Alexey Nikolayevich Titov (; July 12, 1769 - November 8, 1827), was a Russian composer and violinist.*

Don Randel Don Michael Randel (born December 9, 1940) is an American musicologist, specializing in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Spain and France. He is currently the chair of the board of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a truste ...

, ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music''. Harvard, 1996, p. 919 His son, Nikolai Titov, was a composer, as were several other family members. Titov was born and died in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. Alongside his musical career, Titov was a major general in the Russian

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

. His music, most of which is for the stage (

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s, and

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

), was primarily written for local St. Petersburg theater and dance companies. Strong Russian themes run through his choice of

libretti A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

, and his music makes copious use of

Russian folk music Russian folk music specifically deals with the folk music traditions of the ethnic Russian people. Russian folk music is used as the basic foundation for the creation of all Russian professional music. Ethnic styles in the modern era The perfo ...

. He was most popular for his comic operas such as ''Yam, or The Post Station'' (1805), ''The Winter Party, or The Sequel to Yam'' (1808) and ''The Wedding Eve Party, or Filakin's Wedding'' (1809), which form a trilogy. All of them were staged in St. Petersburg.

Operas

''Note:this list is incomplete.'' *''Andromeda and Perseus'' (1802) *''King Solomon's Judgment'' (; 1803) *''Judge Cupid, or The Argument of the Three Graces'' (; 1805) *''Yam, or The Post Station'' ; 1805) * ''Nurzakhad'' (; 1807) *''The Winter Party, or The Sequel to Yam'' (; 1808) *''The Wedding Eve Party, or Filakin's Wedding'' (; 1809) *''Polixena'' (1809) *''The Cossack Woman'' (1810) * ''Emmerik Tekeli'' (; 1812) * ''Maslenitsa'' (1813) * ''Mogul's Holiday, or Olimar's Celebration'' (; 1823)

Family

Alexey Titov's brother Sergey was a famous violinist, violist and cellist. On January 23, 1790 Titov married Yelizaveta Turchaninova (4 November 4, 1774 – March 25, 1827), the daughter of the business magnate

Alexei Turchaninov Alexei Fedorovich Turchaninov (; born Alexei Fedorovich Vasilyev; 1704/1705 – March 21, 1787) was a business magnate in the Russian Empire, grandfather of Pavel Solomirsky, Pavel and Dmitry Solomirsky, the member of the wealthy Turchanino ...

. Titov got a huge

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

. With her sisters Natalya Koltovskaya and Nadezhda Ivelich, Yelizaveta was the co-heiress of her father's copper mines. According to her contemporaries, she was a generous and kind woman, but quick-tempered and strict to her children. Titov had 10 children with her: * Nikolai (1791–1794) * Felitsata (1792–?) * Fyodor (1793–1810) * Yekaterina (1794–?) * Anna (1796–1858), married the officer Sergey Izmaylov in 1835. * Alexander (1797–?) * Pyotr (1798–1850) * Nikolai (1800–1874), composer of waltzes, quadrilles, and marches. *

Mikhail Michael is a common masculine given name derived from the Hebrew phrase ''mī kāʼēl'', 'Who slike-El', in Aramaic: ܡܝܟܐܝܠ (''Mīkhāʼēl'' ). The theophoric name is often read as a rhetorical question – "Who slike he Hebrew Go ...

(1804–1853), composer of romances. * Varvara (1804–1806)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Titov, Alexey Nikolayevich 1769 births 1827 deaths Classical-period composers Romantic composers from the Russian Empire Opera composers from the Russian Empire Russian male opera composers Russian ballet composers Composers from Saint Petersburg 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians from the Russian Empire 19th-century classical composers from the Russian Empire 19th-century male musicians from the Russian Empire