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| {{picture|file=Begichev_Vladimir.jpg|caption='''Vladimir Begichev''' (1828-1891)}} | | {{picture|file=Orlov_Vasily.jpg|caption='''Vasily Orlov''' (1857–1907)}} |
| Russian dramatist and administrator (b. 6/18 May 1828 in Tula; d. 17/29 November 1891 in [[Saint Petersburg]]), born '''''Vladimir Petrovich Begichev''''' (Владимир Петрович Бегичев). | | Russian choirmaster (b. 6/18 February 1857 at Nikolskoye; d. 23 November/6 December 1907), born '''''Vasily Sergeyevich Orlov''''' (Василий Сергеевич Орлов). |
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| Vladimir Begichev was the scion of an ancient gentry family and studied at [[Moscow]] University, after which he worked in various government posts before being finally appointed director of the Imperial Theatres in [[Moscow]]. He was a highly cultivated and charming man whose house was a centre of artistic life in [[Moscow]] during the 1860s and 70s, its doors always being open to actors and enthusiasts of the theatre. Begichev's house also attracted such eminent guests as [[Ivan Turgenev]], [[Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky]], [[Aleksandr Serov]], [[Nikolay Rubinstein]], and [[Aleksandr Ostrovsky]], as well as Tchaikovsky, who was a close friend of the Begichev-Shilovsky family. In his capacity as director of the Imperial Theatres, Begichev undertook several valuable reforms, as a result of which audience numbers at the Maly Theatre rose significantly, and the troupe's finest actors [[Ivan Samarin]] and Sergey Shumsky (1821–1878) were given new opportunities to display their talents. Begichev was the author of many comedies, some of them quite successful, and also regularly appeared on the stage himself.
| | He studied in Tchaikovsky's harmony classes at the [[Moscow]] Conservatory between 1876 and 1878, and also studied the bassoon. After his graduation in 1880, he taught singing at various schools in [[Moscow]], and in 1886 he was appointed head of the city's Synodal Choir. |
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| Begichev was married twice, the second time to Mariya Shilovskaya (1827–1879), herself also recently widowed and with two sons from her first marriage: [[Konstantin Shilovsky|Konstantin]] and [[Vladimir Shilovsky]]. Begichev thus became their stepfather; he also had a daughter [[Mariya Kiselyova|Mariya]] from his first marriage.
| | ==Correspondence with Tchaikovsky== |
| | 3 letters from Tchaikovsky to Vasily Orlov have survived, dating from 1885 to 1892, all of which have been translated into English on this website: |
| | * '''[[Letter 2845]]''' – 28 December 1885/9 January 1886, from [[Maydanovo]] |
| | * '''[[Letter 2872]]''' – 30 January/11 February 1886, from [[Maydanovo]] |
| | * '''[[Letter 4764]]''' – 1/13 September 1892, from [[Moscow]] |
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| ==Tchaikovsky and Begichev==
| | 4 letters from Vasily Orlov to Tchaikovsky, dating from 1886, are preserved in the {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]] (a{{sup|4}}, Nos. 3173–3176) <ref name="note1"/>. |
| On 26 May/7 June 1868, Begichev, [[Vladimir Shilovsky]], and the singer and actor Konstantin De Lazari (1838–1903) set off from [[Saint Petersburg]] together with Tchaikovsky to travel first to [[Berlin]], and then to [[Paris]], where they stayed for some six weeks. Tchaikovsky was invited on this trip to Western Europe (he had only been outside the Russian Empire once before — in 1861) because he was the music teacher of Begichev's stepson [[Vladimir Shilovsky]].
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| According to the memoirs of [[Nikolay Kashkin]], it was thanks to the initiative of Begichev that in 1873 [[Aleksandr Ostrovsky]] was commissioned to write a fairy-tale play with incidental music by Tchaikovsky: ''[[The Snow Maiden]]''. [[Kashkin]] also recalls how Tchaikovsky had for a long time been thinking of writing a ballet, since this was a musical genre which appealed to him greatly. Such an opportunity finally presented itself when in early 1875 (?) Begichev, who was seeking to expand the repertoire at the Bolshoi Theatre in [[Moscow]], commissioned a ballet from him. Tchaikovsky gladly took up the offer, specifying that he wanted to write a fantastic ballet set in medieval times. [[Kashkin]] adds: "If I am not mistaken it was Begichev himself who wrote the scenario for the ballet ''[[Swan Lake]]''; the composer approved this subject and agreed to write the music for 800 rubles" <ref name="note1"/>. However, the accuracy of [[Kashkin]]'s account in this respect has been called into question, and two other possible authors of the libretto of ''[[Swan Lake]]'' (or ''Lake of the Swans'' as it was originally entitled) have been suggested: the dancer and balletmaster Vasily Geltser (1840–1905) and the Czech choreographer Julius Reisinger (1828–1892), who was balletmaster of the Bolshoi Theatre from 1873–78 and ultimately responsible for the choreography of the first production of ''[[Swan Lake]]'' (1877). Since Tchaikovsky completed the full score of the ballet at [[Glebovo]], the family estate of [[Konstantin Shilovsky]], it has also been suggested that the latter may have had a hand in the libretto <ref name="note2"/>.
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| When Tchaikovsky, in October 1880, at the request of his brother [[Anatoly]], agreed to make some important changes to the stage directions for the final scene of ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]'', which was soon to be produced at the Bolshoi Theatre in [[Moscow]], one of the persons he wanted to look through these alterations was Begichev <ref name="note3"/>. At around the same time Tchaikovsky also promised his brother [[Modest]] that he would show Begichev the comedy which he had just completed, with a view to getting it staged <ref name="note4"/>. This comedy, entitled ''The Benefactor'' (Благодетель), was in fact [[Modest Tchaikovsky]]'s first literary work, and Begichev seems to have liked it, since ''The Benefactor'' was eventually premiered in [[Moscow]] in 1881.
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| ==Bibliography== | | ==Bibliography== |
| * {{bib|1910/13}} (1910) | | * {{bib|1990/195}} (1990) |
| * {{bib|1999/104}} (1999)
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| ==External Links== | | ==External Links== |
| * [[wikipedia:ru:Бегичев,_Владимир_Петрович|Wikipedia]] (Russian) | | * [[wikipedia:ru:Орлов,_Василий_Сергеевич_(дирижёр)|Wikipedia]] (Russian) |
| * {{viaf|223169148}}
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| ==Notes and References== | | ==Notes and References== |
| <references> | | <references> |
| <ref name="note1">{{bib|1954/50|Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском}} (1954), p. 117.</ref> | | <ref name="note1">Including one telegram written jointly with N. F. Dobrovolsky, director of the Synodal School.</ref> |
| <ref name="note2">{{bib|1985/23|Лебединое озеро}} (1985), p. 33–34.</ref>
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| <ref name="note3">See also [[Letter 1614]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], 17/29 October 1880. The other persons were [[Mariya Klimentova]] (who was to sing Tatyana), the conductor [[Enrico Bevignani]], and [[Nikolay Rubinstein]] (who had directed the premiere of the opera with students from the [[Moscow]] Conservatory in March 1879). For more details on these alterations, see the work history for ''[[Yevgeny Onegin]]''.</ref>
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| <ref name="note4">See also [[Letter 1640]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 14/26 December 1880.</ref>
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| </references> | | </references> |
| [[Category:People|Begichev, Vladimir]] | | |
| [[Category:Writers|Begichev, Vladimir]] | | [[Category:People|Orlov, Vasily]] |
| | [[Category:Conductors|Orlov, Vasily]] |
| | [[Category:Correspondents|Orlov, Vasily]] |
| __NOTOC__ | | __NOTOC__ |
Russian choirmaster (b. 6/18 February 1857 at Nikolskoye; d. 23 November/6 December 1907), born Vasily Sergeyevich Orlov (Василий Сергеевич Орлов).
He studied in Tchaikovsky's harmony classes at the Moscow Conservatory between 1876 and 1878, and also studied the bassoon. After his graduation in 1880, he taught singing at various schools in Moscow, and in 1886 he was appointed head of the city's Synodal Choir.
Correspondence with Tchaikovsky
3 letters from Tchaikovsky to Vasily Orlov have survived, dating from 1885 to 1892, all of which have been translated into English on this website:
4 letters from Vasily Orlov to Tchaikovsky, dating from 1886, are preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a4, Nos. 3173–3176) [1].
Bibliography
External Links
Notes and References
- ↑ Including one telegram written jointly with N. F. Dobrovolsky, director of the Synodal School.
