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4. The Founding of the Russian Music Society and Russia’s First Conservatory, 1859–67
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4 The Founding of the Russian Music Society and Russia’s First Conservatory, 1859–67 For many Russian liberals and the intelligentsia the death of Nicholas I in 1855 and the accession of his son as Tsar Alexander II held out the hope of great social change in Russia. Alexander’s reign (r. 1855–81) is known in Russian history as the “era of great reforms,”and the ¤rst evidence of a change in direction came with the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861. In reality, the new “tsarliberator ” continued to cling to the autocratic and bureaucratic policies of his father, but Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War had forced the autocracy reluctantly to acknowledge that changes were inevitable.“It is better to begin to abolish bondage from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself spontaneously from below,” the tsar told the Moscow nobility in March 1856.1 The following year Alexander appointed Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich , a supporter of emancipation, as chairman of a committee to report on the entire issue of serfdom. Another of the prominent members of the imperial family who was in favor of emancipating the serfs was Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna, and it is known that she brought considerable pressure to bear on her nephew, the tsar. By 1859 the legislative framework had been drawn up by an editorial committee under the chairmanship of General Rostovtsev, and the government was heavily preoccupied in implementing the enactments. Alongside these matters of momentous national importance, the petition to form a Russian Music Society (RMS) must have been largely unnoticed. Yet, such was the immense suspicion toward societies of any kind in bureaucratic government circles that the founders of the RMS found it easier to resurrect an old institution than create an entirely new one. It was not in the spirit of the era of Nicholas to set up societies! To organize a Russian Music Society as a new society was impossible. We had to resort to a dodge, and this is how we did it. Kologrivov remembered that there existed at the Imperial Cappella a circle for musical amateurs which had been approved by the government , and that concerts had been given by them. For some years this circle had not been active at all, but its charter had not been destroyed. So we took advantage of this and asked for it to be continued. Naturally the request to continue was granted. This is how it all began. So, on the basis of the old regulations, and in the guise of resurrecting a circle of amateur orchestral players, a completely new Russian Music Society was born.2 The circle to which Rubinstein refers in the above passage was the defunct Symphonic Society which Count Matvey Wielhorski had helped to found in 1841.3 From 1826 the Wielhorski brothers had been active in the musical life of St. Petersburg. Mikhail, who died in 1856, was the composer of the opera Tsïganye [The gypsies], and Matvey, an accomplished cellist, had played with Vieuxtemps and Liszt. Such was the renown of the brothers that Mendelssohn had dedicated to Matvey his Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 58 (1843), and Liszt, Berlioz, and Schumann had all made appearances in the Wielhorskis’ salon during their visits to Russia. On 27 January/8 February 1859 the former members of the Symphonic Society gathered at the home of Matvey Wielhorski on Mikhaylovsky Square and passed a resolution to continue their work. Wielhorski , Vasily Kologrivov, Anton Rubinstein, Dmitry Kanshin, Dmitry Stasov, Aleksandr Shustov, and V. I. Lavonius were elected directors. Their functions were as follows: Rubinstein: responsible for administering the musical aspects Kanshin: responsible for the accounts Kologrivov: responsible for managing the concert hall and any dealings with the administration Dmitry Stasov: responsible for the secretarial work, including maintaining the Journal of the Committee of Directors Shustov: Stasov’s assistant Lavonius: responsible for organizing the choirs On 1 May 1859 the Charter of the Russian Music Society was approved on the basis of the obsolete Symphonic Society. It declared its primary aim to be “the development of musical education and musical taste in Russia and the encouragement of native talents.” To achieve this aim, the Music Society would “(a) perform to the highest possible degree of perfection the ¤nest instrumental and vocal works,that is symphonies,overtures,quartets,trios,oratorios,masses, cantatas, etc.; and (b) give native composers the opportunity to hear their...