Nikolai Tcherepnin
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (Russian
: Никола́й Никола́евич Черепни́н – 26 June 1945) was a Russia
n composer
, pianist
, and conductor
. He was born in Saint Petersburg
and studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
. He conducted for the first Paris
season of Sergei Diaghilev
's Ballets Russes
.
and Modest Mussorgsky
. Young Nikolai's mother died when he was a baby, and when his father remarried, was replaced by an ambivalent stepmother. As a child, Nikolai's father beat him regularly and enforced a general code of strict discipline.
At his father's insistence, Nikolai earned a law degree, though during this time he composed steadily. In 1895 he graduated with his degree in law
from the University of Saint Petersburg
. In 1898, he earned a degree in composition under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
and a degree in piano under K.K. Fan-Arkh. His talents and high family status earned him a job as the orchestral teacher at the Court Chapel in 1899. For six years he taught there before returning to the St. Petersburg Conservatory to teach there. During his 13 year tenure (from 1909 onward as professor) he taught many notable students, including Sergei Prokofiev
, Aleksandr Gauk
, Yury Shaporin and Lazare Saminsky
.
In 1902 he became the regular conductor of the Russian Symphonic Concerts and later made guest appearances with the Russian Musical Society
, the Moscow Philharmonic Society
, the Siloti Concerts
and Ivan Vasilenko
’s Historic Concerts as well conducting at the Mariinsky Theatre
(1906–9). A member of the Belyayev
circle, he was also involved with the Kruzhok sovremennoy muzïki (‘The Contemporary Music Circle’) and worked with the Mir isskustva (‘World of Art’) movement. Tcherepnin was a friend of the musicologist Alexander Ossovsky
.
In 1907, during his time at the Conservatory, he wrote possibly his most famous work, the ballet
Le Pavillon d'Armide. Two years later, Tcherepnin conducted the ballet at the premiere performance of Diaghilev's
legendary Ballets Russes
. He conducted for the entire first season and returned to conduct multiple times over the next five years. He conducted performances with the Ballets Russes in Berlin
, Monte Carlo
, Paris
, Rome
, and the Royal Opera House
at Covent Garden
in London. In addition to his professorship and his commitments with the Ballet, in 1908, he became conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre
. At this post, he directed the Paris premiere of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
's opera
The Golden Cockerel
.
From 1905 to 1917, he was principal of the conservatory of St. Petersburg, where he taught conducting. In 1918 he was invited to take the post of director of the National Conservatory of Tbilisi
, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia
. Following the Bolshevik takeover of Georgia in 1921, he moved to Paris
and lived there for the rest of his life. While in France, he worked with Anna Pavlova and her ballet troupe as composer and conductor (1922–4) and made concert tours around Europe and the United States but abandoned his concert career in 1933 because of a deterioration in his hearing. In 1925 he founded the Russian Conservatory in Paris and served as its director for a number of years (1925–9 and 1938–45). In 1926 he became a member of the board of trustees of the Belyayev publishing house, where he later became president from 1937 until his death in 1945.
He was the father of the composer and pianist Alexander Tcherepnin
.
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...
: Никола́й Никола́евич Черепни́н – 26 June 1945) was a Russia
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 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...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. He was born 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...
and studied under Nikolai 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...
at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
. He conducted for the first 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...
season of Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.-Early life and career:...
's Ballets Russes
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
.
Life
Nikolai Tcherepnin was born in 1873 to a well-known and wealthy physician of the same name. The elder Nikolai moved in elite circles of artists including Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
and Modest 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...
. Young Nikolai's mother died when he was a baby, and when his father remarried, was replaced by an ambivalent stepmother. As a child, Nikolai's father beat him regularly and enforced a general code of strict discipline.
At his father's insistence, Nikolai earned a law degree, though during this time he composed steadily. In 1895 he graduated with his degree in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
from the University of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....
. In 1898, he earned a degree in composition under Nikolai 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...
and a degree in piano under K.K. Fan-Arkh. His talents and high family status earned him a job as the orchestral teacher at the Court Chapel in 1899. For six years he taught there before returning to the St. Petersburg Conservatory to teach there. During his 13 year tenure (from 1909 onward as professor) he taught many notable students, including Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
, Aleksandr Gauk
Aleksandr Gauk
Aleksandr Vassilievich Gauk was a Russian/Soviet conductor and composer.Aleksandr Gauk was born in Odessa in 1893. He recalled his first experience as hearing army bands and his mother singing and accompanying herself at the piano...
, Yury Shaporin and Lazare Saminsky
Lazare Saminsky
Lazare Saminsky, born Lazar Iosifovich Saminsky, was a performer, conductor and composer, especially of Jewish music.-Life:...
.
In 1902 he became the regular conductor of the Russian Symphonic Concerts and later made guest appearances with the Russian Musical Society
Russian Musical Society
The Russian Musical Society was an organisation founded in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and her protégé, pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein, with the intent of raising the standard of music in the country and disseminating musical education.Rubinstein and the Grand Duchess's...
, the Moscow Philharmonic Society
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
The Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1951 by Samuil Samosud, as the Moscow Youth Orchestra for young and inexperienced musicians, acquiring its current name in 1953...
, the Siloti Concerts
Alexander Siloti
Alexander Ilyich Siloti was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič Ziloti) (9 October 1863, near Kharkiv - 8 December 1945, New York) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič...
and Ivan Vasilenko
Ivan Vasilenko
Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilenko , was a Russian Soviet children's books author.-Early years:Ivan Dmitrievich Vasilenko was born January 20, 1895 in the village of Makeevka, in the former guberniya of Taganrog in a clerk’s family. Seven years later, his family moved to the city of Taganrog proper...
’s Historic Concerts as well conducting 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...
(1906–9). A member of the Belyayev
Mitrofan Belyayev
Mitrofan Petrovich Belyayev was a Russian music publisher, outstanding philanthropist, and the owner of a large wood dealership enterprise in Russia. He was also the founder of the Belyayev circle, a society of musicians in Russia whose members included Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov...
circle, he was also involved with the Kruzhok sovremennoy muzïki (‘The Contemporary Music Circle’) and worked with the Mir isskustva (‘World of Art’) movement. Tcherepnin was a friend of the musicologist Alexander Ossovsky
Alexander Ossovsky
Alexander Vyacheslavovich Ossovsky , 1871 –July 31, 1957) was a renowned Russian musical writer, critic and musicologist, professor at Saint Petersburg Conservatory, pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and friend of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Siloti and Nikolai...
.
In 1907, during his time at the Conservatory, he wrote possibly his most famous work, the ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
Le Pavillon d'Armide. Two years later, Tcherepnin conducted the ballet at the premiere performance of Diaghilev's
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.-Early life and career:...
legendary Ballets Russes
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
. He conducted for the entire first season and returned to conduct multiple times over the next five years. He conducted performances with the Ballets Russes in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
, 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...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
in London. In addition to his professorship and his commitments with the Ballet, in 1908, he became conductor 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...
. At this post, he directed the Paris premiere of Nikolai 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...
's 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...
The Golden Cockerel
The Golden Cockerel
The Golden Cockerel is an opera in three acts, with short prologue and even shorter epilogue, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Its libretto, by Vladimir Belsky, derives from Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, which in turn is based on two chapters of Tales of the Alhambra by...
.
From 1905 to 1917, he was principal of the conservatory of St. Petersburg, where he taught conducting. In 1918 he was invited to take the post of director of the National Conservatory of Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...
. Following the Bolshevik takeover of Georgia in 1921, he moved to 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...
and lived there for the rest of his life. While in France, he worked with Anna Pavlova and her ballet troupe as composer and conductor (1922–4) and made concert tours around Europe and the United States but abandoned his concert career in 1933 because of a deterioration in his hearing. In 1925 he founded the Russian Conservatory in Paris and served as its director for a number of years (1925–9 and 1938–45). In 1926 he became a member of the board of trustees of the Belyayev publishing house, where he later became president from 1937 until his death in 1945.
He was the father of the composer and pianist Alexander Tcherepnin
Alexander Tcherepnin
Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin and his son, Ivan Tcherepnin were also composers, as are two of his grandsons, Sergei and Stefan. His son Serge was involved in the roots of electronic music and instruments...
.
Ballet
- Le Pavillon d'Armide (1907)
- Narcisse et Echo (1911)
- The Masque of the Red Death (1915)
- Bacchus (1922)
- A Magical Russian Fairytale (1923)
- The Romance of the Mummy (1924)
Choral
- 2 Choruses (1899)
- The Song of Sappho (1899)
- The Descent of the Virgin Mary to Hell (Oratorio, 1934)
Orchestral
- La princesse lointaine (prelude to a play by E. Rostand), Op. 4 (1896)
- Macbeth (after act 4, scene 1), Op. 12 (1902)
- From Land to Land (1903)
- Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, Op. 20 (1905)
- Mar'ya Morevna (symphonic poem) (1909)
- The Enchanted Kingdom (1910)
- 6 Musical Illustrations to Pushkin’s ‘Tale about the Fisherman and the Fish’ (1917)
- Destiny (1938)
Chamber Music
- Lyrical Poem, for string quartet (1898)
- Melody, for violin and piano (1902)
- 5 Pieces for Piano (1904)
- 6 Horn Quartets (1910)
- The Alphabet in Pictures, for Piano (1910)
- Cadence fantastique, for Violin and Piano (1915)
Orchestrations and Completions
- Musorgsky: Sorochinsky Fair (1923)
- Sokolovsky: The Miller-Wizard, Cheat and Matchmaker (1925)
External links
Sources
- Tcherepnin, Nikolay by Christopher Palmer, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of OperaNew Grove Dictionary of OperaThe New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7 - Savenko, Svetlana, et al. "Tcherepnin: (1) Nikolay Tcherepnin". 2002. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 7 June 2008. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/