Alexey Verstovsky
Encyclopedia
Tambov
Tambov is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers southeast of Moscow...
region – died Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) was a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, musical bureaucrat and rival of Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
.
Biography
The grandson of General A. Seliverstov and a captured TurkishTurkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
woman, he was also a descendant of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
szlachta
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
(gentry
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
or aristocracy
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
). A civil engineer by training, he became interested in music while he was studying at the Corps of Engineers in St Petersburg. He also studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, musical theory and composition. John Field
John Field (composer)
John Field was an Irish pianist, composer, and teacher. He was born in Dublin into a musical family, and received his early education there. The Fields soon moved to London, where Field studied under Muzio Clementi...
was among his teachers.
At the age of 20 he became famous for his 'opera-vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
' Grandmother's Parrots (1819). Excited by the success he continued to compose light music for this currently fashionable genre and composed more than 30 of them. He also created a series of balladsfor voice and piano, which he called cantatas. The performance of them had often involved a theatrical action. One of them The Black Shawl or Moldavian
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...
Song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
(1823) a setting of Alexander Pushkin’s poem, became immensely popular in the aristocrats
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
' salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
s. In 1825 he was appointed as an 'inspector of music' in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, in charge of the imperial theatres including the Maly and Bolshoi
Bolshoi
Bolshoi may refer to:*Bolshoi Theatre, a major ballet and opera theatre in Moscow, Russia**Bolshoi Ballet, resident ballet company at the Bolshoi Theatre**Moscow State Academy of Choreography, commonly known as The Bolshoi Ballet Academy...
, controlling all the repertoire (from 1830) and chairing the board of directors (from 1848 until 1860).
He turned to the genre of opera in 1828 and wrote six works. The romantic opera Askold's Grave
Askold's Grave
Askold’s Grave is an opera in 4 acts by Alexey Verstovsky to a libretto by Mikhail Zagoskin ....
written on a subject from Russian history was the most successful of the six. In actuality the opera was largely written by Verstovsky's friend Gioacchino Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
, based on Verstovsky's ideas, for a fee that was intended to cover Rossini's card debts. First performed in 1835 (a year before Glinka's A Life for the Tsar
A Life for the Tsar
A Life for the Tsar , as it is known in English, although its original name was Ivan Susanin is a "patriotic-heroic tragic opera" in four acts with an epilogue by Mikhail Glinka. The original Russian libretto, based on historical events, was written by Nestor Kukolnik, Georgy Fyodorovich Rozen,...
) the Askold's Grave
Askold's Grave
Askold’s Grave is an opera in 4 acts by Alexey Verstovsky to a libretto by Mikhail Zagoskin ....
received about 200 performances in St Petersburg and 400 in Moscow only for the first 25 years. This was the first Russian opera performed in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(in 1869). In the Soviet era the opera was forgotten for decades, until it was revised in 1944 at the Moscow Theatre of Operetta under the title Украденная невеста (Ukradennaya Nevesta – The Stolen Bride) and then returned to the stage in 1959 after its performance in a new version at the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
State Opera Theatre.
However the "Epoch of Verstovsky" soon changed to the "Epoch of Glinka" and Verskovsky's operas fell back to the second plan.
He was a friend and correspondent with many famous writers, among them Alexander Pushkin, Vasily Zhukovsky
Vasily Zhukovsky
Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century...
, Alexander Griboedov, Pyotr Vyazemsky
Pyotr Vyazemsky
Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky or Petr Andreevich Viazemsky was a leading personality of the Golden Age of Russian poetry.- Biography :...
, Vladimir Odoevsky
Vladimir Odoevsky
Prince Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoevsky was a prominent Russian philosopher, writer, music critic, philanthropist and pedagogue. He became known as the "Russian Hoffmann" on account of his keen interest in fantasmagoric tales and musical criticism.-Life:...
, and Alexander Pisarev. However he was not so popular among his colleagues. Glinka avoided mentioning him in his memoirs; Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky can refer to:*The Mussorgsky family of Russian nobility;*Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer belonging to that family.*Mussorgsky , a 1950 Soviet film about the composer...
nicknamed him Gemoroy (Haemorrhoid) by association with the title of his opera Gromoboy.
Works
- Operas
- Pan Tvardovsky ' onMouseout='HidePop("63215")' href="/topics/Mikhail_Zagoskin">Mikhail ZagoskinMikhail ZagoskinMikhail Nikolayevich Zagoskin , , was a Russian writer. Author of social comedies, historical novels.Zagoskin was born in the village of Ramzay in Penza Oblast...
, 1828); - Vadim, or the wakening of the twelve sleeping maidens (Вадим, или пробуждение двенадцати спящих дев – Vadim, ili probuzhdenie dvenadtsati spyashchikh dev, after Vasily ZhukovskyVasily ZhukovskyVasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century...
, 1832) - Askold's GraveAskold's GraveAskold’s Grave is an opera in 4 acts by Alexey Verstovsky to a libretto by Mikhail Zagoskin ....
(also: Askold's Tomb, Аскольдова могила – Askol’dova mogila, 1835) - Longing for Home (Тоска по родине – Toska po rodine, 1839)
- Day Dream or Churova’s Valley (Сон наяву, или Чурова долина – Son nayavu, or Churova dolina, 1844)
- Gromoboy (Громобой, after Zhukovsky, composed 1854, staged 1857)
- Pan Tvardovsky ' onMouseout='HidePop("63215")' href="/topics/Mikhail_Zagoskin">Mikhail Zagoskin
- Operas-vaudevilles (more than 30) including:
- The Sentimental Landlord in the Steppe’s Village (to the text translated from French by Verstovsky, 1817)
- Grandmother's Parrots (Бабушкины попугаи – Babushkiny popugai, to the text translated from French by N. I. Khmelnitsky, 1819)
- The Crazy House, or Strange Wedding (to the text translated from French by Verstovsky, 1822),
- Who is a Brother, Who is a Sister, or a Trick after a Trick (to the text written together with Aleksander Griboyedov, 1824)
- Music to Dramatic Theatre
- Cantatas including The Feast of Peter the Great (after Pushkin)
- Choruses
- Songs, Romances and Ballads including famous The Black Shawl or MoldavianMoldovansMoldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...
Song (to the poem by Alexander Pushkin) - Piano music, etc.
Music and sound sample
Quotations
- В отношении популярности Верстовский пересиливает Глинку. (Александр Серов) — With respect to popularity Verstovsky overpowers Glinka. (Alexander SerovAlexander SerovAlexander Nikolayevich Serov – was a Russian composer and music critic. He and his wife Valentina were the parents of painter Valentin Serov...
) - Я первый обожатель прекраснейшего таланта Глинки, но не хочу и не могу уступать права первенства. (Алексей Верстовский, из письма к Одоевскому) — I am the first admirer of the most excellent talent of Glinka, but I do not want and I cannot be inferior the right of the superiority. (Alexey Verstovsky, from the letter to Vladimir OdoevskyVladimir OdoevskyPrince Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoevsky was a prominent Russian philosopher, writer, music critic, philanthropist and pedagogue. He became known as the "Russian Hoffmann" on account of his keen interest in fantasmagoric tales and musical criticism.-Life:...
)
External links
- classical composers database
- on Russian page
- Askold's Grave, you can listen some tracks
- sheet music free download
- http://www.vor.ru/English/1000years/1000y-041.htmlsome interesting but disputable stories about Verstovsky, VarlamovVarlamovVarlamov is the surname of a number of notable individuals:*Aleksandr Varlamov , diver who has represented both Russia and Belarus during his career.*Alexander Egorovich Varlamov , Russian composer...
and Gurilyov]