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Askold's Grave (opera)
''Askold's Grave'' (also: ''Askold's Tomb'', Russian language, Russian: ''Аскольдова могила'' – Askol’dova mogila) is an opera in four acts by Alexey Verstovsky with a libretto by Mikhail Zagoskin. It was the most successful of Verstovsky's six operas, and its popularity even overshadowed Mikhail Glinka, Glinka’s two operas. It is a romantic opera with spoken dialogue, influenced by Carl Maria von Weber, Weber's ''Der Freischütz'', the latter having become popular in Russia after its first Russian performance in 1824. The role of Torop was created specifically for Alexander Bantyshev. Performance history The directors of the Imperial Theatres paid 2,000 rubles to the composer for this opera. The opera was first staged at the Bolshoi Theatre, Bolshoi in Moscow on 16 September 1835, a year before Mikhail Glinka, Glinka's ''A Life for the Tsar''. The main female role, Nadezhda, was portrayed by the wife of the composer, Nadezhda Repina (1809–1897), the daug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexey Verstovsky
Alexey Nikolayevich Verstovsky () () was a Russian composer, musical bureaucrat and rival of Mikhail Glinka. Biography Alexey Verstovsky was born at Seliverstovo Estate, Kozlovsky Uyezd, Tambov Governorate. The grandson of General A. Seliverstov and a captured Turkish woman, he was also a descendant of the Polish szlachta (gentry or aristocracy). 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, violin, musical theory and composition. John Field was among his teachers. At the age of 20 he became famous for his 'opera-vaudeville' ''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 ballads for voice and piano, which he called ''cantatas''. The performance of them had often involved a theatrical action. One of them ''The Black Shawl or Mold ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
