Velgorski

[semloh]

This is a really obscure, but most attractive piece, thanks Mike.

Entries in Grove as follows:

1) "Matthew"
Wielhorski [Vel'gorsky, Viyel'gorsky], Count Mateusz [Matvey Yur'yevich]
(b St Petersburg, 15/26 April 1794; d Nice, 5 March 1866). Russian cellist and patron, brother of michał Wielhorski. He pursued a military career, fought in the war of 1812, and retired in 1826 with the rank of colonel. He studied the cello with Adolph Meinhardt and Bernhard Romberg, and became well known as a performer both in Russia and abroad, partnering such eminent musicians as Liszt, Henselt and Vieuxtemps. From 1826 he lived with his brother in St Petersburg, maintaining the house as a centre of musical culture. A number of leading composers of the day dedicated works to him, including Anton Rubinstein (Third String Quartet), Mendelssohn (Second Cello Sonata) and Romberg (Seventh Cello Concerto). After his brother's death in 1856 he continued his work as an impresario, and was instrumental in inaugurating the St Petersburg branch of the Russian Musical Society in 1859. His extensive music library and many of the important instruments in his private collection were donated to the St Petersburg conservatory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
B. Shteynpress: 'Matvey Yur'yevich Viyel'gorskiy', SovM (1946), nos.8–9, 73–80

L.S. Ginzburg: Istoriya violonchel'nogo iskusstva [The history of the art of cello playing], ii (Moscow, 1957), 278–330

GEOFFREY NORRIS


2 "Michael"
Wielhorski, Count Michał [Viyel'gorsky, Mikhail Yur'yevich]
(b St Petersburg, 31 Oct/11 Nov 1788; d Moscow, 28 Sept/10 Oct 1856). Russian composer and patron. Son of a Polish diplomat at the Russian court, and brother of Mateusz Wielhorski, he received a broad musical education from several famous teachers, notably Martin y Soler. He played the violin and piano, and when only 13 composed his first pieces, a set of songs with orchestral accompaniment. Later he wrote a number of sentimental ballads, including Otchego ('Why?') to Lermontov's poem, and settings of Pushkin, Myatlyov and Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky. In 1804 he travelled with his family to Riga, where he studied counterpoint with a local organist and played in quartets with his father and two of his brothers, Iosif and Aleksandr. He then moved to Paris (1808), took lessons from Cherubini and met Beethoven in Vienna. When he returned to Russia (1810) he settled in St Petersburg and swiftly established himself as a patron of music; but in 1816 he was banished from court for marrying his first wife's sister and had to live on his estate, Fateyevka (later renamed Luizino), in the Kursk government. Even here he did much to promote interest in music, performing in concerts himself and arranging for his private orchestra to play major works by Western composers, including Beethoven's symphonies. In 1823 he was given permission to move to Moscow, and in 1826 he returned to St Petersburg, where he lived with his brother Mateusz Wielhorski and became friendly with Glinka: in fact a number of Michał Wielhorski's suggestions were incorporated into A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila; he was highly critical of the latter. In 1856 he moved to his estate, Sennitsï, near Moscow, where he died.

The Wielhorski brothers were at least as important to concert promotion during the first half of the 19th century as the Rubinstein brothers were in the second. They introduced many contemporary Western composers to Russia, and they encouraged Liszt, Berlioz, Schumann and other important composers and artists to take part in their concerts. As a composer Michał Wielhorski is known for an unfinished opera, Tsïgane ('The Gypsies'), symphonic and chamber music, keyboard pieces and numerous songs.

WORKS
many MSS in RU-Mrg, SPsc

Stage: Tsïgane [The Gypsies] (op, 5, V. Zhukovsky and others), 1838, orch inc.

Orch: 3 syms., no.1, B, 1822, no.2, F, 1822, no.3, D, ?inc.; 2 ovs., D, 1822, b, 1836; Air varié, vc, orch, before 1823; Thème varié, c1830–33

Inst: Str Qt, C; Str Qnt, 1856; pf pieces, other inst works

Vocal: Ave verum corpus, motet, chorus, orch, after 1839; Vernost' do groba [Faithful to the Grave], male vv, orch, 1822; Les adieux des artistes italiens, chorus, orch, c1840–50; Pilgergesang, cant., chorus, orch, inc.; other choral works; songs


BIBLIOGRAPHY
IRMO

N. Findeyzen: 'Graf M.Yu. Viyel'gorskiy', RMG, ii (1906)

T. Trofimova: 'M.Yu. Viyel'gorskiy', SovM, no.5 (1937), 61–70

B. Shteynpress: 'Mikhail Yur'yevich Viyel'gorskiy: blagozhelatel' Glinki' [Wielhorski: Glinka's patron], M.I. Glinka, ed. Ye.M. Gordeyeva (Moscow, 1958), 368–83

GEOFFREY NORRIS

Interesting - 3 symphonies!