Catterino Cavos

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Catterino Cavos

Catterino Albertovich Cavos (Russian: Катери́но Альбе́ртович Ка́вос) (October 30, 1775 – May 10 (OS April 28), 1840), born Catarino Camillo Cavos, was an Italian composer, organist and conductor settled in Russia. He played an important role in the history of Russian opera and was the father of Alberto Cavos.[1]

Cavos is celebrated in Russian musical history as the man who composed the opera Ivan Susanin in 1815, 20 years before Mikhail Glinka's opera of the same name.[2] The plot, based on an episode from Russian history, tells the story of the Russian peasant and patriotic hero Ivan Susanin who sacrifices his life for the Tsar by leading astray a group of marauding Poles who were hunting him.[3]


Contents

[edit] Early years and family

Cavos was born in Venice, Italy, on October 30, 1775. His father, Alberto Giovanni Cavos, was the Primo Ballerino Assoluto (lead male ballet dancer) and director of the La Fenice theatre in Venice.[4]

Cavos studied under Francesco Bianchi.[5] At the age of twelve, Cavos composed a cantata to celebrate Leopold II's arrival in Venice.[6] At fourteen he was offered the post of organist to St Mark's Basilica, but refused the position, allowing the post to be given to an older, impoverished musician.[7]

[edit] Russian years

In his early twenties, Cavos accepted a position as conductor of the Italian operatic company Astariti, and traveled with the company to St. Petersburg in 1797.[8] The company was soon disbanded, but Cavos had fallen in love with St. Petersburg, and entered the service of the Imperial Theatres, at first as composer for a French opera troupe with the responsibility to write music for the opera-vaudevilles.[9][10] In 1803 the Emperor appointed Cavos Kapellmeister of Italian and Russian opera, placing him in charge of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre.[11][12] He also served as a professor at the Saint Catherine School, and later occupied the same place in the Smolny Convent.[13]

He began composing his own operas in 1805.[14] These included: Knyaz-nevidimka(The Invisible Prince) (1805), Ilya Bogatyr (Ilya the Hero) (1807), Zephyre et Flore (1808), Ivan Susanin (1815), and The Firebird (1822).[15][16] He also contributed to the second part of the opera tetralogy Rusalka (1803-1807).[17] The Cossack as Poet, a one-act vaudeville (1812)[18], remained in the repertory till 1852.

John Warrack wrote of Cavos' work:

Cavos's operas draw on Russian subjects. Ilya Bogatyr, for which the fabulist Ivan Krylov wrote the libretto, is a Romantic magic opera continuing the line of Catherine's Fevey text and anticipating Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila. A few, such as The Firebird (1822), treat the Oriental themes that had become fashionable with Russia's expansion, and thus also anticipate Ruslan and Lyudmila and Borodin's Prince Igor. Cavos's main librettist, however, was Alexander Shakhovskoi Mikhail Miloradovich#Theatre and sexuality, Director of the Imperial Theatres. Shakhovskoi's text for The Cossack Poet (1812) invokes the patriotic sentiments of the times, and so, even more, does his text for Ivan Susanin (1815), a "rescue opera" owing much to French example. When Glinka's own opera about Ivan Susanin...was produced in 1836, it was Cavos who conducted; but though Cavos generously declared that his work was now superseded, it [Ivan Susanin] continued in the repertoire until 1854.[19]

The work in question, based on the tale of Ivan Susanin, was Glinka's epoch-making A Life for the Tsar.[20]

Cavos acquainted the Russian public with the operas of Luigi Cherubini, Étienne Méhul, Carl Maria von Weber, and others.[21].

Cavos spent more than forty years in Russia and died in St Petersburg.

[edit] Professional legacy and descendants

Orlando Figes says of him:

In 1803 the Emperor Alexander took control of the public theatres and placed Cavos in charge of the Bolshoi Kamenny, until then the only public opera house and exclusively reserved for Italian opera. Cavos built the Bolshoi Kamenny into a stronghold of Russian opera. He wrote works such as Ilya Bogatyr (1807) on heroic national themes with librettos in Russian, and his music was strongly influenced by Russian and Ukrainian folk songs. Much of Glinka's operatic music, which the nationalists would champion as the foundation of the Russian tradition, was in fact anticipated by Cavos. The 'national character' of Russian music was thus first developed by a foreigner.[22]

Cavos' wife, Camilla Baglioni (1773-1832), was a coloratura soprano who gained fame as an opera singer in late eighteenth century.[23][24][25] Opera was in Camilla's blood; three of her sisters and two of her brothers also had careers as opera singers.[26]

Arguably, the most successful member of the Baglioni family was Camilla's brother, Antonio Baglioni.[27] Antonio served for nearly a decade (1787-1795/6) as the leading tenor in Domenico Guardasoni's opera troupe.[28] In 1787, Antonio created the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in a performance personally conducted by the opera's composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.[29] Four years later, Antonio created the role of Tito in another opera composed and conducted by Mozart, La clemenza di Tito.[30] This was a great honor, as only a handful of singers had multiple operatic roles written expressly for them by Mozart.[31]

Cavos and Camilla's eldest son, Albert Catterinovich "Alberto" Cavos (1800-1863), was an architect best known for his theatre designs, having built Russia's two most iconic theatres, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (1859–1860) and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (1853–1856). Albert's daughter Camilla married Nicholas Benois, a prominent Russian architect, and became the matriarch of the Benois family. Her descendants included: Alexandre Benois artist and founder of Mir iskusstva, painter Zinaida Serebriakova, sculptor and graphic artist Eugene Lanceray, architect Leon Benois, and actor Sir Peter Ustinov.

Cavos and Camilla's younger son, Ivan Catterinovich "Giovanni" Cavos (1805-1861), received musical training and served thirty years in the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg, holding various positions, including Director of Orchestras, Director of Italian Opera, and Inspector of the Smolny Institute.[32][33]

Cavos' daughter, Stefanida, taught music at the Smolny Institute from 1822 to 1837, before marrying an Italian named Corrinini, and settling in Venice.[34]

[edit] Operas

  • Soliman second, ou Les trois Sultanes one-act vaudeville after Charles Simon Favart, June 7 [OS Mai 26] 1798 St. Petersburg. (Also with Russian libretto: Suliman vtoroi, ili Tri sultanshi – Сулиман второй или три султанши, 1813)
  • Les Trois bossus (Three Brothers Crouchbacks)
  • L'Alchimiste
  • L'Intrigue dans les ruines
  • Le Mariage d'Aubigny
  • Lesta, dneprovskaya rusalka (May 17 [OS May 5], 1804, St Petersburg, Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre) by Ferdinand Kauer with the additional music by Cavos and Stepan Davydov.
  • Knyaz nevidimka, ili Licharda volshebnik (Князь-невидимка – The Invisible Prince, libretto by Lifanov, in 4 acts May 17, 1805 St Petersburg)
  • Lyobovnaya pochta (Любовная почта – The Mail of Love, libretto by Alexander Shakhovskoy 1806)
  • Ilya Bogatyr (Илья-Богатырь – Ilya the Hero, libretto by Ivan Krylov, January 12, 1807 St Petersburg)
  • Tri brata gorbuna (Три брата-горбуна – Three Brothers Crouchbacks, 1808) [revision of Les trois bossus]
  • Kazak-stikhotvorets (Казак-стихотворец – The Cossack as Poet, May 27, 1812, St Petersburg)
  • Ivan Susanin (Иван Сусанин, libretto by Alexander Shakhovskoy, October 30 [OS October 19], 1815 St Petersburg)
  • Dobrynya Nikitich (Добрыня Никитич, 1818) [together with F. Antonolini]
  • Zhar-ptitsa (Царь-Птица – The Firebird, 1823)

[edit] Ballets

  • Zefir i Flora (1808)
  • Opolchenie ili lyubov' k Otechestvu (1812)
  • Raul Kreki (1819)
  • Kavkazsky plennik ili ten' nevesty (1823)

[edit] CDs

  • The Golden Age of Russian Guitar, Vol.2CD: Ovchinnikov, Oleg Timofeyev, D. Kushenov-Dmitrievsky, Andrei Osipovich Sychra, Catterino Cavos

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ardoin, John. (2001). "Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival", pp. 10-11 Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
  2. ^ Taruskin, Richard (1996). "Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra, Volume 1" p. 426 Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Robert Leach and Victor Borovsky (1999) "Russian Opera by John Warrack" A History of the Russian Theatre. pp.201-2 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ Ardoin, John. (2001). "Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival", pp. 10-11 Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
  5. ^ Randel, Don Michael. (1996). "Catterino Cavos." The Harvard biographical dictionary of music, p. 147 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  6. ^ Benois, Alexandre. (1960). ""Memoirs", Vol. 1, p. 37. London: Chatto & Windus
  7. ^ Grove, Sir George (1904). "Grove's dictionary of music and musicians," Vol. 1 p. 485 London: MacMillan & Co.
  8. ^ Grove, Sir George (1904). "Grove's dictionary of music and musicians," Vol. 1 p. 485 London: MacMillan & Co.
  9. ^ Figes, Orlando (2002). "Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia" p. 485 New York: Metropolitan Books
  10. ^ Grove, Sir George (1904). "Grove's dictionary of music and musicians," Vol. 1 p. 485 London: MacMillan & Co.
  11. ^ Figes, Orlando (2002). "Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia" p. 485 New York: Metropolitan Books
  12. ^ Grove, Sir George (1904). "Grove's dictionary of music and musicians," Vol. 1 p. 485 London: MacMillan & Co.
  13. ^ Randel, Don Michael. (1996). "Catterino Cavos." The Harvard biographical dictionary of music, p. 147 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  14. ^ Randel, Don Michael. (1996). "Catterino Cavos." The Harvard biographical dictionary of music, p. 147 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  15. ^ Taruskin, Richard (1996). "Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra, Volume 1" p. 426 Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ Abraham, Gerald (1982). "The New Oxford History of Music: The Age of Beethoven, 1790-1830" pp. 530-1 Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ Abraham, Gerald (1982). "The New Oxford History of Music: The Age of Beethoven, 1790-1830" p. 531 Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ Abraham, Gerald (1982). "The New Oxford History of Music: The Age of Beethoven, 1790-1830" pp. 530-1 Oxford: Oxford University Press
  19. ^ Robert Leach and Victor Borovsky (1999) "Russian Opera by John Warrack" A History of the Russian Theatre. pp.201-2 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  20. ^ Taruskin, Richard (1996). "Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra, Volume 1" p. 426 Oxford: Oxford University Press
  21. ^ Maximovitch, Michel (1987). "L'opéra Russe" p. 39 Lausanne: L'Age d'Homme
  22. ^ Orlando Figes, Natasha's Dance (Picador, 2002), p. 41.
  23. ^ "Nuova rivista musicale italiana: Volume 3, Issue 1" p. 23 Rome: Edizioni RAI, (1969)
  24. ^ Randel, Don Michael. (1996). "Catterino Cavos." The Harvard biographical dictionary of music, p. 147 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  25. ^ Ardoin, John. (2001). "Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival", p. 10 Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
  26. ^ Ardoin, John. (2001). "Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival", p. 11 Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
  27. ^ Rice, John A. "Antonio Baglioni, Mozart's First Ottavio and Tito, in Italy and Prague." Accessed January 26, 2012. http://home.rconnect.com/~lydiar/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Baglioni.pdf
  28. ^ Rice, John A. "Antonio Baglioni, Mozart's First Ottavio and Tito, in Italy and Prague." Accessed January 26, 2012. http://home.rconnect.com/~lydiar/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Baglioni.pdf
  29. ^ Ardoin, John. (2001). "Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival", p. 11 Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
  30. ^ Ardoin, John. (2001). "Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival", pp. 10-11 Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
  31. ^ Rice, John A. "Antonio Baglioni, Mozart's First Ottavio and Tito, in Italy and Prague." Accessed January 26, 2012. http://home.rconnect.com/~lydiar/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Baglioni.pdf
  32. ^ Brown, David (1973). "Mikhail Glinka: A Biographical and Critical Study." Oxford: Oxford University Press
  33. ^ Randel, Don Michael. (1996). "Catterino Cavos." The Harvard biographical dictionary of music, p. 147 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  34. ^ Sakharov, Ivan. "Russian Family of Italian Origin" Accessed on January 26, 2012. [1]

[edit] References

  • (French) Mercier, J.: "Notice nécrologique sur Catterino Cavos" (St Petersburg, 1849).
  • (Italian) Aloys Mooser, R.: "Un Musicista Veneziano in Russia: Catterino Cavos (1775-1840)", Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana III/1 (1969) 13-23.

[edit] External links

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