Russian Opera Prior to the 19th Century
When one hears the term ‘Russian Music,’ the great Romantic music of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff tends to come to mind. However, it is little known that the second half of the 18th century was also a ‘golden age’ of Russian music, fostered by Catherine the Great (reigned 1762 – 1796). St. Petersburg, Russia’s capital, became under Catherine’s reign one of the great musical cities in all of Europe. Catherine lured to her court many of Europe’s greatest composers to serve as Music Director (or Maestro di Cappella), such as Galuppi, Cimarosa, Martin y Soler, and Raupach. These composers were engaged to write works for the Imperial Court Chapel and Theater (located in the building we now know as the Hermitage Museum) and also to train the crop of young, brilliant Russian musicians, whom Catherine’s scouts had selected from all over the Empire, from the Ukraine to Belarus.
Among the brilliant 18th-century native composers who began to develop and individual and distinctively Russian voice were were Fomin, Bortniansky and Berezovsky. From this wonderful yet unknown repertoire Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg's Music Director Steven Fox has prepared many first editions from manuscripts found in archives across Russia and Europe.
An important part of the history of Russian opera, as it evolved in the 18th Century from a European based model to a burgeoning nationalistic Russian form, are operas by Dmitri Bortniansky and Evstigeney Formin. For example, Le fils rival, ou La moderne Stratonice is by Dmitry Bortniansky (1751-1825), sometimes called “The Ukrainian Mozart.” He studied under Galuppi and had great success in Italy as an opera composer before returning to Russia in 1779. In 1796 he was appointed Director of the Imperial Chapel Choir, the first director not to have been imported from outside the Russian Empire. His music reflects the fully developed classical style that led the way into the Romanticism of the 19th Century. Similar to the traditional Don Carlos story, Le fils rival is an example of Bortniansky’s great mastery of the European opera form.
Another interesting Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg project is the forthcoming performance of Orfei, a particularly Russian form of opera, with music by Evstigney Ipatovich Fomin (1761-1800), considered “far and away the ablest native-born Russian composer of his generation” according to Richard Taruskin, the noted musicologist, is a Melodrama by Yakov Knyazhnin. With a text in Russian, Orfei will soon be performed by native Russian-speakers Rustem Galitch and Snezhana Chernova,
Both works are not only historical landmarks, but represent a high point in the artistic development of their particular forms by Russian composers. Taken together these works encapsulate an important juncture in Russia’s musical history, and are part on an ongoing mission by Maestro Steven Fox to perform the virtually still unknown Russian musical treasures prior to late 19th Century.
Among the brilliant 18th-century native composers who began to develop and individual and distinctively Russian voice were were Fomin, Bortniansky and Berezovsky. From this wonderful yet unknown repertoire Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg's Music Director Steven Fox has prepared many first editions from manuscripts found in archives across Russia and Europe.
An important part of the history of Russian opera, as it evolved in the 18th Century from a European based model to a burgeoning nationalistic Russian form, are operas by Dmitri Bortniansky and Evstigeney Formin. For example, Le fils rival, ou La moderne Stratonice is by Dmitry Bortniansky (1751-1825), sometimes called “The Ukrainian Mozart.” He studied under Galuppi and had great success in Italy as an opera composer before returning to Russia in 1779. In 1796 he was appointed Director of the Imperial Chapel Choir, the first director not to have been imported from outside the Russian Empire. His music reflects the fully developed classical style that led the way into the Romanticism of the 19th Century. Similar to the traditional Don Carlos story, Le fils rival is an example of Bortniansky’s great mastery of the European opera form.
Another interesting Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg project is the forthcoming performance of Orfei, a particularly Russian form of opera, with music by Evstigney Ipatovich Fomin (1761-1800), considered “far and away the ablest native-born Russian composer of his generation” according to Richard Taruskin, the noted musicologist, is a Melodrama by Yakov Knyazhnin. With a text in Russian, Orfei will soon be performed by native Russian-speakers Rustem Galitch and Snezhana Chernova,
Both works are not only historical landmarks, but represent a high point in the artistic development of their particular forms by Russian composers. Taken together these works encapsulate an important juncture in Russia’s musical history, and are part on an ongoing mission by Maestro Steven Fox to perform the virtually still unknown Russian musical treasures prior to late 19th Century.
