Timofiy Bilohradsky (also Belogradsky, Pelogradsky; uk, Тимофій Білоградський; ca. 1710 — ca. 1782) was a lutenist,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and kobzar- bandurist of Ukrainian ethnicity, active in St. Petersburg and Königsberg. Little is known about his childhood. He is thought to have been born in or near the city of Cherkasy in Ukraine and that he learned to play the kobza and

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

at the Hlukhiv Music Academy in Ukraine. He had an excellent voice and great musical aptitude. In 1725 he was invited to

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

to sing in the Imperial Church Capella. In 1733 Tsarina Anna sent Bilohradsky to Dresden in the retinue of the ambassador Count Keyserlinck to perfect his lute playing under the tutelage of Silvius Leopold Weiss - the most important lutenist-composer of the 18th century. He also studied voice with Faustina Bordoni-Hasse, and

castrato A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to ...

Domenico Annibali. Bilohradsky eventually became one of the highest trained musicians in the Russian Court Capella. In 1739, Bilohradsky returned to St Petersburg, where he continued to work as a court musician. In 1741 he returned to Germany where he became known as a virtuoso lutenist and singer and for some time lived in Königsberg where he had a number of students - notably Johann

Reichardt Reichart, Reichhart or Reichardt are surnames, and may refer to: * Israel Reichart, Israeli biologist and agriculturist * Johann Reichhart, German executioner * Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Prussian composer * Kelly Reichardt, American film directo ...

(father of Johann Friedrich Reichardt), and Johann Georg Hamann, the Sturm-und-Drang

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. In his last years he lived in Petersburg. The " Moscow Weiss Manuscript" is ascribed to Bilohradsky or his circle. As a composer Bilohradsky is known for a set of songs and romances to the texts by Sumarokov that enjoyed considerable popularity in the 18th century. His niece, Yelizaveta Belogradskaya, became famous as a first Russian opera-singer, she sang at the Imperial St. Petersburg opera and was also known as a composer.

References

Biodata (in Russian)
1710s births 1780s deaths Musicians from Cherkasy People from Kiev Voivodeship Bandurists Kobzars Torbanists Ukrainian classical musicians Ukrainian classical composers Classical-period composers Ukrainian lutenists 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians Male classical composers {{Ukraine-musician-stub