|
Dmytro Stepanovich Bortniansky was born in Hlukhiv in the province
of Chernihiv, Ukraine in 1751. He began his music education at the
singing school in his home town. His exceptional talents were soon
recognized, and at the age of seven he was sent to St. Petersburg,
the capital of the Russian Empire, to sing with the Imperial Chapel
Choir. Bortniansky possessed unique musical gifts, and he also had
a beautiful soprano voice. When he was eleven, he sang his first
operatic solo with the chapel choir. He also began his studies of
music theory, harmony and the art of the harpsichord at this time.
The Italian master Baldassare
Galuppi, director of the Imperial Chapel Choir from 1765 to 1768,
devoted special attention to his talented Ukrainian singer, and
began to teach him the foundations of music composition. In 1769,
through the efforts of Galuppi, Bortniansky was sent to Italy to
con-tinue his studies. His eleven year sojourn abroad marked the
completion of his musical education and the de finitive formation
of the young musician's aesthetic and artistic philosophy. In Venice,
Bologna, Rome and Milan, Bortniansky steeped himself in the music,
painting and ar-chitecture of Italy. His first significant large
works were written in Italy, and earned him recognition and high
acclaim within musical circles. Bortniansky's first opera, Creonte,
was per-formed in Venice in 1776, followed by his opera Alcide two
years later. In 1779, a performance of his third opera, Quinto Fablo,
in the Greek theatre at Modena met with a triumphant reception.
On his return to St. Petersburg
in 1779, Bortniansky was appointed Kappellmeister of the Imperial
Chapel Choir. For twelve years, he served as harpsichordist and
composer at the "little court" of crown prince Paul in Gatchina,
near St. Petersburg. During this period, he wrote numerous instrumental
compositions and works in the genre of musical theatre. These include
the operas Le Fête du Seigneur (1786), La Faucon (1786) and Le Fils-Rival
ou Ia Moderne Stratonice (1787); a sonata for harpsichord, strings
(violins) and piano; and numerous songs and romances. Even his earliest
works showed evidence of Bortniansky's reawakening of the national
traditions of his Ukrainian homeland. His "Kheruvyms'ka ("Song of
the Cherubim", 1782) gained tremendous popularity and is considered
a classic of Ukrainian music of the eighteenth century.
When Dmytro Bortniansky was
appointed "Director of Vocal Music and Administrator of the Imperial
Chapel" in 1796, he was a musician at the height of his creative
powers. Within a short time, he brought the chapel choir to unprecedented
heights. The excellence and artistry of the chapel choir under Bortniansky's
direction is evidenced by the fact that in 1824, at the express
wish of the composer himself, Ludwig van Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
was premiered in St. Petersburg by the Imperial Chapel Choir.
Dmytro Bortniansky created an
entire epoch in Ukrainian choral music. His mastery of Italian and
European compositional techniques was irreproachable, but he did
not merely imitate Western European examples. Instead, Bortniansky
created original compositions constructed on a foundation of national
Ukrainian melodic principles.
With his sacred choral concertos,
Bortniansky renewed his efforts to create large, cyclical works
in his own unique style - characterized by a natural simplicity,
brightness and harmony, a rare melodiousness, and deep emotional
expression. The French composer Hector Berlioz characterized Bortniansky's
music as displaying a rare expertise in the grouping of vocal masses,
and a wonderful understanding of nuance and full sounding harmony.
Berlioz also marvelled at Bortniansky's incredible ease in the laying
out of choral parts, and his disdain for the mere conventions employed
both by his predecessors and his contemporaries especially those
of the Italian school, whose student Bortniansky considered himself.
Dmytro Bortniansky was an erudite
and cultured man who spoke five languages: Ukrainian, Italian, French,
German and Russian. He was a noted community leader, a conductor
of great repute, and a composer whose works are among the greatest
classics of Ukrainian music. He died in St. Petersburg on September
28, 1825. His legacy is a significant cultural and artistic contribution
to the music of the eighteenth century. His finest works reach the
heights of excellence of the musical culture of the world.
|
