St Petersburg

The Imperial Mariinsky theatre was built in 1783 and rebuilt in 1836 (FP of A Life for the Czar by Glinka) and again in 1860, after a fire. In 1917 it was nationalized and called Kirov Theatre; from 1993 it has its present name. The ballet company, led by Marius Petipa from 1869 until 1903, became world famous as does the orchestra under the baton of Vasiliy Gergiev.

The St. Petersburg Conservatoire was established in 1862 on the initiative of Anton Rubinstein as the first institution in Russia for education in all musical disciplines; since 1896 it is housed in the present building. The pianist Heinrich Neuhaus and the composers Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov and Glazunov were renowned professors, Glazunov was the director from 1903 to 1925; his pupil Shostakovich watched over the building during the siege of Leningrad (1941-44).

There are concert- and theatre halls and expositions about Rubinstein and Glinka. Room 36 is the former classroom of Rimsky-Korsakov; his monument is at the front of the building. A Glinka monument from 1906 is nearby (opposite nr 7 of Glinka street).

House of the Stravinsky family, Igor lived here from 1882 to 1908. The bronze plaque from 1991 was stolen; a new one made of stone was placed in 2003.

The Czech Eduard Napravnik (1839-1916) died in the neighbouring house (nr 8). He worked in Leningrad as a renowned conductor of numerous famous opera premières from 1861 until his death. His compositions were forgotten.

This concert hall was established in 2006, giving the opportunity to young musicians to appear with an orchestra. The fine building is the former palace of a brother of tsar Aleksandr III.

Dom Kompozitorov is the ‘clubhouse’ of the Union of Russian composers, where concerts, lectures and conferences take place.

Tchaikovsky died of cholera in 1893 in the house of his brother Modest. Was it a natural death or suicide under pressure, as sometimes is believed?

The choir and choir school of the imperial court were established in 1703. Bortnyansky, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Arensky and Lyadov have worked here. The building has a fine concert hall with an organ and excellent acoustics.

House of the most renowned dancer of Dyagilev’s Ballets Russes, Vaclav Nijinsky. With his notorious performance of Debussy’s Faune and the choreography of the Sacre du printemps he wrote musical history.

In a former noble palace from 1771, a cinema named Svetnaya LentaBarrikada was opened in 1923. The young Shostakovich worked there as piano accompanist to the silent pictures. (Photos from 1926 and 1986; the name of Barrikada was later removed from the roof.)

Former Salle Mme. Engelhardt, in which Anton Rubinstein made his debut in 1843. Now the second concert hall of the Shostakovich Philharmonia.

Family house of Glazunovs since the beginning of the 19^th century. The composer Aleksandr Glazunov was born here in 1865 and lived here until he emigrated to France in 1928. The huge building shall also have housed many other families.

Theatre for operetta and musical, established in 1929.

Former Mikhaylovsky theatre, built in 1833. Now the second opera and ballet house of St. Petersburg; first class performances, but less famous and less expensive than the Mariinsky.

The State Philharmonic Hall was originally a Blagorodnoye Sobranye (noblemen’s clubhouse), in which Liszt, Berlioz and the Schumanns appeared in the 1840s. Now it is the leading concert hall of the city. Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony (nr 7) was performed here in 1942, during the siege; the frontline was only 13 km. further up. A plaque commemorates the event.

Another plaque honours the legendary conductor Evgeny Mravinsky (1903-88). It tells that he ‘worked here 59 years’.

The building of the present Russian Museum – with nearly 400.000 works of Russian art! ­­– was until 1889 called Mikhaylovsky palace. The owner was an important propagator of the musical life; Berlioz stayed here during his last visit to Russia, in the winter of 1867/68.

The composer Nikolay Myaskovsky (1881-1950) lived here from 1908 until 1914. He was a friend of Prokofiev but his taste was less progressive; his oeuvre, containing vocal and instrumental music – including 27 symphonies – is late romantic and certainly worth hearing. He was born in a Russian fortress near Warsaw (>), served in the army from 1914 to 1921 and then settled in Moscow where he became the teacher of Khachaturyan, Kabalevsky and Shebalin.

Sergey Dyagilev, the great impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, lived here from 1900 until 1906.

Musorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov shared a small apartment during the winter of 1871/72. In order not to disturb each other, Modest used the piano in the morning while Nikolay worked on his scores; the latter could play in the afternoon when Modest fulfilled his obligations at the government.

The house of Glinka’s sister Lyudmila Shestakova was a meeting point of the ‘Mighty Handful’, the group of nationalist composers, including Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Musorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.

At number 26 is the house of the art and music critic Vladimir Stasov, a fervent supporter of that group of composers, for which he coined the nickname moguchaya kuchka, ‘mighty handful’. 

The composer Aleksandr Dargomyzhky (1913-69) lived at number 30 from 1843 until his death in 1869. He can be considered the link between Glinka and the ‘mighty handful’; the operas Rusalka and Kamenny Gost (‘The Stone Guest’, after Pushkin’s Don Juan story) were inspiring examples to the younger generation.

Most of the many addresses of Glinka have disappeared, only this one ­­─ 1854-56 ─ is extant.

The palace of the Sheremetev family, built in 1730-55, provided with a famous Capella; the performances in the 1850s and ‘60s were admired by Liszt and Berlioz.

There is an exhibition about the musical culture of the house and a large collection of musical instruments.

This nobleman’s palace from 1847 became a municipal culture centre and offers a platform for chamber music.

In this building Tchaikovsky worked in the service of the Ministry of Justice, from 1859 until 1863.

The impetus of this State Museum of Theatre and Music is lying on theatre and ballet; an abundance of photos, documents, posters, costumes, stage models etc. in a beautiful setting. Large collection of books and videos.

The roots of the Academy of Russian Ballet lie in the Imperial Ballet School, established in 1738 with Italian and French teachers. The present building is from 1836. Famous names from the 19^th century: teacher Marius Petipa and pupil Anna Pavlova; later pupils were Nijinsky and Karsavina. Now it is called after Agrippina Vaganova, who taught here in the first half of the 20^th century and developed the successful ‘Vaganova Method’. Nureyev, one of the pupils, went abroad; many others landed in the Mariinsky ballet company.

Anton Rubinstein (1829-94) was a piano virtuoso, composer and the first director of the conservatory. He did not belong to the nationalistic school ─ Stasov called his music ‘Teutonic’. His Melody in F became world famous; from the rest of his large oeuvre, including 20 operas, the fantastic opera Demon was his most successful work. He lived in this house from 1887 until 1891, after having lived for one year at nr 27 in the same street .

The composer Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) was the initiator and influential leader of the ‘mighty handful’. His symphonic poem Tamara is still often performed and the famous ‘Oriental Fantasy’ Islamey is a real test case of piano virtuosity. He lived in this house from 1882 until his death.

The Zagorodniy prospect is an interesting street. At nr 14 lived Tchaikovsky from 1863 to 1865, at nr 12 the ballet master Marius Petipa and nr 9 was a house of Anton Rubinstein. The next two items are at another part of this street.

The house where Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov lived from 1892 until 1908 is now a fine museum with a wealth of authentic pieces, depicting the ambiance in which he lived and worked.

Unlike the intimate and sometimes messy jazz cafés and clubs in Western cities, St. Petersburg has a real concert hall for Jazz performances, the ‘Jazz Philharmonic Hall’, also called ‘Ellington Hall’.

Birthplace of Dmitry Shostakovich, °1906; the family lived here until 1914.

The photo is from 1986. In 1992 the house was provided with a plaque.

Sergey Prokofiev lived here some years from 1908.

House of Prokofiev during the years 1913-17. It is his last house in St. Petersburg before leaving the country for 16 years.

Modest Musorgsky studied at this Guards and Cavalry Cadets College from 1852 until 1856. He never became a guard or cavalryman; from 1863 he was a clerk at the Ministry of Communications and was fired in 1867. Later on he worked at other ministries.

From 1856 to 1862 Nikolay Rimsky Korsakov studied at the College of Naval Cadets, at the same time pursuing a music study. He stayed in the naval service. In 1863 he embarked on a 2½ year journey, which brought him to the Baltic countries, England, New York, Rio de Janeiro and the Mediterranean. In 1871 he became inspector of the naval music bands.

Annex to the college there is a museum; probably some attention is paid to the composer.

On the Vasilievsky island is the house of the opera composer and polemical critic Aleksandr Serov (1820-71). His operas Rogneda and Judith were a great success during some time.

House of Shostakovich between 1937 and 1941. The sculpture is from 1991.

House of the famous singer and legendary performer of Boris Godunov, Fyodor Shalyapin, staying here from 1914 until his emigration in 1922. Among the many exhibits there is a reconstruction of his dressing room in the Mariiansky theatre. His luxury main house in Moscow (1910-22) is also a museum (>).

Aleksandr Borodin studied and worked here as a scientist in the field of chemistry and medicine. In 1856 he graduated and in 1862 he became professor. His music ─ incl. fine symphonies and string quartets and the opera Price Igor ─ he composed between times.

He lived around the corner, in the large building at Akademika Lebedeva street/Komsomola street.

This is the last house of Modest Musorgsky and the only one he rented himself (1872-75). The bust was placed in 1988.

His colleague-composer César Cui (Tsezar Kyui in Russian; he was of French descent) has also lived at this address. Cui was the least known member of the ‘mighty handful’. He wrote 14 operas and many small-scale vocal and instrumental pieces. Next to it he worked as a militaryHHhhhhj

 engineer.

A later habitant of the block was Shostakovich during his student years.

The cellist Mstislav Rostropovich proposed to establish a museum in this remarkable building.

The magnificent Smolny cathedral is the best place for the acquaintance with Russian orthodox church music. Outside the services there are also concerts.

This cemetery belongs to the monastery Aleksandr-Nevskaya Lavra, but is also the main cemetery for celebrities, including Glinka, Dargomyzhky, Anton Rubinstein, Napravnik, Tchaikovsky, the entire ‘mighty handful’, Arensky, Glazunov. The majority of the composers’ graves are in a special area. The grave of Bortnyansky was transferred from the Smolenskoye cemetery. Other graves include those of Stasov and Petipa, who figure in this website too. Between generals and dignitaries lies Beethoven’s benefactor, prince Galitzin.

The composer Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859-1925), known from his Caucasian Sketches, was born on the grounds of this imperial summer palace; his father was employed as a mechanic in the palace. If there are any traces of him is not known.

The house in Peterhof in which Anton Rubinstein died in 1894 no longer stands, but he has his monument.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov was born in 1844 in the house which his grandfather had built in 1815. He lived here until 1856. His children made the house accessible to the public on the occasion of his centenary, 1944. Numerous exhibits illustrate his youth and his life as a marine officer and composer.

In 1962, during his only stay to the Soviet Union, Igor Stravinsky visited Lomonosov, the former Oranienbaum, where he was born in 1882. To his regret his birthplace had disappeared and the town was unrecognizable.

This town at the border of the Onega lake was called Terijoki until 1941, belonging to Finnish Karelia. It was (is?) a beloved summer resort. Tchaikovsky visited it in August of 1890. Anton Arensky died in a sanatorium here in 1906. No traces found.