GAVRIIL IVANOVICH
ROMANOVSKY (MARCH 22 [APRIL 3], 1873, VORONEZH – JANUARY 20, 1942, KARLAG)
He began his music studies in Voronezh with the piano teacher of the
Voronezh Boys' Gymnasium V. G. Rostropovich (grandfather of Mstislav
Rostropovich). In 1904 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the
piano class of A. N. Esipova.
He has been giving concerts since 1907, and is especially known as one
of the first performers of works by A. N. Scriabin. In 1917, he took part in V.
E. Meyerhold's production of M. Yu. Lermontov's drama "Masquerade"
(Alexandrinsky Theatre), performing the music written for this performance by
A. K. Glazunov. A regular participant in chamber concerts organized by A. I.
Ziloti.
He began teaching in the pre-revolutionary period. Among Romanovsky's
students was Lidiya Fotieva , who later became V. I. Lenin's personal secretary
, thanks to which in 1919-1920 Romanovsky performed a series of concerts for
the leaders of the Soviet state in A. D. Tsyurupa's apartment in the Kremlin.
The concert on November 19, 1919, which was attended by Lenin himself, is
reflected in Soviet historical and memoir literature.
From 1925, Romanovsky taught at the A. N. Scriabin Music College,
which in 1929 was merged with the Rubinstein Brothers Music College into the
Music College at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his students was the famous
choral conductor Vladislav Sokolov, who recalled Romanovsky:
Romanovsky's appearance made an indelible impression. He was tall (but
not long), he was thin (but not skinny). Thin - this is how a person with the
described external data is called, putting into this term a feeling of deep
respect for talent and human qualities. Romanovsky was worthy of such an
attitude from all his colleagues and students. Expressive hands with long,
tenacious fingers allowed him to perform dizzying passages without any visible
effort - without the tense participation of the body, shoulders, head.
In 1931 he returned to Voronezh, taught at the music school, and
continued to give concerts. He performed for the last time in public on January
21, 1941, on the anniversary of Lenin's death, repeating the program of the
1919 concert given in the presence of the leader (Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata
and works by F. Schubert). After the concert he was arrested and convicted
under Article 58-1 "a", 58-10 Part 1 and 121 of the Criminal Code of
the RSFSR to capital punishment for disapproving statements about the living
conditions of peasants and the Russian intelligentsia and the lack of food and
essential goods in stores. The sentence was commuted to 10 years in a
correctional labor camp, followed by a 5-year disenfranchisement. He served his
sentence in the Karaganda correctional labor camp (Kazakhstan), where he died “from
pellagra and senile decrepitude”.
He was rehabilitated in 1991 due to lack of evidence of a crime.
TRACKLIST
1. 2042
WELTE-MIGNON SCRIABIN - Preludes, Op. 33, No. 2, F#; Op. 13, No. 6, b
2. 2166
WELTE-MIGNON MOUSSORGSKY - Pictures at an Exhibition - Part 2 - #6-10
No comments:
Post a Comment