Cherepnin, Nikolai Nikolaevich

Born in the family of the famous St. Petersburg physician Nikolai Petrovich Cherepnin (1841 - February 27, 1906), personal physician F. M. Dostoevsky ; in the memoirs of Anna Snitkina-Dostoevskaya it was indicated that at the last moment they sent for Dr. Cherepnin: "The arrived doctor N. P. Cherepnin could only catch the last beats of his heart." Mother, Zinaida Alexandrovna, nee Rataeva, died after childbirth. The second wife of the father was from the Suvorov family, - Ivashintsova had two sons; Thus, Lieutenant General Alexander Vasilievich (1869-1921) and Sergey Vasilievich (1857-1921) the Ivashintsovs were his half-brothers.

In 1883, Nikolai Cherepnin entered the 6th St. Petersburg Gymnasium , whose director in 1890 was philologist and spiritual composer Dmitry Nikolayevich Solovyov . Grammar school was completed in 1891 with a silver medal ^[7] . Then he studied at St. Petersburg University ; in 1895 he graduated from the law faculty of the university .

Even in the fall of 1893, leaving his studies at the university, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory , in the piano class of Professor Karl Karlovich Fan-Ark . Soon, leaving the Fan-Ark class, he passed the exams for the composer's department of the conservatory and was admitted to the class of composer and music writer Nikolai Feopemptovich Solovyov . In 1894, as Cherepnin recalled

After much hesitation and excitement, I finally decided to appear before Rimsky-Korsakov, taking some compositions with me ... Nikolai Andreevich listened to everything very carefully, talked with me on some musical topics and ... said that he would accept me in his class after I receive consent from my former professor to transfer from his class.

Solovyov did not mind and Cherepnin began to study with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and in 1898 he graduated with honors from the composition class.

From 1898 he conducted the Mariinsky Theater Choir, and from 1906, the conductor of the theater. Conducted concerts of the Russian Musical Society , “Russian Symphony Concerts”, in 1908-1913 - in the St. Petersburg People’s House. Since 1909, Cherepnin participated in the "Russian Seasons" by Sergey Diaghilev .

Member of the Belyaevsky circle, was friendly with the musicologist A.V. Ossovsky . He was a member of the World of Art association.

In 1905-1917 taught conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (professor since 1909), among his students were Nikolai Obukhov and Sergei Prokofiev , who devoted several compositions to the teacher (First Piano Concerto, etc.) ^[8] .

In the years 1918-1921. - Director of the Tiflis Conservatory . Since 1921 - in France, where he collaborated with the ballet troupe of Anna Pavlova. In 1925, he founded and headed the Russian Conservatory in Paris. In 1932 he was invited by Sergey Kusevitsky to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra . Since 1937, he headed the Board of Trustees of M. P. Belyaev in Leipzig. "

In addition to the author himself, Cherepnin’s works were conducted by Alexander Glazunov , Sergey Kusevitsky , Mikhail Pletnev , Gennady Rozhdestvensky , Alexander Rudin .

Family

Wife (since 1897): the oldest daughter of Albert N. Benois , Maria Albertovna ^[9] . He was buried with his wife in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois .

Son: Alexander - composer, pianist, music critic.

Being a follower of his teacher, N. Cherepnin perceived all new trends in music. The movement of impressionism had a great influence on his style, he took a lot from A.N. Scriabin , R. Strauss , G. Mahler , A. Schoenberg , I. Stravinsky , K. Debussy , M. Ravel .

His first works were already published in 1898: 6 romances for mezzo-soprano (op. 1), Prelude to the play Princess Greuza (op. 4), Song of Sappho (op. 5).

Researchers are inclined to believe that the best works of N. Cherepnin were written by him during his rapprochement with the group “World of Art”. This conversation began with the creation of the ballet Pavilion of Armida (Op. 29) based on the plot of A. N. Benois in 1903. From 1909 to 1914 he was a member of the "Russian Seasons" in Paris, and the first season of 1909 was under his control. He turned out to be the first composer to write music commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev - his first ballet, The Armida Pavilion, was staged in 1909 by M. Fokin. Two of his ballets Narcissus and Echo (op. 40, 1911) and The Mask of the Red Death (op. 49, 1912) were also created by him for the troupe of Sergey Diaghilev.

The name of N. N. Cherepnin is associated with the ballet genre and the work of the ballet troupe of Sergey Diaghilev in Paris. The composer's artistic principles were formed under the influence of the Diaghilev community members - A. N. Benois, L. Bakst, M. Fokin, the aesthetics of the “World of Art”, the tendency of its participants to poetic resurrection of images of the past, to exquisite stylization.

The creativity center of N. N. Cherepnin consists of 16 ballets. The best of them are “ Armida Pavilion ”, “Narcissus and Echo”, “Mask of Red Death”. Indispensable for the art of the beginning of the century, the romantic theme of the discord of dreams and reality is embodied in these ballets with characteristic techniques that bring Cherepnin’s music together with the paintings of the impressionists . A number of works by Cherepnin are written on the themes of Russian fairy tales. The operas Swat and Vanka Klyuchnik, written in the 1930s, are an interesting example of introducing into the traditional Russian music genre the folk song opera of sophisticated musical writing techniques of the 20th century. Among the orchestral compositions of Cherepnin, his most interesting are his programmatic compositions: the Symphonic Prelude “Princess Dream” (by E. Rostan ), the symphonic poem “Macbeth” (by V. Shakespeare ), the symphonic painting “The Enchanted Kingdom” (to the tale of the Firebird), dramatic fantasy “From Edge to Edge” (based on the poem of the same name by F. Tyutchev ), “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” (based on the tale of A. S. Pushkin ). Cherepnin is also noticeable in the cantata-oratorio genre (“Song of Sappho” and a number of spiritual works a cappella, including “The Virgin’s Walk in Pain” to the texts of folk spiritual verses, etc.) and in choral genres (“Night” to verses V. Yuryev-Drenteln, “The Old Song” to the verses by A. Koltsov . Cherepnin’s vocal lyrics (more than 100 romances) cover a wide range of topics and plots - from philosophical lyrics (“Trumpet Voice” to verses by D. Merezhkovsky , “Thoughts and Waves” to the verses of F. Tyutchev) to the pictures of nature (“Twilight” at the station of F. Tyutchev); from the refined stylization of Russian dogs en (“Wreath Gorodetsky”) before the tale (“Fairy Tales” to the poems of K. Balmont ). From other works of Cherepnin, his piano “Alphabet in Pictures” with drawings by A. Benois, String Quartet, quartets for four horns and other ensembles should be called Cherepnin is also the author of orchestrations and editions of many works of Russian music (“Miller the Sorcerer, a Deceiver and a Matchmaker” by M. M. Sokolovsky , “Sorochinsky Fair” by M. P. Mussorgsky and others) ^[10] .

Ballets

• Armida Pavilion , op. 29 ( 1903 )
• Narcissus , op. 40 ( 1911 ) ^[11]
• Mask of the Red Death, op. 49 ( 1911 , according to Edgar Allan Poe )
• Marya Morevna ( 1913 )
• The Tale of Princess Ulyba and the Nightingale of the Robber ( 1916 )
• Dionysus ( 1921 )
• Enchanted Bird (Russian Tale), op. 55 ( 1923 )
• The novel of the mummy ( 1924 , according to the novel by T. Gauthier )
• " Goldfish " ( 1937 ) on the plot of A. S. Pushkin

Opera

• Swat ( 1930 , based on the play by A. N. Ostrovsky “ Poverty is not a vice ”)
• Roly-keyman ( 1933 , based on the play of the same name by F. Sologub )

Symphonic works

• Dramatic Fantasy ( 1903 )
• The Enchanted Kingdom ( 1904 )
• Concert for piano and orchestra, op. 30 ( 1907 )
• “Fate”, fragments from the music of the ballet “Mask of the Red Death” ( 1934 )
• Orchestra "Paraphrase" - a joint work by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov , Caesar Cui , Anatoly Lyadov , Alexander Borodin and Franz Liszt ( 1937 )
• “The Virgin’s Walk in Torment”, an oratorio for three soloists, a choir and an orchestra ( 1938 )
• Georgian funeral chants ( 1944 )

Chamber Works

• Six Pieces for French Horn Quartet