Alexander Sergejewitsch Dargomyschski

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Sergejewitsch Dargomyschski

Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky ( Russian Александр Сергеевич Даргомыжский ., Scientific transliteration: Aleksandr Sergeevič Dargomyžskij * 2 . Jul / 14. February  1813 greg. In Dargomysch in Tula Governorate , † January 5 jul. / 17th January  1869 greg. In Sankt Petersburg ) was a Russian composer . Dargomyschski is rightly regarded as one of the most worthy representatives of national Russian opera and has made a significant contribution to its training. He wrote orchestral works, operas and songs that have a pronounced national and realistic character.

Life

Dargomyschski did not learn to speak until he was five, but began to play the piano when he was six and the violin when he was eight. After his family moved to St. Petersburg in 1817, he received his musical training first from his German governess , then from a music teacher named Danilewski and finally from Franz Schoberlechner , a student of Johann Nepomuk Hummel . Professionally, he followed in his father's footsteps and entered civil service in the fall of 1827. Like many young men of his class, he initially viewed music as a leisure activity, also published a few smaller vocal works , mostly for female voices, but received no music theory training whatsoever .

It was not until the winter of 1833–1834 that he was introduced to Michail Glinka , who lent him the music books with exercises in basso continuo and counterpoint that he himself had studied with Siegfried Dehn . Dargomyschski played piano duos with Glinka, organized concerts and analyzed Beethoven's symphonies and Mendelssohn's overtures. Following his teacher's example, he decided to write a complete opera. Dargomyschski was an admirer of French literature, and his first opera was Esmeralda , a setting of Victor Hugo's historical novel Notre-Dame de Paris . However, since Russian opera was dominated by Italian works at that time, he had to wait until 1847 for the premiere of his opera in Moscow , which even then had little success and only had its St. Petersburg premiere in the local opera in 1851 .

In 1843 Dargomyschski suddenly resigned from civil service and in September 1844 went on a trip abroad. He was introduced to Fétis in Brussels , and in Paris he met Auber , Meyerbeer and Halévy . Like Glinka ten years earlier, it was only abroad that he discovered the advantages of his own culture; on his return in May 1845 he wrote to a friend: "There is no better people in the world than the Russian, and if there are elements of poetry in Europe, then in Russia". His thorough study of Russian folk song led to the writing of the opera Russalka , which was completed in 1855. The opera received little attention from the audience in need of entertainment, which is why the disappointed Dargomyschski joined the new progressive school, the so-called “Mighty Heap” around the composer Mili Alexejewitsch Balakirew . A third dramatic work, the ballet cantata Das Bacchusfest , was completed in 1848, but was not performed until 1867 (also in Moscow).

Dargomyschsky died on January 17th (New Style Date) 1869 in Petersburg, his permanent residence, leaving behind an unfinished opera: The Stone Guest (based on a dramatic poem by Alexander Pushkin ), the work of which was written by two of Russia's most talented young composers, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Instrumentation) and César Cui (prelude), took over.

Since 1987 he has been named in honor of the Dargomyschski Glacier on the Antarctic Alexander I Island .

Works

  • Esmeralda, Opera, 1839
  • Russalka , opera, composed 1848–1855, premiered in 1856 in Saint Petersburg
  • The Bacchus Festival, cantata, 1848
  • Bolero, for orchestra, 1839
  • Fantasy Scherzo "Baba-Jaga", for orchestra, 1862
  • Little Russian Cossack Dance, for orchestra, 1864
  • Fantasy on Finnish Themes, for orchestra, 1867
  • The Stone Guest , opera, unfinished, 1868–1869, completed by Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov, premiered February 28, 1872 in Saint Petersburg
  • numerous songs, such as B. "The Worm", "The Titular Councilor", "The Old Corporal" and the like. a.
  • Smaller piano pieces and variations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i j Clive Unger-Hamilton, Neil Fairbairn, Derek Walters; German arrangement: Christian Barth, Holger Fliessbach, Horst Leuchtmann, et al .: The music - 1000 years of illustrated music history . Unipart-Verlag, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8122-0132-1 , p. 120 .