Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1850)
Christina Robertson (1796–1854)
As I prepare for the publication and launch of my second novel, Fortune’s Price, I have taken some time out to read a book I came across recently about the life of the Grand Duchess, Elena Pavlovna (1807 – 1873)(pictured above). Born Princess Charlotte of Württemberg, she was the wife of Mikhail Pavlovich, the youngest brother of Alexander 1 and Nicholas 1. While reading the book, I discovered that the grand duchess played a significant part in the development of musical education in Russia.
Despite the fact that we now regard Russian music as among the greatest in the cannon, the development of a musical tradition and the establishment of music academies came comparatively late.
There was not a great deal of music played in a secular context until the time of Peter the Great, who died in 1725, and his particular interest lay in promoting improvements in military music. To this end he imported composers from Germany to teach young soldiers who were obliged to perform every day on the tower of the newly built Admiralty.
Regular concerts started under the Empress Anna (1693 -1640). She invited the Neapolitan composer Francesco Araja to Russia in 1735, where he lived for twenty-five years and presented the first opera with a Russian libretto in 1736. His career in Russia continued under the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. We know that Elizabeth was fond not just of music, but also of the young choristers who sang in the imperial chapel. Indeed it was among their number that she found her life-long companion, Alexey Razumovsky, whom she may or may not have married, and who enjoyed the nickname of ‘The Night Emperor’.
Catherine the Second, despite confessing to having no musical taste herself, not only organised public concert series, but also composed several operas of her own that were staged in the Hermitage Theatre. In her reign some Russian composers began to appear, but probably the most important was the Polish composer, Josef Koslowsky, who lived much of his life in St Petersburg and who in 1791 wrote the music for the unofficial Russian national anthem ‘Let the thunder of victory rumble!’ with a text by Derzhavin.
In the early years of the 19th century Russian society saw a proliferation of music and opera both by Russian and non-Russian composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Rossini. The 1830’s witnessed the emergence of Mikhail Glinka (1804 -1857) (pictured below in 1856) His ‘A life for the Tsar’ (1836) is generally regarded as the first ‘proper’ Russian opera.
Musical life in St Petersburg was however heavily circumscribed by a proliferation of rules that guaranteed the imperial theatres a virtual monopoly over performances. Academies for music and singing were established during Nicholas’s reign, but they proved short lived, possibly due to a lack of opportunities beyond the imperial theatres for graduates.
It was not until the 1860’s that musical education was firmly established in St Petersburg. The Grand Duchess, Elena Pavlovna had always been a musical enthusiast. In her later years she became a patron of the great musician, Anton Rubenstein, and it was finally through their influence that a Russian academy of music opened its doors to students in November 1861.
Mikhail Gllnka in 1856. Lithograph. Artist unknown.