Eduard Nápravník
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Eduard Frantsovitch Nápravník (Russian: Эдуард Францович Направник, August 24, 1839, Býšť, Bohemia - November 23, 1916, Petrograd) was a Czech conductor and composer, who settled in Russia and is best known for his leading role in Russian musical life as the principal conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg for many decades. In that capacity, he conducted the premieres of many operas by Russian composers, including those by Mussorgsky, César Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov.
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[edit] Biography
His studies of music were precariously uneven as a child, being the son of a poor teacher. Being orphaned in 1853 at age of 14, to earn a living Nápravník started his career by playing the organ in a local church. In 1854 he entered the Prague Organ School, where he studied under Jan Bedřich Kittl and others, and became an assistant teacher. The generosity of his teacher allowed him to continue studies. In 1861 he received an offer from Russia: the post of conductor of the private orchestra of prince Yusupov in St. Petersburg.
Nápravník became organist and assistant conductor at the Imperial theatres in 1863, second conductor in 1867, and chief conductor, succeeding Liadov, in 1869, holding the post until his death. He gave the first performances of Boris Godunov in 1874, five operas by Peter Tchaikovsky, including The Maid of Orleans, Mazepa, and The Queen of Spades, and five by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, including May Night, The Snow Maiden, and Christmas Eve. He also conducted concerts of the Russian Music Society. In 1914, after a productive career in the service of Russian opera, he was forced to discontinue further work due to ill health.
Nápravník is also known for leading the second -- and overwhelmingly persuasive -- performance of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique symphony nine days after the composer's death. The début, under the composer's baton, had not fared so well, partly due to the audience and orchestra's unfamiliarity with a work that contained so many novelties, compostionally speaking, and partly due to Tchaikovsky's conducting. Under Nápravník's baton, however, and in light of Tchaikovsky's passing, the work was seen as a masterpiece with an overwhelming emotional message.
Of Nápravník's own four operas the most successful was Dubrovsky (1894, staged 1895) written to the Russian libretto by Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky after the story by Pushkin.
In May 1917, his family went abroad and eventually settled in Belgium.
[edit] Compositions
[edit] Operas
- Nizhegorodtzy (The Nizhniy-Novgorodians, 1867, staged 1868)
- Harold (1885, staged 1884)
- Dubrovsky, libretto by Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1894, staged 1895)
- Francesca da Rimini (after Stephen Phillips's play based on the fragment from Dante's Divine Comedy, 1902)]
[edit] Orchestral and choral
- Ballads for voices and orchestra: The Voyevode, The Cossack, and Tamara (after Mikhail Lermontov)
- Four symphonies: (1860–1879), no. 3 The Demon (after Lermontov), suite
- Solemn Overture
- Marches and national dances for orchestra
- Concerto and Fantasy on Russian themes for piano and orchestra
- Fantasy and suite for violin and orchestra
[edit] Chamber music
- Three string quartets (1873–78)
- String quintet (1897)
- Two piano trios
- Piano quartet
- Violin and piano sonata
- Two suites for cello and piano
- String instrument and piano pieces
[edit] Incidental music
- Don Juan, incidental music for Alexei Tolstoy's play (1892)
[edit] Selected Discography
- Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 27 and Fantasie Russe in B minor, Op. 7. Yevgeny Soifertis, piano; BBC Scottish Orchestra conducted by Alexander Titov (Hyperion CDA67511).
[edit] Legacy
- A school in the village of Býšť bears Nápravník's name today.
- His son Vladimir published book about his father's life: Eduard Frantsovich Napravnik i ego sovremenniki, ISBN 5-7140-0412-4, 1991, in Russian.
[edit] Quotations
"Mr. Napravnik is our well-known Russian orchestra conductor" (Fyodor Dostoyevsky: "The Brothers Karamazov" (1880), book 2, chapter 2).
