Vladimir Belsky
Vladimir Ivanovich Belsky (Russian: Владимир Иванович Бельский; 14 April [O.S. 2 April] 1866 – 28 February 1946) was a Russian poet and opera librettist, known for his collaborations with the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908).
Vladimir Ivanovich Belsky | |
|---|---|
Владимир Иванович Бельский | |
 Belsky, c. 1900 | |
| Born | 14 April [O.S. 2 April] 1866 |
| Died | 28 February 1946 (aged 79) Heidelberg, Germany |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Alma mater | Saint Petersburg Imperial University |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, librettist |
| Years active | 1898-1909 |
| Notable work | |
Biography
Belsky was born in Trakai, Russian Empire (modern Lithuania) in 1866. Nothing seems to be known of his family or early life. He studied at Saint Petersburg Imperial University, where he was awarded degrees in law (1889), physics and mathematics (1893), and political economy and statistics (1897).[1] In 1894, he and Rimsky-Korsakov became acquainted.[2][3] They collaborated on four operas, all on fantastic or fairytale subjects: Sadko (1898; in part), The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1900), The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya (1907) and The Golden Cockerel (1909),[1][3] and on several unrealised projects.[2] Subsequently, he disappeared from public view. According to one account, he emigrated to Germany in the early 1920s, and lived there for the rest of his life.[2] According to another, he emigrated in 1921 to Belgrade (then in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), where he wrote, among other things, several memoirs and articles on Rimsky-Korsakov.[1][2][3] All his papers were destroyed during the bombing of Belgrade in World War II.[1][lower-alpha 1] In 1946, he died in Heidelberg, Germany, in what was then the American Zone of Occupation following World War II.[4]
He admired and was influenced by Pushkin, one of Russia's national poets.[5] Rimsky-Korsakov described him as intelligent, educated and learned, a great connoisseur and lover of Russian antiquity and ancient Russian literature, epics and songs, and a humble, shy and honest man.[1] He is said to have known fourteen languages.[4]
Footnotes
- Belgrade was bombed twice during World War II: by the Germans in 1941 and by the Allies is 1944. It is unclear which of these events resulted in the destruction of Belsky's papers.
References
- Saint Petersburg University (2017). "БЕЛЬСКИЙ Владимир Иванович (1866-1946)". Знаменитые деятели искусства [Famous Artists] (in Russian). Litres. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-5-288-05763-2.
- M. I.; N. Kaz. "БЕЛЬСКИЙ Владимир Иванович". Theatrical Encyclopaedia (in Russian). Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- Keldysh, Yu. V., ed. (1973–1982). "Бельский В. И.". Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian). Retrieved 10 November 2021 – via academic.ru. Edited by Yuri Keldysh
- Morrison, Simon A. (2019). Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement (2nd ed.). University of California Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0520973558.
- Pashchenko, Mikhail Viktorovich (2009). "Сияющий петух: сказка Пушкина в Серебряном веке [The Golden Cockerel: Pushkin's Tale in the Silver Age]". Voprosi Literaturi (in Russian) (6). Retrieved 24 October 2021.
Further reading
- "РИМСКИЙ-КОРСАКОВ В МАРИИНСКОМ | Золотой петушок. 1919 [Rimsky-Korsakov at the Mariinsky | The Golden Cockerel. 1919]". Mariinsky Theatre (in Russian). n.d. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- Neef, Sigrid; Neef, Hermann (1988). Handbuch der russischen und sowjetischen Oper (in German) (2nd (revised) ed.). Berlin: Henschelverlag. pp. 447, 464ff, 471ff. ISBN 3-362-00257-9.
- Csampai, Attila; Holland, Dietmar (1990). Opernführer (in German). Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe. p. 781. ISBN 978-3455083361.
- Morrison, Simon A. (2002). Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement. University of California Press. pp. 15, 117, 118, 121–122, 136, 143–144. ISBN 0-520-22943-6.
- Vasilieva, V. M. (2002). "Страницы творческой дружбы (Из истории творческих отношений Н.А. Римского-Ҡорсакова и В.И. Бельского) [Pages of Creative Friendship (From the History of Creative Relations of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and V. I. Belsky)]". In Kirov, S. M. (ed.). Псковский биографический словарь [Pskov Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Pskov State Pedagogical Institute. pp. 184–193. ISBN 5-87854-219-6.
- Pashchenko, Mikhail V. (2014). "Невидимый град Леденец: христианство и сравнительное литературоведение в поздних операх Н. А. Римского-Корсакова [The Invisible City of Ledenets: Christianity and Comparative Literary Criticism in the Late Operas of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov]". Искусство музыки: теория и история [History of Music: Theory and History] (in Russian) (9). Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- Pashchenko, Mikhail (2015). "Компаративная опера: историческая поэтика А.Н. Веселовского в замысле Сказания о граде Китеже [Comparative Opera: Historical Poetics of A. N. Veselovsky in the Design of the Legend of the City of Kitezh]". Искусство музыки: теория и история [History of Music: Theory and History] (in Russian) (13). Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- Morrison, Simon A. (2019). "Syncretism: Rimsky-Korsakov and Belsky". Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement (2nd ed.). University of California Press. pp. 79ff. ISBN 978-0520973558.
External links
- Free scores by Vladimir Belsky at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Belʹskiĭ, Vladimir Ivanovich in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- "Бельский Владимир Иванович: Либретто [Belsky Vladimir Ivanovich: Libretto]". lib.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- Vladimir Belsky discography at Discogs