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Józef Kozłowski
Józef Kozłowski (, also or ; 1757/1759 – ) was a Russian composer of Polish origin. Biography For the most part of his life Józef Kozłowski was attached to the Russian Imperial Court, for which he wrote most of his music. In Russia he became popular especially for his patriotic polonaises. Sources vary as to Kozłowski's time and place of birth. The Polish academia traditionally considers him as a native of Warsaw, born on 10 September 1759. According to the ''Encyclopedia of Literature and Art of Belarus'' (1985), he was born in 1757 in Kozlovichi manor near Propoysk (modern Slawharad, Belarus). Author of encyclopedia entry V. D. Bobrovsky based his claim on the data from a metric book he found in Sokolovo, Slawharad District. An obituary in '' Northern Bee'', presumably written by Thaddeus Bulgarin, described Kozłowski as a "descendant of Belarusian nobility." Kozłowski's uncle, Vasily Fyodorovich Trutovsky (a famous hussler in his time), noticing his nephew's mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. The territory has a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and a temperate climate. Poland is composed of Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the List of European countries by area, fifth largest EU country by area, covering . The capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city is Warsaw; other major cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, and Gdańsk. Prehistory and protohistory of Poland, Prehistoric human activity on Polish soil dates to the Lower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of the Last Gla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine The Great
Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III. Under her long reign, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, Russia experienced a renaissance of culture and sciences, which led to the founding of many new cities, universities, and theatres, along with large-scale immigration from the rest of Europe and the recognition of Russia as one of the great powers of Europe. In her accession to power and her rule of the empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Count Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. Assisted by highly successful generals such as Alexander Suvorov and Pyotr Rumyantsev, and admirals such as Samuel Greig and Fyodor Ushakov, she governed at a time when the Russian Empire was expanding rapidly by conquest and diplomacy. In the south, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Requiem Mass
A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is usually celebrated in the context of a funeral (where in some countries it is often called a Funeral Mass). Musical settings of the propers of the Requiem Mass are also called Requiems, and the term has subsequently been applied to other musical compositions associated with death, dying, and mourning, even when they lack religious or liturgical relevance. The term is also used for similar ceremonies outside the Catholic Church, especially in Western Rite Orthodox Christianity, the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in certain Lutheran churches. A comparable service, with a wholly different ritual form and texts, exists in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches as well as some Methodist churches. The Mass and its s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St 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 on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the Saint Petersburg metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Saint Petersburg is the List of European cities by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in Europe, the List of cities and towns around the Baltic Sea, most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's List of northernmost items#Cities and settlements, northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As the former capital of the Russian Empire, and a Ports of the Baltic Sea, historically strategic port, it is governed as a Federal cities of Russia, federal city. The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praskovya Zhemchugova
Praskovia Ivanovna Kovalyova-Zhemchugova (; July 20, 1768 – February 23, 1803) was a Russian serf actress and soprano opera singer. Career Praskovia was one of the best opera singers in eighteenth-century Russia. and Figes describes her as Russia's first "superstar". She was born into the family of a serf blacksmith by the name of Ivan Gorbunov (a.k.a. Kovalyov) probably on the estate of Voshchazhnikovo in the province of Yaroslavl. Praskovia and her family belonged to the Sheremetevs, one of the richest noble families in Russia at the time, along with an estimated one million other serfs. As a young girl she moved with her family to the estate of Kuskovo outside Moscow. Soon thereafter she was taken from her family to serve as a chambermaid to Princess Martha Dolgorukaya, a relative of her master, Count Pyotr Sheremetev, who lived in the manor house. When it was discovered that she had a fine voice, Praskovia, like other serfs who became artists, was trained to be a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pavel Potemkin
Count Pavel Sergeevich Potemkin, sometimes spelled Potyomkin or Potiomkin (; 1743–1796) was a Russian statesman, soldier, and writer. He was a cousin of Prince Grigory Potemkin, a well-known military and political figure of Empress Catherine the Great’s Russia. He took part in the wars with the rebel adventurer Yemelyan Pugachev, the Ottoman Empire, the Bar Confederation, and in the Kościuszko Uprising. He signed the Treaty of Georgievsk with King Heraclius II of Georgia in 1783. Early life Potemkin was born on , 1743; the son of Sergei Dmitrievich Potemkin (1694 – 1772) and Anna Mikhailovna, née Princess Kropotkin family, Kropotkina. Grigory Potemkin was a distant relative. He was one of three sons; the other two being Mikhail and Alexander. As was customary at that time, 13-year-old Pavel was enrolled in military service in the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment in 1756. He graduated from Imperial Moscow University. He was awarded the honorary court position of Chamber ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ostankino Palace
Ostankino Palace is a former summer residence and private opera theatre of the Nikolai Sheremetev, Sheremetev family, originally situated several kilometres to the north of central Moscow. It is a part of the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of the city. Extant historical grounds include the main wooden palace, built in 1792–1798 around a theatre hall, with adjacent Egyptian and Italian pavilions, a 17th-century Trinity church, and fragments of the old Ostankino park with a replica of ''Milovzor'' folly. History 16th century to 1787 The first documentary evidence of Ostankino—then known as Ostashkovo—dates to the middle of the 16th century, when Tsar Ivan IV of Russia granted these lands to the hold of Alexey Satin, relative of statesman Alexey Adashev. Satin, however, was executed by Ivan in 1560, and the lands passed to one Horn, a German mercenary, and, in 1585, to diak (statesman) Vasily Schelkalov. Under Schelkalov, the unpopulated lands of Ostashkovo developed i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuskovo
Kuskovo () was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility, and one of the few near Moscow still preserved. Today the estate is the home of the Russian State Museum of Ceramics, and the park is a favourite place of recreation for Muscovites. History In the 17th century, Kuskovo became the property of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev (1652–1719), a Russian field marshal under Czar Peter the Great, who led the Russian Army in the victory over the Swedes at the Battle of Poltava (1707) in the Great Northern War. There was already a wooden church on the site, a house and several ponds. The palace was constructed by his son Petr Borisovich Sheremetev (1713–1788). Count Sheremetev was one of the richest men in Russia, close to the court ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikolai Sheremetev
Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev () (28 June 1751 - 2 January 1809 O.S., 9 July 1751 - 14 January 1809 N.S.) was a Russian count, the son of Petr Borisovich Sheremetev, notable grandee of the epoch of empresses Anna Ivanovna, Elizabeth Petrovna, and Catherine II. He was also the grandson of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev. His father P. B. Sheremetev was passionate about the theatre and transferred this passion to his son. N. P. Sheremetev spent his early youth at court. From the age of 13 to 14 he started to act in private theatricals of his father, and then "on the big court theatre". In 1765 he played the role of the god Hymen in the mythological ballet ''Acis and Galathea'', in which his childhood comrade, the future Paul I, had distinguished himself. Having a special passion for music, Nikolai Petrovich masterfully played the cello. From 1769 to 1773 he traveled abroad: he attended lectures in Leiden University in the Netherlands, traveled across England, Germany, and Switzerland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Queen Of Spades (opera)
''The Queen of Spades'' or ''Pique Dame'', Op. 68 (, ''Pikovaya dama'' , ) is an opera in three acts (seven scenes) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on the 1834 novella of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, but with a dramatically altered plot. The premiere took place in 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Composition history The Imperial Theatre offered Tchaikovsky a commission to write an opera based on the plot sketch by Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1887/88. After first turning it down, Tchaikovsky accepted it in 1889. Toward the end of that year, he met the theatre's managers to discuss the material and sketch out some of the scenes. He completed the full score in Florence in only 44 days. Later, working with the tenor who was to perform the lead character, he created two versions of Herman's aria in the seventh scene, using different keys. The changes can be found in the proof sheets and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the classical repertoire, including the ballets ''Swan Lake'' and ''The Nutcracker'', the ''1812 Overture'', his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the ''Romeo and Juliet'' Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera ''Eugene Onegin''. Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no public music education system. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist move ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gavrila Derzhavin
Gavriil (Gavrila) Romanovich Derzhavin (, ; 14 July 1743 – 20 July 1816) was one of the most highly esteemed Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin, as well as a statesman. Although his works are traditionally considered literary classicism, his best verse is rich with antitheses and conflicting sounds in a way reminiscent of John Donne and other metaphysical poets. Biography Early life and family Derzhavin was born in the Kazan Governorate into a landed family of impoverished Russian nobility. His family descended from a 15th-century Tatar nobleman named '' Morza'' Bagrim, who converted to Christianity and became a vassal of Grand Prince Vasily II. Bagrim was rewarded with lands for his service to the prince, and from him descended noble families of Narbekov, Akinfov and Keglev (or Teglev). A member of the Narbekov family, who received the nickname ''Derzhava'' (Russian for " orb" or "power"), was the patriarch of the Derzhavin family. The Derzhavins once held prof ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
