Russian Musical Society

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Russian Musical Society

The Russian Musical Society (RMS) was an organisation founded in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (a German-born aunt of Tsar

Tsar

Tsar or czar , occasionally spelled csar or tzar in English language, is a slavs term designating certain monarchs.Originally, the title Czar meant Emperor in the European medieval sense of the term, that is, a ruler who has the same rank as a Ancient Rome or Byzantine emperor due to recognition by another emperor or...
Alexander II

Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II Nikolaevich , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the List of Russian rulers of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881....
) and her protégé, pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Russian Musical Society'

Start a new discussion about 'Russian Musical Society'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The Russian Musical Society (RMS) was an organisation founded in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (a German-born aunt of Tsar

Tsar

Alexander II of Russia

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian pianist, composer and Conducting. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos....
, with the intent of raising the standard of music in the country and disseminating musical education.

Rubinstein and the Grand Duchess's travels together in Europe a decade earlier had prompted them to set up a permanent society to encourage both the study and performance of music in Russia. The Grand Duchess was the provider and driving force for the RMS, successfully obtaining her nephew's Imperial approval. Rubinstein provided the musical leadership. His presence lent the RMS a further appearance of prestige, given both his international career as a pianist and his reputation as a composer of distinction—qualities uncommon at that time for any native-born musician in Russia.

The RMS's inaugural concert was given in November 1859, with Rubinstein playing one of his piano concerto

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano....
s. By the mid-1860s, concerts given by the RMS had introduced the general public to all the symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is a musical composition, often extended and usually for orchestra. "Symphony" does not imply a specific form. Many symphonies are tonality works in four movement with the first in sonata form, and this is often described by music theorists as the structure of a "Classical period " symphony, although even some symphonies by the ac...
, piano concerto

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano....
s and overture

Overture

Overture in music is the instrumental introduction to a dramatic, choir or, occasionally, Musical composition. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn began to use the term to refer to instrumental, programmatic works that presaged genres such as the symphonic poem....
s of Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical music era and Romantic music eras in classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time....
. Audiences had also heard oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and solo ists. The oratorio was somewhat modeled after the opera. Their similarities include the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable Fictional character, and arias....
s by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was an England Baroque music composer of Germany birth who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerto grosso. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England....
, cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal music music composition with an musical instrument accompaniment and often containing more than one movement ....
s by Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
, 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....
s by Christoph Willibald von Gluck, as well as works by Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is one of the most famous Romantic music composers of the 19th century....
and Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies , liturgy music, operas, and a large body of chamber music and solo piano music....
. Russian music had also been performed. 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....
s by Russian composers which were presented included those of Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian people composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music....
, Alexander Dargomyzhsky

Alexander Dargomyzhsky

Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky was a 19th century Russian composer. He bridged the gap in Russian opera composition between Mikhail Glinka and the later generation of The Five and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky....
and Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian pianist, composer and Conducting. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos....
, among others.

Most important, however, were the music classes offered by the RMS, open to all students, which eventually gave rise to professorial education. These classes were held at the Grand Duchess's home, the Mikhailovsky Palace.

Until the inception of the RMS, there had been no music school in Russia to provide a basic professional training in music. Music instruction had been limited to the homes of the aristocracy and private schools. Consequently, native Russian musicians and performers were rare. Classical concerts were performed generally by foreign musicians, primarily from Germany.

In addition to the classes of the RMS, the Free Music School, which emphasized choral singing

Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
, was also formed. Both the classes and the school quickly became popular. As surprising as the number of students who enrolled was their extreme diversity. Bureaucrats, merchants, tradesmen and university students attended, as well as many young women who lacked the means to study privately.

In 1860, helped and encouraged by his brother Anton, Nikolay Rubinstein founded a Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of the Russian Federation. It is also the largest European cities and metropolitan areas, with the Moscow metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world....
branch of the RMS in his own house. This branch proved so successful that Nikolay eventually relocated it into larger quarters and expanded his work there.

The RMS's formal successors were the St. Petersburg 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....
, which opened (also under the auspices of Anton Rubenstein), in September 1862, and the Moscow Conservatory

Moscow Conservatory

The Moscow Conservatory is a prominent music school in Russia.It was co-founded in 1866 by Nikolai Rubinstein and Prince Nikolai Petrovitch Troubetzkoy....
, founded by Nikolay Rubinstein in September 1866.

The society was disbanded in 1917.

Sources

Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Early Years, 1840-1874 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1978)
Poznansky, Alexander, Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man (New York: Schirmer Books, 1991)
Struttle, Wilson, Tchaikovsky, His Music and Times (Speldhurst, Kent, United Kingdom: Midas Books, 1979)
Warrack, John, Tchaikovsky (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973)