Catterino Cavos

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Catterino Cavos
Catterino Cavos

Catterino Albertovich Cavos also Catarino Camillo Cavos or Katerino Al'bertovič Kavos (Russian: Катери́но Альбе́ртович Каво́с, born: October 30, 1775, Venice, Italy – died: May 10 (OS April 28), 1840 St Petersburg, Russia) was an Italian composer, organist and conductor settled in Russia. He played an important role in the history of Russian opera.

Cavos is celebrated in Russian musical history as the man who composed an opera Ivan Susanin (1815) 20 years before Glinka. The plot, based on an episode from Russian history, (set in 1612) 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.

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[edit] Biography

He was a son of the director of the theatre "La Fenice" in Venice Alberto Giovanni Cavos. At the age of 12 Cavos composed a cantata to celebrate the arrival to Venice of Leopold II. At the age of 14 he obtained the place of the organist at St Mark Church.

In 1797, together with the Italian operatic company "Astariti", he came to St Petersburg. The company was soon disbanded, but Cavos entered the service of the Imperial Theatres, at first as composer for French opera troupe with the responsibility to write music to the operas-vaudevilles

In 1803 Cavos was appointed as the Kapellmeister of Italian and Russian opera and, furthermore, obtained the place of teacher of singing at the Saint Catherine School. In 1811 he occupied the same place in the Smolny Monastery.

He was involved in a massive operatic project: the opera tetralogy Rusalka (The Mermaid, also known as Dneprovskaya Rusalka or Lesta, dneprovskaya rusalka (1803-1807, first given in St Petersburg) based on the German romantic-comic piece Das Donauweibchen (The Mermaid of Danube) by Ferdinand Kauer (1751-1831) with the new Russian text by Nikolai Krasnopolsky and Prince Alexander Shakhovskoy (1777-1846). Cavos, together with Stepan Davydov, (1777-1825) provided the additional music to the opera.

Cavos acquainted the Russian public with the opera's by Luigi Cherubini, Étienne Méhul, Carl Maria von Weber, and others. He conducted the first performance of Glinka's "Ivan Susanin" (A Life for the Tsar) in 1836, twenty years after the first performance of his own opera on the same story (though with a different ending). Cavos generously admitted that Glinka's work was musically superior.

Cavos spent more than 40 years in Russia and died in St Petersburg.

His two sons, grandson and other members of the Cavos family, all well known musicians and architects, made a notable contribution into the Russian culture of the 19th century.

[edit] Legacy

Cavos wrote a great number of operas, ballets, and orchestral pieces. His operas Ilya the Hero (1806), Ivan Susanin (1815), and The Firebird (1823) earned a public success in their time. The Cossack as Poet, a one-act vaudeville (1812), remained in the repertory till 1852. Some of his ballets were performed abroad.

[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 Shakhovskoy1806)
  • 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] 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

Persondata
NAME Cavos, Catterino
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cavos, Catterino Albertovich; Cavos, Catarino Camillo; Kavos, Katerino Al'bertovič; Каво́с, Катери́но Альбе́ртович
SHORT DESCRIPTION Russian composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1775
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice, Italy
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1840
PLACE OF DEATH St Petersburg, Russia
Languages