Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel, a.k.a. Fitinhof-Schell (born ? 1829 in Morshansk

Morshansk

Morshansk is a town in Tambov Oblast, Russia, located on the Tsna River north of Tambov. Population: 44,000 .-History:...

 - in St. Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian composer.

He was trained at the Moscow Conservatory

Moscow Conservatory

The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...

 under Field and Henselt, and was a classmate of Tchaikovsky's. His most noted work are the ballets The Haarlem Tulip

The Haarlem Tulip

The Haarlem Tulip - Fantastic ballet in 3 Acts-4 Scenes, with choreography by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa, and music by Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel....

(1887) and Cinderella

Cinderella (Fitinhof-Schell)

Cinderella - ballet-féerie in 3 Acts, with choreography by Enrico Cecchetti and Lev Ivanov , with the production being supervised under the counsel and instruction of Marius Petipa. Music by Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel...

(1893), composed for the Imperial Ballet

Mariinsky Ballet

The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies...

 of St. Petersburg. He also scored four operas for the St. Petersburg Imperial Opera, which were commissioned by Ivan Vsevolozhsky

Ivan Vsevolozhsky

Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky was the Director of the Imperial Theatres in Russia from 1881 to 1898.A competent administrator, Vsevolozhsky ran the Imperial Theatres with a determination for excellence...

, director of the Imperial Theatres. His Wedding March, scored especially for the wedding of Tsar Nicholas II

Nicholas II of Russia

Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

 and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna is still occasionally heard.

Vietinghoff-Scheel is also noted for his Fantastic Overture to his opera Mazeppa (1859), in which whole-tone scales were profusely employed. Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 greatly appreciated this piece, describing its effect as " ... terrifying to all long and protruding ears." Liszt himself made use of the whole-tone scale in his Divina Commedia, illustrating the Inferno, and he used it systematically in his posthumously published organ and late piano pieces.

Operas

• Mazeppa (1859)
• Tamara (1886)
• Don Juan de Tenorio (1888)
• Mary Stuart (never performed)
• Heliodora (never performed)

Ballets

• The Haarlem Tulip
  The Haarlem Tulip
  The Haarlem Tulip - Fantastic ballet in 3 Acts-4 Scenes, with choreography by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa, and music by Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel....
  
  (1885)
• Cinderella
  Cinderella (Fitinhof-Schell)
  Cinderella - ballet-féerie in 3 Acts, with choreography by Enrico Cecchetti and Lev Ivanov , with the production being supervised under the counsel and instruction of Marius Petipa. Music by Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel...
  
  (1893)