukov, Israel Chudnovsky and others, under Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, the Opera Company continued to stage innovative productions of both modern and classic Russian operas. Although functioning separately from the Theatre’s Ballet Company, since 1988 both companies have been under the leadership of Valery Gergiev as Artistic Director of the entire Theatre
40.
Metropolitan Opera
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The Metropolitan Opera, commonly referred to as The Met, is a company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager, the music director position is in transition as of 2016. The music director designate is Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the director emeritus is James Levine. The Met was founded in 1880 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house, the Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. It presents about 27 different operas each year in a season lasts from late September through May. The operas are presented in a rotating schedule with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Moving to the new Lincoln Center location in 1966, performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday, several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera houses, the rest of the years operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2015-16 season comprised 227 performances of 25 operas, the operas in the Mets repertoire consist of a wide range of works, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the late 20th century. These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs, the Mets performing company consists of a large symphony-sized orchestra, a chorus, childrens choir, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The company also employs numerous free-lance dancers, actors, musicians, the Mets roster of singers includes both international and American artists, some of whose careers have been developed through the Mets young artists programs. The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1880 to create an alternative to New Yorks old established Academy of Music opera house, the subscribers to the Academys limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these old families were loath to admit New Yorks newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded, the Metropolitan Operas founding subscribers determined to build a new house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of some 22 men assembled at Delmonicos restaurant on April 28,1880 and they elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The first Met subscribers included members of the Morgan, Roosevelt, the new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22,1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Musics opera season folded just three years after the Met opened, in its early decades the Met did not produce the opera performances itself but hired prominent manager/impresarios to stage a season of opera at the new Metropolitan Opera House. Henry Abbey served as manager for the season, 1883–84
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Lawrence Tibbett
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Lawrence Mervil Tibbett was a famous American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York more than 600 times from 1923 to 1950 and he performed diverse musical theatre roles, including Captain Hook in Peter Pan in a touring show. Lawrence Tibbett was born Lawrence Mervil Tibbet on November 16,1896 in Bakersfield and his father was a part-time deputy sheriff, killed in a shootout with desperado Jim McKinney in 1903. Tibbett grew up in Los Angeles, earning money by singing in church choirs and he graduated from Manual Arts High School in 1915. A year later, he met his wife, Grace Mackay Smith. During World War I he served in the Merchant Marine, after which he found employment singing as prologue to silent movies at the Grauman Million Dollar Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Tibbett studied in New York City with Frank La Forge and in 1923 at the age of 26, he signed his first contract, for $60 per week, with the New York Metropolitan Opera, using the name Tibbett. Over the ensuing years, with the Met, he built a successful career, displaying an outstanding voice, immaculate musicianship. He recorded exclusively for the Victor Talking Machine Company/RCA Victor throughout his career and his Met roles included Valentin in Charles Gounods Faust, Silvio, and later, Tonio, in Ruggiero Leoncavallos Pagliacci and the Kings Herald in Richard Wagners Lohengrin. He first achieved national recognition playing Ford in Giuseppe Verdis Falstaff, during the 1930s, Tibbett toured Europe and Australia, performing on stage or giving recitals in London, Paris, Prague and Vienna as well as in Sydney and Melbourne. Tibbett made his first recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1926, in the early 1930s, Tibbett also appeared in movies. Soon afterward, he starred in another MGM musical film, New Moon, opposite Grace Moore and The Cuban Love Song, with the Mexican Spitfire, in 1935, he made Metropolitan for 20th Century Fox. This film is notable for its extensive segments of Tibbett performing operatic arias in a stage setting and his final film was Under Your Spell in 1936. Also during the 1930s, Tibbett had a radio program sponsored by the Packard Motor Car Company of America on which he sang formal music. The company chose him to announce the Packard 120 to the world on air, when the firm wanted to sell less expensive cars, they persuaded him to add popular tunes to his repertoire in order to boost sales. He also appeared on Your Hit Parade, together with violinist Jascha Heifetz, in 1936 he founded the American Guild of Musical Artists, the most important labor union for solo performing artists. He was the Guilds proactive president for 17 years and his forceful and articulate advocacy of artistic causes was unique in its day. After his operatic career concluded, in the early 1950s, Tibbett performed in musicals, most notably, Tibbett took over the Italian operatic bass Ezio Pinzas role in Fanny during its original Broadway run
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Mstislav Dobuzhinsky
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Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky or Dobujinsky was a Russian-Lithuanian artist noted for his cityscapes conveying the explosive growth and decay of the early twentieth-century city. Of noble Lithuanian extraction, Dobuzhinsky was born on August 14,1875 in Novgorod into the family of an army officer, from 1885 to 1887, he attended the Drawing School of the Society for the Promotion of the Artists. Between 1895 and 1899, he read Law at the University of St. Petersburg, after graduating from the University, he was trained from 1899 to 1901 by Anton Ažbe in Munich and Simon Hollósy in Nagybánya. In Munich, he came to be influenced by the Jugendstil, on his return to Russia, he joined the Mir Iskusstva, an artistic circle which idealized the 18th century as the age of elegance. Dobuzhinsky was distinguished from other miriskusniki by his expressionist manner and keen interest in modern industrial cityscapes and he often painted seedy or tragic scenes from urban life which expressed the nightmarish bleakness and loneliness of modern times. Among his works were also humorous vignettes and sketches with demon-like creatures which seemed to embody the monstrosities of urbanization, like other members of the Mir iskusstva, Dobuzhinsky also experimented with scenic design. At first he worked for Constantin Stanislavski at the Moscow Arts Theatre and he was renowned as an excellent art teacher, among his young pupils was Vladimir Nabokov, with whom he maintained correspondence for decades. During the First World War Dobuzhinsky went with Eugene Lanceray to the front lines to sketch, in 1918, he supervised the theatrical workshop at the State Educational Workshops of the Decorative Arts. In 1920, he took part in the Second Congress of the Communist International, in 1923-24, he went abroad to study developments in European art and to arrange one-man shows. In 1924, Dobuzhinsky followed the advice of Jurgis Baltrusaitis and withdrew to Lithuania and he was naturalized there in 1924 and lived in Kaunas until 1925. Between 1925 and 1929 lived in Paris where he designed sets for Nikita Balieffs The Bat. He returned to Lithuania in 1929 and he spent the last ten years of his life in Europe, occasionally returning to New York for theatrical work. He died in New York on November 20,1957 and his memoirs were published posthumously in Russian. Among his later works are series of masterful and dramatic illustrations, notably for Dostoyevskys White Nights, Dobuzhinsky contributed sets for theatre productions in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Düsseldorf. During World War II, Dobuzhinsky painted imaginary landscapes of the besieged Leningrad and he is interned at the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery Departement de lEssonne, Ile-de-France, France, Plot, grave 3428. Mstislav Dobuzhinskiĭ Papers and Designs, circa 1909-1952, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
