Ekaterina Alexejewna Vorontsova

Ekaterina Alexejewna Voronzowa ( Dmitri Levizki )

Ekaterina Vorontsova Alexejewna born Ekaterina Alexejewna Senjawina , ( Russian Екатерина Алексеевна Воронцова , maiden name Russian Екатерина Алексеевна Сенявина * 1761 , † 25. August 1784 in Pisa ) was a Russian maid , pianist and composer .

Life

Yekaterina Alexejewna was the second of the four daughters of Admiral Alexei Naumowitsch Senjawin and his wife Anna-Elisabeth nee von Bradke . Ekaterina Alexejewna was made a fräulein ( lady-in-waiting ) at an early age and soon became one of the preferred ladies-in- waiting of Empress Catherine II. Ekaterina Alexejewna and her sisters were called the nymphs by Pyotr Vasilyevich Savadovsky .

Ekaterina Alexejewna had many admirers, but she was most attentive to Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov , who was trying to get help as a diplomat from Catherine II's favorite, Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin . Ekaterina Alexeevna began a relationship with Potyomkin, and Catherine II decided to marry her off in order to remove her from the court. In May 1780, Ekaterina Alexejewna and Semjon Romanowitsch Voronzow got engaged to the delight of their father Roman Illarionowitsch Voronzow and the whole Vorontsov family.

Yekaterina Alexeyevna was known as a pianist and composer. With her as soloist , a harpsichord concerto by Giovanni Paisiello was performed for the first time at the court of Catherine II in 1781 .

Catherine's Church in Murino

Yekaterina Alexejewna married Semjon Romanowitsch Voronzow on August 18, 1781 at the Voronzow estate Murino near St. Petersburg . After a few months there, the couple returned to St. Petersburg. In May 1782 their son Michail (1782-1856) was born, whose godmother was Catherine II and who in 1856 became field marshal . The following year their daughter Jekaterina (1783-1856) was born, who later married George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke at Wilton House . Vorontsova herself fed her children, which her relatives regarded as exemplary. At the end of 1783, Vorontsov received the newly established position of ambassador to the Republic of Venice , so that he traveled to Venice with his family . The winter of 1783–1784 was very cold, so the canals froze over and the house they lived in was not protected from the cold. The first signs of consumption were visible in Vorontsova . Because of the inadequate financial resources in relation to the cost of living in Venice, the unfavorable climate and the illness of his wife, Vorontsov applied to be recalled from Venice. Vorontsov was then appointed ambassador to London . The family initially settled in Pisa to take advantage of the more favorable climate. Vorontsova died there on August 25, 1784 and was buried in the Greek Orthodox Church of San Giorgio dei Greci in Venice.

Vorontsov's brother Alexander Romanowitsch Voronzow , who had become the owner of the Murino estate, had a church built there according to a project by Nikolai Alexandrowitsch Lwows (1786–1790). which was consecrated at the request of the father Roman Illarionowitsch Voronzow in memory of Ekaterina Alexejewna Voronzowa Saint Catherine of Alexandria .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Награды императорской России 1702 - 1917 гг .: Воронцова Екатерина Алексеевна (accessed June 7, 2020).
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Алексей Кара-Мурза: Знаменитые русские о Венеции . Litres, June 5, 2020.
3. ↑ Nikolai Michailowitsch Romanow : Русские портреты 18–19 столетий (Russian portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries). Т.2 Вып. 4. №  170 .
4. ↑ Записки князя Петра Долгорукова . St. Petersburg 2007.
5. ^ Julie Anne Sadie, Rhian Samuel: The Norton / Grove Dictionary of Women Composers . WW Norton, 1994.
6. ↑ Marina Ritzarev: Eighteenth-century Russian music . 2001.