Evgeny Mravinsky
Encyclopedia
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (19 January 1988) was a Russian
/Soviet
conductor
.
. The soprano Yevgeniya Mravina
was his aunt. His father died in 1918, and in that same year, he began to work backstage at the Mariinsky Theatre
. He first studied biology
at the university in Leningrad, before going to the Leningrad Conservatory
to study music. He served as a ballet repetiteur from 1923 to 1931. His first public conducting appearance was in 1929. Through the 1930s he conducted at the Kirov Ballet and Bolshoi Opera. In September 1938, he won the All-Union Conductors Competition in Moscow.
In October 1938, Mravinsky took up the post that he was to hold until 1988: principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he had made his debut as a conductor in 1931. Under Mravinsky, the Leningrad Philharmonic gained a legendary reputation, particularly in Russian music such as Tchaikovsky
and Shostakovich
. During World War II, Mravinsky and the orchestra were evacuated to Siberia. But members of the Leningrad Philharmonic's reserve orchestra and the Leningrad Radio Orchestra were left behind in the siege of Leningrad
, so it fell to Karl Eliasberg
to conduct the surviving musicians in the Leningrad premiere of the Symphony No.7 "Leningrad"
by Shostakovich.
Legend has it that at the first performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, during the applause immediately after the performance, Mravinsky took the score in his hand and waved it above his head. Mravinsky gave world premieres of six symphonies by Shostakovich
: numbers 5
, 6
, 8
(which Shostakovich dedicated to Mravinsky), 9
, 10
and finally 12
in 1961. His refusal to conduct the premiere of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony
in 1962 caused a permanent rupture in their friendship.
He premiered Sergei Prokofiev
's sixth symphony
in Leningrad the year of its composition (1947, http://www.prokofiev.org/catalog/work.cfm?WorkID=144).
Mravinsky made commercial studio recordings from 1938 to 1961. His issued recordings from after 1961 were taken from live concerts. His final recording was from an April 1984 live performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12
.
Mravinsky first went on tour abroad in 1946, including performances in Finland and in Czechoslovakia (at the Prague Spring Festival). Later tours with orchestra included a June 1956 itinerary to West Germany, East Germany, Austria
and Switzerland
. Their only tour to Great Britain was in September 1960 to the Edinburgh Festival and the Royal Festival Hall, London. Their first tour to Japan was in May 1973. Their last foreign tour was in 1984, to West Germany.
His last concert was on 6 March 1987 (Schubert
, Symphony No. 8, and Brahms
, Symphony No. 4). Mravinsky died in Leningrad
in 1988, aged 84.
. He was also a very exciting conductor, frequently changing tempo
in order to heighten the musical effect for which he was striving, often making prominent use of brass instrumentation. Surviving videos show that Mravinsky had a sober appearance at the podium
, making simple but very clear gestures, often without a baton. The critic David Fanning
has memorably described some of Mravinsky's Tchaikovsky performances:
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
/Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
Life and career
Mravinsky was born in Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. The soprano Yevgeniya Mravina
Yevgeniya Mravina
Yevgeniya or Evgenia Mravina , real name Yevgeniya Konstantinova Mravinskaya ,Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source...
was his aunt. His father died in 1918, and in that same year, he began to work backstage at the Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...
. He first studied biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at the university in Leningrad, before going to the Leningrad Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
to study music. He served as a ballet repetiteur from 1923 to 1931. His first public conducting appearance was in 1929. Through the 1930s he conducted at the Kirov Ballet and Bolshoi Opera. In September 1938, he won the All-Union Conductors Competition in Moscow.
In October 1938, Mravinsky took up the post that he was to hold until 1988: principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he had made his debut as a conductor in 1931. Under Mravinsky, the Leningrad Philharmonic gained a legendary reputation, particularly in Russian music such as Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
and Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
. During World War II, Mravinsky and the orchestra were evacuated to Siberia. But members of the Leningrad Philharmonic's reserve orchestra and the Leningrad Radio Orchestra were left behind in the siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
, so it fell to Karl Eliasberg
Karl Eliasberg
Karl Ilitch Eliasberg was a Soviet conductor.Eliasberg graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory as a violinist in 1929, and was conductor of the Leningrad Theatre of Musical Comedy from 1929 to 1931 before joining Leningrad Radio as conductor.-The siege of Leningrad:Eliasberg was conductor of...
to conduct the surviving musicians in the Leningrad premiere of the Symphony No.7 "Leningrad"
Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich)
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 dedicated to the city of Leningrad was completed on 27 December 1941. In its time, the symphony was extremely popular in both Russia and the West as a symbol of resistance and defiance to Nazi totalitarianism and militarism...
by Shostakovich.
Legend has it that at the first performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, during the applause immediately after the performance, Mravinsky took the score in his hand and waved it above his head. Mravinsky gave world premieres of six symphonies by Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
: numbers 5
Symphony No. 5 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, by Dmitri Shostakovich is a work for orchestra composed between April and July 1937. Its first performance was on November 21, 1937, in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky...
, 6
Symphony No. 6 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54 by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1939, and first performed in Leningrad on 21 November 1939 by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Evgeny Mravinsky.-Structure:Symphony No...
, 8
Symphony No. 8 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 8 in C minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in the summer of 1943, and first performed on November 4 of that year by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky, to whom the work is dedicated....
(which Shostakovich dedicated to Mravinsky), 9
Symphony No. 9 (Shostakovich)
Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70 was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1945. It was premiered on 3 November 1945 in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Evgeny Mravinsky.-Composition:...
, 10
Symphony No. 10 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 10 in E minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky on 17 December 1953, following the death of Joseph Stalin in March that year...
and finally 12
Symphony No. 12 (Shostakovich)
Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112, subtitled The Year of 1917, in 1961, dedicating it to the memory of Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. The symphony was premiered that October by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Yevgeny...
in 1961. His refusal to conduct the premiere of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony
Symphony No. 13 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 13 in B flat minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was first performed in Moscow on 18 December, 1962 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the basses of the Republican State and Gnessin Institute Choirs, under Kirill Kondrashin . The soloist was Vitali Gromadsky...
in 1962 caused a permanent rupture in their friendship.
He premiered Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's sixth symphony
Symphony No. 6 (Prokofiev)
Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor in 1947.-Background:The symphony, written as an elegy of the tragedies of World War II, has often been regarded as the darker twin to the victorious Symphony No...
in Leningrad the year of its composition (1947, http://www.prokofiev.org/catalog/work.cfm?WorkID=144).
Mravinsky made commercial studio recordings from 1938 to 1961. His issued recordings from after 1961 were taken from live concerts. His final recording was from an April 1984 live performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12
Symphony No. 12 (Shostakovich)
Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112, subtitled The Year of 1917, in 1961, dedicating it to the memory of Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. The symphony was premiered that October by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Yevgeny...
.
Mravinsky first went on tour abroad in 1946, including performances in Finland and in Czechoslovakia (at the Prague Spring Festival). Later tours with orchestra included a June 1956 itinerary to West Germany, East Germany, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Their only tour to Great Britain was in September 1960 to the Edinburgh Festival and the Royal Festival Hall, London. Their first tour to Japan was in May 1973. Their last foreign tour was in 1984, to West Germany.
His last concert was on 6 March 1987 (Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Symphony No. 8, and Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Symphony No. 4). Mravinsky died in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in 1988, aged 84.
Conducting style
Recordings reveal Mravinsky to have an extraordinary technical control over the orchestra, especially over dynamicsDynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
. He was also a very exciting conductor, frequently changing tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
in order to heighten the musical effect for which he was striving, often making prominent use of brass instrumentation. Surviving videos show that Mravinsky had a sober appearance at the podium
Podium
A podium is a platform that is used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek πόδι In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podia can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of an orchestra stands on a podium as do many...
, making simple but very clear gestures, often without a baton. The critic David Fanning
David Fanning (musicologist)
David Fanning is a professor of music at the University of Manchester. He is an expert on the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, Carl Nielsen and Soviet music...
has memorably described some of Mravinsky's Tchaikovsky performances:
- The Leningrad Philharmonic play like a wild stallion, only just held in check by the willpower of its master. Every smallest movement is placed with fierce pride; at any moment it may break into such a frenzied gallop that you hardly know whether to feel exhilarated or terrified". http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/pages/product/product.asp?prod=4775911&cookie%5Ftest=1
Method
In a 1970's interview on Leningrad Television, when asked how he chooses a particular interpretation of the music he conducts, Mravinsky explained that he tries to understand what the composer's intention was by immersing himself into the "atmosphere" of the music (Mravinsky used a term "atmospherization").Sources
- Tassie, Gregor, "A Truly Noble Conductor". Gramophone (US Edition), May 2002, pp. 36–37.
- Tassie, Gregor, Yevgeny Mravinsky: The Noble Conductor, The Scarecrow Press, 2005 (ISBN 978-0810854277)
Media
External links
- http://www.mravinsky.org/ (Russian)
- [ Biography at allmusic.com]
- Discography
- Tribute including discussion of Mravinsky's relationship with Shostakovich
- Legacy of Yevgeni Mravinsky
- A History of Portrait of Yevgeny Mravinsky, by Lev A. Russov. (Russian)
- František Sláma (musician)František Sláma (musician)František Sláma was a significant Czech chamber music performer. He was the first Czech cellist who focused on Early music.-Biography:...
Archive. More on the history of the Czech Philharmonic between the 1940s and the 1980s: Conductors