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Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky (; 1835–1909) was the Director of the Imperial Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in St 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....
s in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 from 1881 to 1898.

A competent administrator, Vsevolozhsky ran the Imperial Theatres with a determination for excellence. In 1886, Vsevolozhsky initiated two major reforms for the St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
 Imperial Theatres, namely the relocation of the Imperial Ballet and Opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 from the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre

The Saint Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was a Theater in Saint Petersburg....
 (deemed unsafe by 1886) to the Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in St 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....
, and the abolition of the post of First Imperial Ballet Composer, a post previously held by such composers as Léon Minkus and Cesare Pugni
Cesare Pugni

Cesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a virtuoso violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphony, and various other forms of orchestral music....
.

ory has not been generous to Vsevolozhsky.






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Vsevolozhsky
Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky (; 1835–1909) was the Director of the Imperial Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in St 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....
s in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 from 1881 to 1898.

A competent administrator, Vsevolozhsky ran the Imperial Theatres with a determination for excellence. In 1886, Vsevolozhsky initiated two major reforms for the St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
 Imperial Theatres, namely the relocation of the Imperial Ballet and Opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 from the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre

The Saint Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was a Theater in Saint Petersburg....
 (deemed unsafe by 1886) to the Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in St 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....
, and the abolition of the post of First Imperial Ballet Composer, a post previously held by such composers as Léon Minkus and Cesare Pugni
Cesare Pugni

Cesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a virtuoso violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphony, and various other forms of orchestral music....
.

Accomplishments

History has not been generous to Vsevolozhsky. Though unknown to most people, even those in the arts, it was he who brought about the very existence of such world-famous ballets as The Sleeping Beauty (Tchaikovsky/Petipa) and The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker Op. 71, is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts, three scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed in 1891?92. Alexandre Dumas, p?re's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E....
 (Tchaikovsky/Ivanov).

In 1889, he duly instructed the Imperial Balletmaster Marius Petipa
Marius Petipa

Marius Ivanovich Petipa was a ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Marius Petipa is cited nearly unanimously by the most noted artists of the classical ballet to be the most influential balletmaster and choreographer that has ever lived ....
 to choreograph a full-length ballet
Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
 to the story La Belle au Bois Dormant, or The Sleeping Beauty
The Sleeping Beauty Ballet

The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, Opus number 66, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets....
 for a premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre. He successfully obtained the most famous Russian composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 to write the score for it, one Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – ) was a Russian composer of the Romantic music era. He wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his Piano Concerto No....
. Vsevolozhsky wrote the libretto
Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
 himself; in his career, he had been a both a playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
 and an essayist and was also a talented artist
Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art....
 capable of designing costumes for the theater. Because of his vision, The Sleeping Beauty ballet (1890) is said to have had the most expensive and elaborate scenery and costumes ever seen on any stage before-- and in all likelihood, since.
Vsevolozhsky Older


A great admirer of Tchaikovsky's music, Vsevolozhsky was also instrumental in bringing to the stage three of that composer's later operas, namely The Enchantress
The Enchantress

The Enchantress is an opera in four acts by Pyotr Tchaikovsky based on the libretto by Ippolit Shpazhinsky usng his drama with the same title....
 (1886), The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)

The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, based on a The Queen of Spades by the poet Alexander Pushkin....
 (1889 - with libretto after Pushkin by the composer's brother, Modeste Tchaikovsky), and Iolanta
Iolanta

Iolanta, Opus number 69, is a lyric opera in one act by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by the composer's brother Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and is based on the Danish Play Kong Ren?s Datter by Henrik Hertz....
 (1892 -also with libretto by Modeste Tchaikovsky.) Iolanta (sometimes written as Iolanthe) was commissioned expressly by Vsevolozhsky as the first part of a two-act gala evening which would conclude with a ballet called The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker Op. 71, is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts, three scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed in 1891?92. Alexandre Dumas, p?re's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E....
. This two-act ballet was intended to showcase the choreography of Imperial Ballet Master
Ballet Master

'Ballet Master' is the term used for an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company....
 Marius Petipa
Marius Petipa

Marius Ivanovich Petipa was a ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Marius Petipa is cited nearly unanimously by the most noted artists of the classical ballet to be the most influential balletmaster and choreographer that has ever lived ....
 but eventually had to be created by the assistant balletmaster, Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanov

Lev Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet. Historically he is credited with choreographing the entirety of premiere of The Nutcracker due to the ill health of the venerable Ballet Master Marius Petipa, though contemporary and modern accounts dispute...
, due to Petipa's failing health at the time. The premiere of Iolanta and The Nutcracker on December 6, 1892 was a mild success and prompted the famous composer to believe that it would enjoy some popularity for 'at least a couple of years.'.

It was Vsevolozhsky who designed the original costumes for both of Tchaikovsky's last two ballets, The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker Op. 71, is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts, three scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed in 1891?92. Alexandre Dumas, p?re's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E....
 (1892)

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