César Cui
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n descent. His profession was as an army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
and a teacher of fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
s; his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, in that he was a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and music critic
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
; in this sideline he is known as a member of The Five
The Five
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...
, the group of Russian composers under the leadership of Mily Balakirev
Mily Balakirev
Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ,Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source and therefore are in the same style as the source...
dedicated to the production of a specifically Russian type of music.
Upbringing and career
Cesarius-Benjaminus (Цезарий-Вениамин) Cui was born in VilniusVilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Vilna Governorate
Vilna Governorate
The Vilna Governorate or Government of Vilna was a governorate of the Russian Empire created after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now Vilnius, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
), to a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
family, as the youngest of five children. His French father Antoine (name russianized as Anton Leonardovich), had entered Russia as a member of Napoleon's army in 1812
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...
, settled in Vilnius upon their defeat, and married a local woman named Julia Gucewicz. Amidst this multi-ethnic environment young César grew up learning French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, and Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
. Before finishing gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
, in 1850 Cui was sent to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
to prepare to enter the Chief Engineering School
Military Engineering-Technical University
The Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University , previously known as the Saint Petersburg Nikolaevsky Engineering Academy, was established in 1810 under Alexander I...
, which he did the next year at age 16. In 1855 he was graduated from the Academy, and after advanced studies at the Nikolaevsky Engineering Academy, now Military engineering-technical university
Military Engineering-Technical University
The Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University , previously known as the Saint Petersburg Nikolaevsky Engineering Academy, was established in 1810 under Alexander I...
(Russian Военный инженерно-технический университет), he began his military career in 1857 as an instructor in fortifications. His students over the decades included several members of the Imperial family
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
, most notably Nicolas 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...
. Cui eventually ended up teaching at three of the military academies in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Cui's study of fortifications gained from frontline assignment during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 proved quite important for his career. As an expert on military fortifications, Cui eventually attained the academic status of professor in 1880 and the military rank of general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
in 1906. His writings on fortifications included textbooks that were widely used, in several successive editions (see bibliography below).
Avocational life in music
Despite his achievements as a professional military academic, Cui is best known in the West for his "other" life in music. As a boy in Vilnius he received pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
lessons, studied Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
's works, and began composing little pieces at fourteen years of age. In the few months before he was sent to Petersburg, he managed to have some lessons in music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
with the Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. His output includes many songs and operas, and his musical style is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
, who was residing in Vilnius at the time. Cui's musical direction changed in 1856, when he met Mily Balakirev
Mily Balakirev
Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ,Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source and therefore are in the same style as the source...
and began to be more seriously involved with music.
Even though he was composing music and writing music criticism in his spare time, Cui turned out to be an extremely prolific composer and feuilleton
Feuilleton
Feuilleton was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle of the latest fashions, and epigrams, charades and other literary trifles...
ist. His public "debut" as a composer occurred 1859 with the performance of his orchestral Scherzo, Op. 1, under the baton of Anton Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
and the auspices of the Russian Musical Society. In 1869 the first public performance of an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
by Cui took place; this was his William Ratcliff
William Ratcliff (Cui)
William Ratcliff is an opera in three acts, composed by César Cui during 1861-1868; it was premiered on 14 February 1869 at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg under the conductorship of Eduard Nápravník...
(based on the tragedy by Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
); but it did not ultimately have success, partially because of the harshness of his own writings in the music press. All but one of his operas were composed to Russian texts; the one exception, Le flibustier
Le Flibustier (opera)
Le flibustier is a comédie lyrique in three acts, composed by César Cui during 1888-1889. Although the title can translate as The Pirate or The Buccaneer, this is no swashbuckling action-drama, but an idyllic domestic comedy of mistaken identity.The opera is based on the like-named play by Jean...
(based on a play by Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin , French poet, novelist and dramatist, the son of an army doctor, was born at Médéa, French Algeria.At school and at the École Normale Supérieure he gave evidence of brilliant, if somewhat undisciplined, powers, for which he found physical vent in different directions—first as a...
), premiered at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1894 (twenty-five years after Ratcliff), but it did not succeed either. Cui's more successful stage works during his lifetime were the one-act comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
The Mandarin's Son
The Mandarin's Son
The Mandarin's Son is comic opera in one act by César Cui, composed in 1859. The libretto, which includes spoken dialogue, was written by V.A...
(publicly premiered in 1878), the three-act Prisoner of the Caucasus (1883), based on Pushkin, and the one-act Mademoiselle Fifi
Mademoiselle Fifi (Cui)
Mademoiselle Fifi is an opera in one act, composed by César Cui during 1902-1903...
(1903), based on Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
. Besides Flibustier, the only other operas by Cui performed in his lifetime outside of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
were Prisoner of the Caucasus (in Liège, 1886) and the children's opera Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots (Cui)
Puss in Boots is a short opera-fairytale for children in three acts, four tableaux, composed by César Cui in 1913. The libretto was written by Marina Stanislavovna Pol'. It was premiered in Rome in 1915 under the title Il gato con gli stivali...
(in Rome, 1915).
Cui's activities in musical life included also membership on the opera selection committee at the Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...
; this stint ended in 1883, when both he and Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
left the committee in protest of its rejection of Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
's Khovanshchina
Khovanshchina
Khovanshchina is an opera in five acts by Modest Mussorgsky. The work was written between 1872 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The composer wrote the libretto based on historical sources...
. During 1896-1904 he was director of the Petersburg branch of the Russian Musical Society.
Among the many musicians Cui knew in his life, 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...
looms large. Liszt valued the music of Russian composers quite highly; for Cui's opera William Ratcliff he expressed some of the highest praise. Cui's book La musique en Russie and Suite pour piano, Op. 21, are dedicated to the elder composer. In addition, Cui's Tarantelle for orchestra, Op. 12, formed the basis for Liszt's last piano transcription
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
.
Two personalities of direct significance for Cui were women who were specially devoted to his music. In Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau
Marie-Clotilde-Elisabeth Louise de Riquet, comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau
Marie-Clotilde-Elisabeth Louise de Riquet was the elder daughter of Michel Gabriel Alphonse Ferdinand de Riquet , created prince de Chimay 1834, for himself only, and Rosalie de Riquet de Caraman...
(1837–1890) was most influential in making possible the staging there of Prisoner of the Caucasus in 1885. In Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Mariya Kerzina, with her husband Arkadiy Kerzin, formed in 1896 the Circle of Russian Music Lovers, a performance society, which began in 1898 to give special place to works by Cui, among those of other Russian composers, in its concerts.
In such a long and active musical life as Cui's there were many accolades. In the late 1880s and early 1890s several foreign musical societies honored Cui with memberships. Shortly after the staging of Le flibustier
Le Flibustier (opera)
Le flibustier is a comédie lyrique in three acts, composed by César Cui during 1888-1889. Although the title can translate as The Pirate or The Buccaneer, this is no swashbuckling action-drama, but an idyllic domestic comedy of mistaken identity.The opera is based on the like-named play by Jean...
in Paris, Cui was elected as a correspondent member of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
and awarded the cross of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. In 1896 the Belgian Royal Academy of Literature and Art made him a member. In 1909 and 1910 events were held in honor of Cui's 50th anniversary as a composer.
Family
Cui married Mal'vina Rafailovna Bamberg (Мальвина Рафаиловна Бамберг) in 1858. He had met her at the home of Alexander DargomyzhskyAlexander Dargomyzhsky
Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky was a 19th century Russian composer. He bridged the gap in Russian opera composition between Mikhail Glinka and the later generation of The Five and Tchaikovsky....
, from whom she was taking singing lessons Among the musical works Cui dedicated to her is the early Scherzo, Op. 1 (1857), which uses themes based on her maiden name (BAmBErG) and his own initials (C.C.), and the comic opera The Mandarin's Son
The Mandarin's Son
The Mandarin's Son is comic opera in one act by César Cui, composed in 1859. The libretto, which includes spoken dialogue, was written by V.A...
. César and Mal'vina had two children, Lidiya and Aleksandr. Lidiya, an amateur singer, married and had a son named Yuri Borisovich Amoretti; in the period before the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
Aleksandr was a member of the Russian Senate.
Last years and death
In 1916 the composer went blind, although he was able to compose small pieces by dictation. Cui died on 26 March 1918 from cerebral apoplexyApoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
and was buried next to his wife Mal'vina (who had died in 1899) at the Smolensk Lutheran Cemetery in Saint Petersburg. In 1939 his body was reinterred in Tikhvin Cemetery
Tikhvin Cemetery
Tikhvin Cemetery is located at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.Established in 1823, some of the notables buried here are:* Mily Balakirev - , composer* Alexander Borodin - , composer...
at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, Saint Petersburg, to lie beside the other members of The Five
The Five
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...
.
Cui as a music critic
As a writer on music, Cui contributed almost 800 articles between 1864 and 1918 to various newspapers and other publications in Russia and Europe. (He "retired" from regular music criticism in 1900.) His wide coverage included concerts, recitals, musical life, new publications of music, and personalities. A significant number of his articles (ca. 300) dealt with opera. Several of his themed sets of articles were reissued as monographs; these covered topics as varied as the original 1876 production of WagnerRichard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
in Bayreuth
Bayreuth Festspielhaus
The or Bayreuth Festival Theatre is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated solely to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
, the development of the Russian romance (art song
Art song
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs....
), music in Russia, and Anton Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
's seminal lectures on the history of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
music of 1888-1889. (See list of writings below.) In addition, as indicated above as part of his profession, Cui also published many books and articles about military fortifications.
Because of rules related to his status in the Russian military, in the early years his musico-critical articles had to be published under a pseudonym, which consisted of three asterisks (***); in Petersburg musical circles, however, it became clear who was writing the articles. His musical reviews began in the St.Petersburg Vedomosti, expressing disdain for music before Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
(such as Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
) and his advocacy of originality in music. Sarcasm was a regular feature of his feuilleton
Feuilleton
Feuilleton was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle of the latest fashions, and epigrams, charades and other literary trifles...
s.
Cui's primary goal as a critic was to promote the music of contemporary Russian composers, especially the works of his now better-known co-members of The Five. Even they, however, were not spared negative reactions from him here and there, especially in his blistering review of the first production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
in 1873. (Later in life Cui championed the music of this late colleague of his, to the point of making the first completion of Mussorgsky's unfinished opera The Fair at Sorochyntsi.)
Russian composers outside of The Five, however, were often more likely to produce a negative reaction. This derived at least partly from distrust of the western-style conservatory system in favor of the autodidactic approach that The Five had practiced. Cui lambasted Tchaikovsky's second performed opera, The Oprichnik
The Oprichnik (opera)
The Oprichnik or The Guardsman is an opera in 4 acts, 5 scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to his own libretto after the tragedy The Oprichniks by Ivan Lazhechnikov . The subject of the opera is the oprichniks...
, for instance; and his stinging remarks about Rachmaninoff's Symphony No.1
Symphony No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)
Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 13, is a music piece by Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, written at Ivanovka, an estate near Tambov, Russia, between January and October 1895...
are often cited. (Fortunately for posterity, both works have survived their unfavorable premieres.)
Of Western composers, Cui favored Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
and 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...
as progressives. He admired Wagner's
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
aspirations concerning music drama, but did not agree with that composer's methods to achieve them (such as the leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
system and the predominance of the orchestra).
Late in life Cui's presumed progressiveness as espoused in the 1860s and '70s faded, and he showed firm hostility towards the younger "modernists" such as Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
and Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
. Cui's very last published articles (from 1917) constituted merciless parodies, including the little song "Гимн футуризму" ("Hymn to Futurism
Futurism (art)
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
") and "Краткая инструкция, как, не будучи музыкантом, сделаться гениальным модерн-композитором" ("Concise Directions on How to Become a Modern Composer of Genius without Being a Musician").
Cui as a composer
Cui composed in almost all genres of his time, with the distinct exceptions of the symphonySymphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
and the symphonic poem
Symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
(unlike his compatriots Balakirev, Borodin, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov). By far art song
Art song
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs....
s constitute the greatest number of works by Cui; these include a few vocal duets and many songs for children
Children's song
Children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that young children invent and share among themselves, or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home, or education...
. Several of his songs are available also in versions with orchestral accompaniment, including his Bolero, Op. 17, which was dedicated to the singer Marcella Sembrich
Marcella Sembrich
Marcella Sembrich was the stage name of the Polish coloratura soprano, Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska...
. Some of his most famous art song
Art song
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs....
s include "The Statue at Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.-History:In...
" ("Царско-сельская статyя") and "The Burnt Letter," ("Сожжённое письмо"), both based on poems by Cui's most valued poet, Alexander Pushkin.
In addition, Cui wrote many works for piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and for chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
groups (including three string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s), numerous choruses, and several orchestral works
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, but his most significant efforts are reflected in the operas, of which he composed fifteen of varying proportions. Besides children's music (which includes four fairytale operas as well as the aforementioned songs), three other special categories of compositions stand out among his works: (1) pieces inspired by and dedicated to the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau (whom the composer knew from 1885 to her death in 1890; (2) works associated with the Circle of Russian Music Lovers (the "Kerzin Circle"); and (3) pieces inspired by the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
As to the current status of Cui the composer, in the last few decades one of his children's operas (of which he composed four) entitled Puss-in-Boots
Puss in Boots (Cui)
Puss in Boots is a short opera-fairytale for children in three acts, four tableaux, composed by César Cui in 1913. The libretto was written by Marina Stanislavovna Pol'. It was premiered in Rome in 1915 under the title Il gato con gli stivali...
(from Perrault
Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...
) has had wide appeal in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Nevertheless, despite the fact that more of Cui's music is being made available in recent years in recordings and in new printed editions, his status today in the repertoire is considerably small, based (in the West) primarily on some of his piano and chamber music (such as the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
piece called Orientale (op. 50, No. 9)) and a number of solo songs. The received wisdom that he is not a particularly talented composer, at least for large genres, has been cited as a cause for this state of affairs; his strongest talent is said to lie in the crystallization of mood at an instant as captured in his art songs and instrumental miniatures. Although his abilities as an orchestrator, too, have been disparaged (notably by his compatriot Rimsky-Korsakov), some recent recordings (e.g., of his one-act opera Feast in Time of Plague, from Pushkin) suggest that Cui's dramatic music might be more interesting to pursue with regard to this feature.
Cui's works are not so nationalistic as those of the other members of The Five
The Five
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...
; with the exception of Pushkin, his operas do not display a strong attraction to Russian sources. In the area of art song
Art song
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs....
, however, the vast majority of Cui's vocal music is based on Russian texts. Overt attempts at Russian "folk" musical style can be detected in passages from his first act of the collaborative Mlada
Mlada
Mlada was a project originally envisioned as a ballet to be composed by Alexander Serov and choreographed by Marius Petipa. The project was later revised in 1872 as an opera-ballet in four acts, with the composition of the score to be divided between César Cui, Léon Minkus, Modest Mussorgsky,...
(1872), The Captain's Daughter
The Captain's Daughter (opera)
The Captain's Daughter is an opera in four acts by César Cui, composed during 1907-1909...
, a couple of the children's operas, and a few songs; many other passages in his music reflect the stylistic curiosities associated with Russian art music of the 19th century, such as whole tone scale
Whole tone scale
In music, a whole tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole step. There are only two complementary whole tone scales, both six-note or hexatonic scales:...
s and certain harmonic devices
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
. Nevertheless, his style is more often compared to Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
and to French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composers such as Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
than to Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
or to Cui's Russian contemporaries.
Selected literary works
(Note: As yet there is no complete collected edition of Cui's writings. The vast majority of his published articles on music, in particular, have to be sought individually within the various periodicals in which they were originally printed.)Monographs
- История литературы фортепианной музыки. Курс А.Г. Рубинштейна. 1888-1889. 2-е изд. [History of the Literature of Piano Music. A Course by A.G. Rubinstein. 1888-1889. 2nd ed.] Спб: И. Юргенсон, 1911. (Originally published serially in 1889 in Russian: Сеансы А.Г.Рубинштейна. Курс истории литературы фортепианной музыки (Sessions by A.G. Rubinstein. A Course in the History of the Literature of Piano Music, in Nedelia; in French: Cours de literature musicale des oeuvres pour le piano au Conservatoire de Saint Petersburg, in L'Art, revue bimensuelle illustree.)
- Кольцо Нибелунгов, трилогия Рихарда Вагнера: Музыкально-критический очерк. 2-е изд. [The Nibelung RingDer Ring des NibelungenDer Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
, trilogy by Richard Wagner: A Musico-Critical Sketch. 2nd ed.] Москва: П. Юргенсон, 1909. (1st monographic ed. published in 1889. Articles originally published in 1876 in Saint Petersburg Vedomosti under the collective title Байрейтское музыкальное торжество [The Bayreuth Music FestivalBayreuth FestivalThe Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
].) - La musique en Russie. Paris: G. Fischbacher, 1880; rpt. Leipzig: Zentralantiquariat der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 1974. (Originally published in 1878-1880 in Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris.)
- Русский романс: очерк его развития [The Russian RomanceRomance (music)The term romance has a centuries-long history. Applied to narrative ballads in Spain, it came to be used by the 18th century for simple lyrical pieces not only for voice, but also for instruments alone. During the 18th and 19th centuries Russian composers developed the French variety of the...
: a Sketch of Its Development]. Спб: Ф. Финдейзен, 1896. English translation in Classical Essays on the Russian Art Song: 1. The Russian Romance, by Cesar Cui; 2. The Russian Art Song, by Nikolay Findeisen. Nerstrand, Minn.: James Walker, 1993.
Collections
- Избранные статьи [Selected Articles]. ЛенинградSaint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
: Гос. муз. изд-во, 1952. (Includes a nearly complete bibliography of his published articles.) - Избранные статьи об исполнителях [Selected Articles about Performers]. Москва: Гос. муз. изд-во, 1957.
- Музыкально-критические статьи. Т.1. Со портретом автора и предисловием А.Н. Римского-Корсакова. [Critical Articles on Music. Vol. 1. With a portrait of the author and a foreword by A.N. Rimsky-Korsakov.Andrey Rimsky-KorsakovAndrey Nikolayevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian musicologist and son of the great Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Though growing up in a musical family he was encouraged in musical pursuits, playing cello in the family string quartet, he did not pursue music as a career until late in...
] Петроград: Музыкальный современник, 1918. (Note: No further volumes were published.)
Miscellaneous
- "A Historical Sketch of Music in Russia," The Century Library of Music. Ed. by Ignace Jan Paderewski. Vol. 7. New York: The Century Co., 1901, p. 197-219.
Letters
- Избранные письма [Selected Letters]. Ленинград: Гос. муз. изд-во, 1955.
Cui's writings on military fortifications
- "Атака и оборона современных крепостей (Разработка этого вопроса в Прусии)" ["Attack and Defence of Contemporary Fortresses (An Elaboration of This Matter in PrussiaPrussiaPrussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
)"]. Спб: Тип. Деп. уделов, 1881. (From Военный сборник, 1881, No. 7) - "Бельгия, Антверпен и Бриальмон" ["BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Antwerp, and BrialmontHenri Alexis BrialmontHenri Alexis Brialmont was a Dutch-born Belgian military engineer. He was one of the leading fortifications engineers in the 19th century....
"]. Спб: Тип Деп. уделов, 1882. (From Инженерный журнал, 1881, No. 11) - Долговременная фортификация: исторический очерк. Курс Михайловской арт. акад. [Permanent Fortifications: A Historical Sketch. A Course of the Mikhailovsky Artillery Akademy] Спб.: 187-?.
- Записки фортификации младшего юнкерского класса Николаевского инженерного училища [Fortification Notes of the Younger Cadet Class of the Nikolaevsky Engineering School]. Спб.: 186-?
- Краткий исторический очерк долговременной фортификации. 3., доп. изд. [Concise Historical Sketch of Permanent Fortifications. Third, supplemented ed..] Спб.: Тип. Императорской Академии наук, 1897. (1st ed. published in 1877.)
- Краткий учебник полевой фортификации. 9-е просм. изд. [Concise Textbook of Field Fortification. 9th revised ed.] Спб.: В Березовский, 1903. (1st ed. titled: Записки полевой фортификации. Курс младшего класса Николаевск. инж. и Михайловск. артил. училища [Notes on Field Fortification. A Course of the Younger Class of the Nikolaevsky Engineering and Mikhailovsky Artillery Schools], 1873; 2nd ed. titled: Полевая фортификация. Курс Николаевск.-инж., Михайловск.-артил. и Николаевск.-кавалерийск. училищ [Field Fortification. A Course of the Nikolaevsky Engineering, Mikhailovsky Artillery, and Nikolaevsky Cavalry Schools], 1877.)
- Опыт рационального определения величины гарнизонов крепостей [Essay on the Efficient Determination of Data on Garrison Fortresses]. Спб: типо-лит. А.Е. Ландау, 1899.
- "Путевые заметки инженерного офицера на театре военных действий в европейской Турции" ["Travel Notes of an Engineering Officer in the Theater of Military Activities in European TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
"], Спб.: Тип. Деп. уделов, 1878. (From Инженерный журнал, 1878, Nos. 8, 9.) - "Рост крепостей и изменение их формы в зависимости от увеличения численности армий" ["The Size of Fortresses and the Modification of Their Form Depending on the Expansion of the Strength of Armies"]. Спб: 1901. (Общество ревнителей военных знаний, No. 37, 24 янв. 1901 г.)
- Учебник фортификации для пехотных юнкерских училищ. Изд. 2-е, просм. и доп. [Textbook of Fortification for Infantry Cadet Schools. 2nd ed., revised and supplemented]. Спб.: Воен. тип., 1899. (1st ed. published in 1892)
General Bibliography
- Guglielmi, Edoardo. "Cesar Cui e l'Ottocento musicale russo," Chigiana, v. 25, no. 5 (1968), p. 187-195.
- Mercy-Argenteau, La Comtesse deMarie-Clotilde-Elisabeth Louise de Riquet, comtesse de Mercy-ArgenteauMarie-Clotilde-Elisabeth Louise de Riquet was the elder daughter of Michel Gabriel Alphonse Ferdinand de Riquet , created prince de Chimay 1834, for himself only, and Rosalie de Riquet de Caraman...
, César Cui: esquisse critique. Paris: Fischbacher, 1888. - Муселак, Аири [Musielak Henri]. "Предки Кюи" ["Cui's Forbears"], Советская Музыка, 1979, no.10, p. 141-142.
- Nazarov, A.F. Цезарь Антонович Кюи [Cezar' Antonovič Kjui]. Moskva: Muzyka, 1989.
- Neef, Sigrid. Handbuch der russischen und sowjetischen Oper. 1. Aufl. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1989, c1985.
- _______. Die Russischen Fünf: Balakirew, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgski, Rimski-Korsakow. Berlin: E. Kuhn, 1992.
- Neff, Lyle Kevin. Story, style, and structure in the operas of César Cui. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, United States—Indiana. Retrieved June 20, 2010, from Dissertations & Theses: A&I. (Publication No. AAT 3054368) (Abstract)
- Norris, Geoffrey and Neff, Lyle. "Cui, César [Kyui, Tsezar' Antonovich]," Grove Music Online. Ed. L. Macy. (Accessed 9 March 2008), <http://www.grovemusic.com> (Subscription required)
- Stasov, V.V.Vladimir Vasilievich StasovVladimir Vasilievich Stasov , son of Russian architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov , was probably the most respected Russian critic during his lifetime...
"Цезарь Антонович Кюи: биографический очерк" ["César Antonovich Cui: A Biographical Sketch."] Артист [Artist] [Moscow], no. 34 (1894); reprinted and edited in his Избранные сочинение: живопись, скульптура, музыка. В трех томах. Т. 3. [Selected Works: Painting, Sculpture, Music. In three vols. Vol. 3.] Москва: Искусство, 1952, p. 387-408.