Vicente Martin-i-Sol ( sp. Vicente Martín y Soler ; May 2, 1754 , Valencia - February 11, 1806 , St. Petersburg ) - Spanish composer, worked in Italy and Austria, the last third of his life spent in Russia.
| Vicente Martin-and-Soler Vicente Martín y Soler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| basic information | |
| Birth name | |
| Date of Birth | May 2, 1754 |
| Place of Birth | Valencia , Spain |
| Date of death | February 11, 1806 (51 years) |
| Place of death | St. Petersburg |
| Buried | |
| A country |  Italy →  Russian empire |
| Professions | composer |
| Genres | |
Biography
The son of a singer, as a child, sang in the choir of the Cathedral of Valencia. He studied music in Bologna with a famous teacher and theorist of music, the Franciscan Giovanni Battista Martini (Padre Martini). From 1775 he lived in Madrid, where in the same year he made his debut with the opera “Two misers”.
Naples Period
In 1777 he moved to Naples as the court conductor of the King of Naples Ferdinand IV . His operas (Iphigenia in Aulisde, 1779 ; Andromache, 1780 , Apostolo Zeno's libretto; Hypermnestra, 1780 , Metastasio libretto; Parthenopa, 1782 , Metastasio libretto) were successfully staged in various Italian cities.
Viennese period
In 1785, at the invitation of the wife of the Spanish ambassador, he moved to Vienna to the court of Emperor Joseph II . He wrote there several comic operas on the libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte , which had a tremendous success (Rare Thing, 1786 , based on the play by Luis Veles de Guevara ; The Tree of Diana, 1787 , and others). Got acquainted with Salieri and Mozart ; Mozart quoted his “Rare Thing” in the second act of the opera “ Don Juan ”.
Petersburg period
In 1788 he was invited by Empress Catherine II to Russia and lived and worked in St. Petersburg until his death. Here he wrote the operas Gorebogatyr Kosometovich ( 1789 , the libretto of Catherine and her secretary Alexander Khrapovitsky ), Pesnolyubie (Melomania, 1790 , the libretto of Khrapovitsky), Fedul with Children ( 1791 , Catherine and Khrapovitsky's libretto, music together with Pashkevich ), “Village Festival” ( 1798 ), several ballets (“Left Dido”, 1792 ; “Cupid and Psyche”, 1796 ), other works. The style of the Italian opera is preserved in the Petersburg compositions of the composer, while they use the melodies of Russian songs.
The composer's wife was a Lutheran, he was buried at the Smolensk Evangelical Cemetery of St. Petersburg (an abandoned grave was found only in 1990 ).
Recognition
He wrote over 30 operas and about 20 ballets. In life, he had the glory of "Valencian Mozart." Then he was forgotten for a long time. In recent decades, it has again been performed in Spain, Italy, France and other countries. His “Rare Thing” in a concert version was shown by Jordi Savall , the opera-buff “La capricciosa corretta” was recorded by Christophe Rousset with his ensemble “Les Talens Lyriques”. The opera Gorebogatyr Kosometovich was staged in 2015 in St. Petersburg as part of the Earlymusic festival .
Literature
- Link DE The Da Ponte operas of Vicente Martín Y Soler. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1991
- Matteis G. de, Marata G. Vicente Martín y Soler. Valencia: Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 2001
- Kryazheva I.A. Martin-i-Soler and his forgotten masterpiece - the opera “Una cosa rara” // Musical Academy. 2005, No. 3, p. 154-161.