Nikolai Tcherepnin

<http://www.rulex.ru/01040559.htm>.

142 Bessel’s firm, “Bessel and Co.” published works by many Russian composers including Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others. See the RIPM article “Muzykal’ny listok” at

<http://www.ripm.org/journal_info.php5?ABB=MUL>, accessed 25 July, 2008.

143 Composers in this group included the Russian Five, Mussorgsky, Cui, et al. Beginning in the 1830s, this music included folk elements and was a Russian response to the popularity of Western music, specifically French and Italian. See M. Tevfik Dorak, “Russian Nationalism in Music,” <http://www.dorak.info/music/national.html>.

144 Nikolai Medtner (1879/1880-1951) studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory. His first compositions date from 1903. He won the Glinka prize in 1909. See Barrie Martyn, ‘Medtner, Nicolas [Metner, Nikolay Karlovich]’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 26 July 2008), <http://www.grovemusic.com>

145 These schools “originated from the Department of Empress Maria Fedorovna, which ran the Educational Society of Noble Ladies from 1796.” See <http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804009224> and the Russian-language page at <http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/mos/article/mos/19000/50991.htm>. There must be a comma missing between Alexandrovskom and Smol’nom in the typescript since these seem to have been separate institutions. Tcherepnin taught at these schools between 1901 and 1906. See Tcherepnin, op cit., p. 126 note 67.

146 Composer Vasily Vasileyevich Kyuner (1840-1911) was from Stuttgart. He also published such children’s works as “First Steps: school for beginners,” and “Syrinx,” a collection of children’s songs. See the Russian-language page at <http://mirslovarei.com/content_beo/Kjuner-Vasili-Vasil-evich-7756.html>.

147 Tcherepnin conducted at the Mariinsky Theater from 1906-1909. See Tcherepnin, op cit., p. 126 note 68.

148 In the Gogol tale, Taras Bulba and his two sons lay siege to Dubno.

See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Bulba>

149 The Russian is as follows:

“Ko’zak vo’inu liu’bit

Ko’zak kolet, rubit.” Each of these words is normally accented on the second syllable.

150 [Quoting from Tcherepnin, op. cit., p. 126, n. 69:] Alexander Nikolaevich Tcherepnin is the second member of the Tcherepnin family to be a composer (two of Alexander’s other sons, Sergei and Ivan also write music). After leaving Russia in 1921, Alexander lived in France, China, Japan and the U.S., composing music, teaching and playing piano, and lecturing on musical composition. An erudite musician, he devotes no small amount of energy to musical organizations: for thirty years he directed the Shanghai Conservatory, promoting Chinese and Japanese music, and opened a music publishing house in Tokyo.

He has written the opera “Ol-Ol” with a libretto by Leonid Andreyev, and “The Farmer and the Nymph,” several symphonies, piano concerti and ballets (“Trepak,” “Ajanta’s Frescoes,” “Chota Rostaveli” (in collaboration with Honegger[, Alexander Tcherepnin and Tibor Harsanyi]), Les Douze for narrator and small orchestra to texts by Blok, chamber music and also books (The History of Russian Music from its origins to Glinka). Further information can be found at <http://www.tcherepnin.com/>

151 Konstantin Michailovich Fofanov (1869-1911). A brief biography is available at

<http://www.bookrags.com/biography/konstantin-mikhailovich-fofanov-dlb/>, and a translation of “Lucid Stars” can be found at <http://www.geocities.com/scythian_dead/translations/zvezdy.htm.>

152 See notes 101 and 102.

153 Tcherepnin adds the following footnote to this passage: “This addition is written on the morning of June 6, 1944 in Issy-les-Moulineaux/Seine: At 2AM the German radio station in Paris announced that Anglo/American forces had invaded France.”

154 The Tcherepnin Society website lists La Nuit as an unpublished op. 6, no. 1 and “La vieille chanson” as op. 6, no. 2, published by Belaieff.

155 Ivan Osipovich Lyalechkin (1870 – 1895) was born in the Russian province of Penza, southwest of Moscow, and came from poverty. His works often appeared in Russian literary journals. Briusov commemorated his death in a poem. See the Russian-language page at <http://www.invictory.org/lib/2004/04/lyalechkin.html>.

156 Quoting Tcherepnin, op cit.: I once met in Paris my former student, Sergei Prokofiev, who had just arrived from Soviet Russia and asked him whether my music was being performed there, and if so, whether more or less than before. “They play less but sing more,” was his response. Others, coming from Soviet Russia, confirmed this. In particular they mentioned the success of my “Autumn”/ “Falling Leaves.” Consider the text of the following verses of this song:

Leaves are falling.

Shadows of the departed wander behind me,

Stifled sobs,

Memories sing a swan song to the heart.

I realized why they were so successful: those who would become the “shadows of the departed” realized beforehand, with touching and painful presentiments, that the poet’s prophetic verse was supposed, disturbingly, to refer to them.
The limits of this dramatic idyll were finally established (and hit me between the eyes) by the menacing bark of a Soviet review: “Enough of these swan songs, already. To hell with them.” I think that by that time, the majority of the readers of this verse had succeeded in becoming “shadows of the departed.”
This romance, translated into European languages, is alive and well and not infrequently appears in concerts and on radio programs, but listeners probably no longer experience any painful memories.

157 Quoting Tcherepnin, op cit.: “I consider these rather candid musical lines, set down to Tiutchev’s moving text, to be some of the best I have ever written.”

158 The Royal Chapel Choir was comprised of the men and boys who sang at Imperial church services and concerts. Established in 1479 in Moscow, it was transferred by Peter the Great to St. Petersburg in 1703. It has had various names over the years and is now called the St. Petersburg Academic Choir. See Stuart Campbell, ‘Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 14 August 2008),

<http://www.grovemusic.com> and the Russian-language page at <http://enc.mail.ru/article/1900440614>.

159 Pjotr Artemevich Krasnokutski (1849-1900) studied and taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He played in the Mariinsky orchestra, among others, and is the dedicatee of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Fantasy for violin and piano on Russian themes. See the Russian-language page <http://www.mke.su/doc/KRASNOKUTSKII.html>.

160 Arensky completed “Nal and Damayanti” in 1903 and it was premiered at the Bolshoi Theater in 1904. See David Brown, ‘Arensky, Anton [Antony] Stepanovich’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 August 2008)

161 Arensky composed “Dream on the Volga” while he studied with Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It premiered in 1891 and is based on the same story as Tchaikovsky’s opera, Voyevoda. See David Brown, op. cit.

162 Both Tcherepnin and the Soviet edition of his memoir have the title of Rimsky-Korsakov’s work slightly wrong. As listed in The New Grove, the title is “Chronicle of my musical life.” It was published in in 1909, a year after the composer’s death. See Mark Humphreys, et al., ‘Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 August 2008)

163 Rimksy-Korsakov’s slighting remarks about Arensky ended with “He will soon be forgotten.” Tcherepnin’’s negative reaction to this assessment was shared by others, e.g. Vitol. See Tcherepnin, op cit., p. 126, n. 70.

164 Andrei Nikolaevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1878-1940), a musicologist, was forced to leave the St. Petersburg Conservatory and studied abroad beginning in 1900. He returned to Russia to teach and was head of the music department of St. Petersburg’s Saltïkov-Shchedrin Public Library from 1918 until his death. See Mark Humphreys, et al., ‘Andrey Nikolayevich Rimsky-Korsakov’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 August 2008)

165 Alexander Ilyich Siloti (1863-1945) was a Russian pianist and conductor. He studied piano with Nikolai Rubinstein and with Liszt. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory and lived for a time in St. Petersburg. After the Revolution, he left Russia and eventually moved to the U.S. where he taught at the Juilliard School. He is buried in the Novo Diveyevo cemetery in Spring Valley, NY. See the Russian-language page at <http://www.krugosvet.ru/articles/74/1007409/1007409a1.htm> and the English-language page at

<http://www.arco-iris.com/George/Siloti.htm>.

166 Vera Pavlovna Siloti (1866-1940) was the daughter of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretiakov (1832-1898), founder of the world-renowned Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow and wife of pianist Alexander Ilyich Siloti (1887-1950). See the Russian-language page a <http://www.senar.ru/names/z/>.

167 Born in 1864, Adeyada Yuliavnovna Bolskaya studied at the Moscow and was given a scholarship for study abroad when she graduated. Between 1889-1893 she sang at the Bolshoi opera in Moscow and beginning in 1897 was prima donna at the Mariinsky Theater. See <http://www.biografija.ru/show_bio.aspx?id=12074>.

168 See note 160.

169 The Alexander Nevsky Monastery contains some of St. Petersburg’s oldest buildings and is the resting place of Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, Glinka and others. See <http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/Alexander-Nevsky-Monastery.asp>

170 Despite receiving minimal formal music instruction, having been orphaned at the age of six and having spent his youth as a poor vagrant, Ivan Yakovlevich Ternov (1859 – 1925) was a very successful musician due to his innate talent and good voice. He became the Monastery’s cantor in 1893 and received great critical acclaim for his choral conducing. See Tcherepnin, op. cit., p. 126, note 73 and the Russian-language page at <http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/khordict/article/hos-0620.htm>.

171 The actual premier of The Golden Cockerel took place in Moscow in the fall of 1909. Tcherepnin here refers to the St. Petersburg first performance that took place in December of that year. See Mark Humphreys, et al., ‘Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 21 August 2008) and Tcherepnin, op. cit., p. 127, note 74.

172 Critic and musicologist Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi (1877-1944) made a career of translating libretti from many languages. “From beginning to end of his career, he campaigned tirelessly in both French and English for the recognition and comprehension of Russian music.” See Gerald Abraham, ‘Calvocoressi, Michel-Dimitri’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 21 August 2008). The performance Tcherepnin mentions here took place in 1928. See Tcherepnin, op cit. p. 127, note 75.

173 Ukrainian-born Russian artist Ilya Yefimovich Repin (1844-1930) was one of the most famous artists of the 19^th century. He moved to Kuokkala in 1900. After the Revolution, the city became part of Finland. See <http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Horizons/En/bio-478.html>.

174 Leopold Auer (1845-1930) was a Hungarian violinist who taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1868-1917 and “exerted a decisive influence on the Russian Violin School.” See Boris Schwarz, ‘Auer, Leopold (von)’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 22 October 2008) and note 46.

175 This would have been Nicholas II (1868-1918). He was tzar beginning in 1894.

See <http://www.bartleby.com/67/russia04.html>

and <http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Tsar_Nicholas_II>.

176 1902-1903 according to Tcherepnin, op. cit. p. 127, note 76.

177 Tcherepnin, op cit., p. 98 has “at the First and women’s” . . .

178 In pre-Revolutionary Russia gymnasia “were mainly established with the purpose of training pupils for university and service in state institutions. . . . M. A. Lokhvitskaya-Skalon’s Gymnasium of artistic classes was opened in 1897 at 27 Nikolaevskaya Street (Marata Street).”

See <http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804011812>. The founder, Mirra Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya, (1869-1905) was a was a poet and dramatist who wrote of female sensuality.. See Lori Johnston, “Storming the Stage in the Golden Age of the Russian Actress,” Studies in Slavic Culture III: The Russian Body (July 2002): <http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/sisc/SISC3/johnston.pdf> p. 102, note 37.

179 The original manuscript has “nelegkuiu” or “not easy”. Tcherepnin, op. cit., p. 99 has “gromkuiu” here instead, which means something like “loud” or “notorious” in this context.

180 This could refer to the conservative, anti-West Slavophile movement in Russia where, in the 19^th century “Slavophiles like Dostoevsky claimed a mystical bond, ‘l’âme slave,’ and the Orthodox Church to be the essence of Slavism.” See Mark Lilla, “The Resumption of History,” Correspondence: An international review of culture and society (No. 4 Spring/Summer 1999: p. 39. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/328030/CFR-CORR-springsummer-1999>.

181 Leon Bakst, a.k.a. Lev Samoilovich Rosenberg (1866-1924) was a well-known painter who, with Diaghilev, was one of the founders in 1898 of the World of Art movement in Russia. For some of his works, see <http://www.russianavantgard.com/artists_world_of_art/leon_bakst.html>.

182 Tcherepnin refers here to Alexander Yakovlevich Golovin (1863-1930). Also a member of Diaghilev’s World of Art Movement, he was a set designer for the Mariinsky Theater. His work for the Ballets Russes included set designs for Stravinsky’s “Firebird.” See the Russian-language page at

<http://www.encspb.ru/article.php?kod=2804029319>.

183 Alexander Ilyich Siloti (1863-1945) was a Ukrainian pianist and conductor. He organized a series of concerts in St. Petersburg from 1903-1917. See <http://www.tchaikovsky-research.net/en//people/Siloti_aleksandr.html>.

184 Alexander Yakovlevich Tairov né Korenblit (1885-1950), specialized in “synthetic theater” that trained its actors in singing, dancing, and acrobatics. He was also influential in his use of abstract sets. He changed his last name and moved to St. Petersburg from the Ukraine to escape pogroms. See <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=23980391>.

185 According to the Soviet version of Tcherepnin’s memoir, Tairov’s intended production never occurred. See Tcherepnin, op cit., p. 127, n. 82.

186 The Tcherepnin Society website lists this as Trois Fragments Symphoniques sur une nouvelle d’Edgar Poe. See <http://www.tcherepnin.com/nikolai/comps_nik.htm>.

187 The Soviet version has “kruchi” (something like “steep cliffs”) in place of the original “krugi” or “spere,” (“range”). This is a reference to Ecclesiastes 1:6: “Going unto the south, and turning round unto the north, turning round, turning round, the wind is going, and by its circuits the wind hath returned.”