Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Мрави́нский) (19 January 1988) was a
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
conductor,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
, and music
pedagogue
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
; he was a professor at
Leningrad State Conservatory.
Biography
Mravinsky was born in
Saint 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 ...
. The soprano
Yevgeniya Mravina was his aunt. His father, Alexandr Konstantinovich Mravinsky, died in 1918, and in that same year, the young Mravinsky began to work backstage at the
Mariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...
, serving as a ballet
répétiteur
A (from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. A feminine form, , also appears but is comparatively rare.
Opera
In opera, a is the perso ...
from 1923 to 1931. After initially studying biology at the university in Leningrad, in 1924 he succeeded in entering the
Leningrad Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...
as a non–fee–paying student thanks to his half-aunt
Alexandra Kollontai
Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist the ...
, who recommended him to the rector,
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, and the
commissar for enlightenment,
Anatoly Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (russian: Анато́лий Васи́льевич Лунача́рский) (born Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov, – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Bolshevik Soviet People ...
.
Mravinsky's first public conducting appearance was in 1929. Throughout the 1930s, he conducted at the
Kirov Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet (russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russ ...
and
Bolshoi Opera. In September 1938, he won the
All-Union Conductors Competition
The All-Union Conductors Competition was a competition among musical conductors in the Soviet Union from 1938 to 1988. It took place in Moscow for its first time in 1938 when a set of prizes were awarded by a jury chaired by Samuil Samosud and in ...
in Moscow.
In 1931, Mravinsky made his debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. In October 1938, he was appointed its principal conductor, a post which he held until his death. Under Mravinsky, the Leningrad Philharmonic gained international renown, particularly in performances of Russian music. During World War II, Mravinsky and the orchestra were evacuated to Siberia.
The music of
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
was closely associated with Mravinsky, beginning with conducting the world premiere of the composer's
Fifth Symphony. The conductor would subsequently lead the world premieres of the
Sixth,
Eighth (which Shostakovich dedicated to Mravinsky),
Ninth,
Tenth, and
Twelfth Symphonies, as well as the ''
Song of the Forests
The ''Song of the Forests'' (''Песнь о лесах''), Op. 81, is an oratorio by Dmitri Shostakovich composed in the summer of 1949. It was written to celebrate the forestation of the Russian steppes (Great Plan for the Transformation of Na ...
'',
Violin Concerto No. 1, and
Cello Concerto No. 1. In 1962, Mravinsky had declined to conduct the premiere of Shostakovich's
Symphony No. 13, in the wake of the diagnosis of his third wife Inna's terminal cancer. This action caused a disruption in the working relationship between Shostakovich and Mravinsky, which included Mravinsky also refusing to conduct the premiere of Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 2, pleading inadequate time to prepare the work. In the early 1970s, Mravinsky and Shostakovich repaired their working relationship. Of the remaining Shostakovich symphonies that he did not premiere, Mravinsky only performed (and recorded) the Seventh,
Eleventh
In music or music theory, an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh. The interval can be also described as a compound fourth, spanning an octave plus a f ...
, and
Fifteenth
In music, a fifteenth or double octave, abbreviated ''15ma'', is the interval between one musical note and another with one-quarter the wavelength or quadruple the frequency. It has also been referred to as the bisdiapason. The fourth harmonic, ...
.
He also premiered
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
's
Sixth Symphony.
Mravinsky made studio recordings from 1938 to 1961, including recording the symphonies of Tchaikovsky for
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
, first in monaural sound in Vienna, then stereo remakes in London. His issued recordings post-1961 were taken from live concerts. His final recording was of an April 1984 live performance of
Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12.
In 1946, Mravinsky's international career began with tours of Finland and Czechoslovakia at the
Prague Spring Festival
The Prague Spring International Music Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní hudební festival Pražské jaro, commonly cs, Pražské jaro, Prague Spring) is a classical music festival held every year in Prague, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras an ...
. Later tours with an orchestra included a June 1956 itinerary to western Europe. Their only appearance in the United Kingdom was in September 1960 at the Edinburgh Festival and the
Royal Festival Hall, London. Their first tour to Japan was in May 1973. Their last foreign tour was in 1984, to West Germany.
On 6 March 1987, Mravinsky led his final concert, a program consisting of
Schubert's Symphony No. 8 and
Brahms' Symphony No. 4. After a prolonged illness, Mravinsky died in
Leningrad
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 ...
in 1988 at the age of 84.
Mravinsky was married four times. His first marriage was to Marianna Schwalck (1888–1979), in 1922. His second marriage was to Olga Alexeyevna Karpova (1903-1990), in 1938. Both ended in divorce. His marriage to his third wife, Inna Mikhailovna Serikova (1923-1964), lasted from 1960 until her death. His fourth marriage was to Alexandra Mikhailovna Vavilina (born 1928), from 1967 until his death.
Conducting style
Surviving videos show that Mravinsky had a sober appearance on the podium, making simple but clear gestures, often without a baton. The critic James McCarthy said of Mravinsky's Tchaikovsky performances:
The Leningrad Philharmonic play like a wild stallion only just held in check by the willpower of its master. Every smallest movement is placed with fierce pride; at any moment it may break into such a frenzied gallop that you hardly know whether to feel exhilarated or terrified.
Method
In a 1970s interview on Leningrad Television, when asked how he chose a particular interpretation of the music he conducted, Mravinsky explained that he tried to understand what the composer's intention was by immersing himself in the "atmosphere" of the music (he used the term "atmospherization").
Recordings
Mravinsky recorded for the state classical label,
Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
. Additionally, in the 21st century, his recordings have been available under
Erato Records
Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Disques Erato by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Boston, a ...
and Profil – G Haenssler.
References
Sources
* Tassie, Gregor, "A Truly Noble Conductor". Gramophone (US Edition), May 2002, pp. 36–37.
External links
*
Biography at allmusic.com
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
Legacy of Yevgeni Mravinsky*
''A History of Portrait of Yevgeny Mravinsky, by Lev A. Russov''. (Russian)
*
František Sláma (musician)
František Sláma (19 November 1923 – 5 May 2004) was a Czech chamber music performer. He was the first Czech cellist who focused on Early music.
Biography
Sláma was born in Herálec. Until the age of 18 he worked in the quarry. His meeting ...
br>
Archive More on the history of the Czech Philharmonic between the 1940s and the 1980s: ''Conductors''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mravinsky, Yevgeny
1903 births
1988 deaths
Saint Petersburg Conservatory academic personnel
People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd
Russian nobility
20th-century Russian conductors (music)
Russian male conductors (music)
20th-century Russian male musicians
Soviet conductors (music)
People's Artists of the USSR
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
Burials at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery
Erato Records artists