Ippolit Al'tani

Ippolit Karlovich Al'tani (also Altani) (27 May [OS 15 May] 1846, South of Ukraine – 17 February 1919, Moscow) was a Russian conductor, choirmaster and violinist.

Biography

In 1866 he graduated from Saint Petersburg conservatory as violinist (studied under Henryk Wieniawski) and composer (studied with Nikolai Zaremba, and Anton Rubinstein). In 1867-82 he worked as a conductor and choirmaster at the Russian opera in Kiev. Al'tani's activity contributed to the development of musical stage skill in the Ukraine. In 1882-1906 Al'tani was chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Al'tani conducted the premieres of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Oprichnik (1874), Mazeppa (1884), The Queen of Spades (1891) and Iolanta (1893); Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden (1893) and The Maid of Pskov (1901); and Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (1888).

Bibliography