Potemkin Grigory Aleksandrovich

Potemkin and music

Main article: Music in Russia in the XVIII century

Author: Andrey Penyugin

Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin, being one of the largest transformers of the Russian state, amazed contemporaries and continues to amaze descendants with the versatility of his activities. Improving Russia, His Grace Prince tried to reform everything that he considered imperfect. Many of his seemingly utopian ideas were brilliantly implemented, and the implementation of other projects was interrupted only by the death of the prince. Such a project was the first Russian conservatory in Yekaterinoslav.

Potemkin, unlike many nobles and regal persons of his time, did not play music, but music and musicians surrounded him all his life. Close to the empress, Potemkin occupied the chambers in the Winter Palace and the sound of the Court Orchestra, one of the best in the world, pleased his ear. He commissioned music for Italian virtuosos who served in the orchestra.

1776: Patronage of violinist Lolly

An announcement in the St. Petersburg Gazette of November 18, 1776 reads: "Five sonatas and one ^[1] "on the hide and bass of the composition of Anthony Lolli, presented to his lordship Prince Grigory Potemkin, are sold at Weibrecht." Antonio Lolli was at that time the accompanist of the Court Orchestra. Undoubtedly, the prince patronized the Italian virtuoso, the favorite of the empress and one of the most famous violinists of his time. Lolly gave public concerts, which were then a novelty, including in the Potemkin Palace (in the late 1770s, such was the palace donated by Empress Anichkov, rebuilt to the taste of the prince by an architect I.E. Starov). After leaving Russia, Lolli dedicated L'école du violon en quatuor (1784) to his former patron.

1778: Orders to bandmaster Paisiello and his own orchestra of Russian musicians

In 1778, for the festivities on the occasion of the birth of Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, Potemkin ordered the court bandmaster Giovanni Paiziyello the cantata "Surprise of the Gods." By the birthday of Alexander in 1781, by order of the prince, the same composer wrote the cantata "The Wonderful Spring from Oreb."

The first musicians in the service of Potemkin appeared in the late 1770s. At the beginning of the next decade, the prince already had his own orchestra. The exact date of its occurrence has not been established, but it is known that the earliest surviving contract, with bandmaster Karl Iberal, was signed in 1782. The orchestra was composed of regimental musicians exclusively from Russians, which at that time was rarely met.

1785: Invitation of Handoshkin to the post of head of the conservatory, purchase of a horn chapel, orders of oratorios Sarti

In 1785, several important events took place in musical life related to Potemkin. First, the prince acquired from K.G. Razumovsky a horn chapel led by Karl Lau, which was considered one of the best.

Secondly, this year Potemkin's fruitful collaboration with the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Sarti, who took the post of court bandmaster a year earlier, began. By order of Potemkin in 1785, he wrote two "Russian oratorios" (as the author himself defined their genre): "Lord, appeals to You" and "Have mercy on me, God." In the first of them, Sarti used a new "purchase" of the prince - horn music.

Thirdly, this year dates the project of the first Russian conservatory. Potemkin wrote to Catherine: "As in the University of Yekaterinoslav, where not only sciences, but also arts are taught to be taught, there should be a conservatory for music, I accept the courage of the All-Ukrainian to ask for the dismissal of the court musician Handoshkin there with a reward for his long-term retirement service and with the awarding of the rank of court mundshenka." The choice of the prince could be dictated by their spiritual similarity with Handoshkin. His music was distinguished by its rare originality, depth of feeling, impulsiveness and asymmetry, which is exactly what Potemkin was. Unfortunately, Ivan Khandoshkin, apparently, did not actually participate in the short history of the Yekaterinoslav Academy of Music (perhaps the project itself was timed to coincide with the empress's trip to southern Russia, which, due to the cholera epidemic, was postponed).

Portrait of Potemkin 1847, copy of the work 1784-1788

In the last years of Potemkin's life, Sarti, who left the court service, became his bandmaster. He headed the Yekaterinoslav Academy of Music, the project of which was resumed in 1787. As the writer S.N. Glinka wrote in his Notes, "in his kind Sartiy was as romantic as Potemkin: both of them thought that a soaring mind acts past the rules that cordon off human thought." Sarti actively began work in a new position. Famous musicians were involved in teaching at the first Russian conservatory (its actual seat was the city of Kremenchug): F. Brankino (oboe), A. Delfino (cello), F. Dal'Okka (harpsichord and solfeggio), etc.

The prince's horn orchestra was also replenished with students of the academy. An idea of ​ ​ the number of students can be obtained from petitions for the purchase of instruments: in 1787 6 oboes, 4 horns, 4 flutes were required, and in 1790 5 violins, 2 violas, 1 double bass, 2 cellos and 2 horns.

At the end of his life, Potemkin broke up with Sarti, who went to the service of Sheremetev, and after the death of the prince, the music academy in Kremenchug practically ceased to exist.

1789: Famous concerts on the occasion of the victories of Russian weapons

During the Russo-Turkish War (1787-1791), Potemkin's headquarters are always the music sounded. Numerous memoirists from among foreign officers in the Russian service, as well as diplomats who accompanied Catherine during her the famous travel of 1787 to the south of Russia, left evidence of almost daily concerts. In addition to regimental musicians, horn orchestra, a small Italian chapel (musicians from among the teachers Yekaterinoslav Academy) and singers in these concerts could receive participation and students of the academy. So writes the Spanish traveler de Miranda, who visited Kremenchug in 1787: "They listened to music again and again, and in between - a choir of young men who study at the conservatory founded by here the empress<...> Then, until dinner, quartets were performed Boccherini. " The apotheosis of this hiking musical life was performed in 1789, Sarti's work "The Glorious Cantata" We Praise You God, " composed and produced in Kremenchug to congratulate the imperial prince Potemkin-Tauride due to his capture of the Ochakov fortress. " In Sarti used all the sound resources available to orchestrate this cantata at his disposal: choir, orchestra, horn music and even cannons. Composition was a huge success and after a while was performed in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra for the empress and the St. Petersburg court.

The most striking event of the last year of the prince's life was the famous holiday organized in the new Tauride Palace on April 28, 1791 on the occasion of the capture of Ishmael. About three thousand persons of both sexes were invited to the celebration. G.R. Derzhavin writes in his description of the holiday: "As soon as the Highest visitors deigned to ascend to the places prepared by him, then suddenly voice and instrumental music of three hundred people rattled." On this day, the name of one of the most famous composers of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries arose in the history of Russian music. Osip Kozlovsky. As an officer of the Potemkin army, he was spotted by the prince, who helped the musician make a career in St. Petersburg. It was Kozlovsky who became the author of the musical design of the holiday in Tauride palace, for which he wrote polonaise choirs with the words of Derzhavin. Polonaise "Thunder of victory give out," first sounded that evening, became unofficial Russian anthem.

1791: Offer to Potemkin to invite him to Mozart's service

In conclusion, I would like to talk about one failed opportunity related to the name of Potemkin. On September 15, 1791, the Russian ambassador to Vienna, Count Andrei Razumovsky, wrote to the prince that he was ready to "send to you the first harpsichordist and one of the most skilled composers in Germany - named Mozart - who, having some discontent here, would be disposed to accept this journey. He's in Bohemia now, but will be back soon. If you, Your Lordship, then allow me to invite him not for a long time, but simply in order to go to Your Lordship, so that you hear him and, if you find it necessary, then you would take him to your service. " But already on October 5, His Grace Prince died, and two months later Mozart was gone.

Шаблон:XVIII Century Music CD

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