Mark Fyodorovich Poltoratsky (28 April 1729, Sosnitsa,

Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire (1796–1917), Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–18; 1918–1921), Ukrainian State (1918), and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–19 ...

– 24 April 1795,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

) was a Russian Imperial singer (

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

). He was of Ukrainian Cossack descent and an

Active State Councillor Active State Councillor (, deystvitelnyi statskiy sovetnik) was a civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. That was a civil rank of the 4th class and equal to those of M ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He is the founder of the Russian noble Poltoratsky family.

Early life

His father was Fyodor Poltoratsky, who settled in the centenary town of Sosnitsa of the

Chernigov Regiment The Chernigov Regiment (also known as ''Chernihiv Regiment'' or the ''Regiment of Chernigov'', , ) was one of ten territorial-administrative subdivisions of the Registered Zaporozhian Host, later incorporated as an autonomy in Tsardom of Russia. ...

of the Hetman's Ukraine and accepted the priesthood. During the period of the

hetmanship ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

of Daniel Apostle, on 28 April 1729, Mark was born. The boy was clever, inquisitive, and his father sent him to the "Latin schools" of

Chernigov Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukrain ...

, where he studied for four years. His studies continued at Kiev-Mogila Academy. In childhood, Mark had a beautiful voice and, as a student, he sang in an academic choir. In 1744 Mark's voice was heard by Count

Alexei Razumovsky Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky (, ; 1709–1771) was a Ukrainian-born Russian Registered Cossack who rose to become the lover, and it was suggested he was the morganatic spouse, of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia. A member of th ...

(a former chorister), who accompanied Empress

Elizabeth Petrovna Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, her numerous constructio ...

on her trip to Ukraine. A year later, the young man left his Kiev classmates and traveled to St. Petersburg to sing in the choir at the imperial court. Mark's career was soon appointed "installer" of the court choir. In 1750 he was the first Slav to be enlisted in the Italian opera troupe, acting under the name "Marko Porturatsky". Three years later he was appointed regent of the Court Singing Chapel. With nominal decrees of the Empress, he repeatedly traveled to select the best voices in Ukraine. In 1754 he was promoted to colonel. Mark Poltoratsky selected the "small singers", listening to church, monastic, school and other choirs in the hetman's regiments.

Dmitry Bortniansky Dmitry Stepanovich Bortniansky (28 October 1751 – ) was a Russian composer of Ukrainian Cossack origin. He was also a harpsichordist and conductor who served at the court of Catherine the Great. Bortniansky was critical to the musical hist ...

, 9 years old, the son of a Cossack of the Glukhovsky Hundreds of the Nezhinsky Regiment, got into the register of "small singers" of 30 October 1760. In 1763 Poltoratsky headed the Court Singing Chapel and received hereditary nobility. He died in St. Petersburg and was buried at the

Lazarevskoe Cemetery Lazarevskoe Cemetery () is a historic cemetery in the centre of Saint Petersburg, and the oldest surviving cemetery in the city. It is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and is one of four cemeteries in the complex. Since 1932 it has been part of ...

of the

Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexa ...

Manors

In the 1740s Poltoratsky acquired the village of Gruziny in the

Novotorzhsky Uyezd Novotorzhsky Uyezd was an administrative-territorial unit (uyezd) of the Tver Governorate as part of the Russian Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The uyezd town was Torzhok. Geography The county was located in the cent ...

of the Tver Province. The main house with outbuildings, a service building, a forge, a cellar, a boulder bridge, a landscape park, and stone residential peasant houses (21 houses) are preserved. Poltoratskay A

In 1790 the Transfiguration Church, a replica of the

Chesme Church The Chesme Church (; full name ''Church of Saint John the Baptist at Chesme Palace'', also called the ''Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist'', ), is a small Russian Orthodox church at 12 Lensoveta Street, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It ...

in the capital, was founded by state councilor Mark Fedorovich Poltoratsky in the village of Krasnoye, Staritsky Uyezd, Tver Province.

Family

Poltoratsky married the daughter of merchant Shemyakin. Widowed, he married the daughter of poor nobles of the Tver Province, Agafokleya Shishkova (29 June 1737 – 12 October 1822), who was not yet 15 years old. She ''"skillfully disposed of enormous wealth and large economy, holding her servants, kin and a bunch of already married children in her fists"''.

Anna Kern Anna Petrovna Kern (, (Полторацкая), name after second marriage: Markova-Vinogradskaya (Маркова-Виноградская); – ) was a Russian socialite and memoirist, notable as the addressee of a noted love poem written by ...

remembered that her grandmother did not know how to read or write, but was ''"intelligent and responsive"''.Alexey Pyanov. "Beach, my dear for me": Pushkin places of the Upper Volga region. Moscow Worker, 1974. p. 116. The family had 22 children who formed the

Poltoratsky family The Poltoratsky family was a Russian nobility, Russian noble family, descended from the Cossack Mark Poltoratsky, Mark Fedorovich Poltoratsky (1729–1795), who during the reign of Catherine the Great, was in charge of the Saint Petersburg Court ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poltoratsky, Mark Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire 1729 births 1795 deaths 18th-century male opera singers from the Russian Empire Russian baritones

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

Burials at Lazarevskoe Cemetery (Saint Petersburg) Landowners from the Russian Empire 18th-century landowners