I am working on scoring this on Sibelius... does anyone know of a radio performance or any known recording? Just thought I would ask as we have wealth of knowledge on this forum.
Antipov, Konstantin Afanasyevich 18.jan.1858-1927 Russia, St Petersburg - ?, ?
1878-1886 studied and graduated from St Petersburg Conservatory, criticised by his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov for his lack of base knowledge, member of the Belyayev Circle, after 1893 he gave up composing
this is an excerpt from The Beauty of Belyayev:
Rimsky-Korsakov gives a brief insight into Antipov's progress towards graduation in the season of 1885/86. Writing in his Memoirs, he remarks 4, 'Of my pupils at the Conservatoire, I.I. Vitol, A.A. Petrov 5 and Antipov finished the course. Not withstanding an undoubted talent, the last-named, due to sloth and his characteristic indiscipline, would not have succeeded in finishing his examination task, an 'Allegro', if Glazunov had not given him surreptitious assistance, completing the orchestration of the composition for him. Antipov remained convinced that he would have completed the orchestration had he not run out of time. Glazunov who orchestrated this for practice, kept it a secret. The composition sounded beautiful and was later published by Belaieff to whom, however, the secret was well known.' The work received its première at the third Russian Symphonic Concert of the 1887 winter season on 7th. November, and it, together with works of other composers, performed at this and the next two concerts was the subject of poor reviews by Cesar Cui. Stasov counter attacked in an article titled 'Pechelnaya Katastrofa/A grievous catastrophe 6.' This was followed by Cui's celebrated polemic, 'Ottsy i deti/Fathers and Children' which was published on 21st. January, 1888 7. Apart from generalised issues, Cui made specific reference to the fact that Antipov's work consisted of only one movement of what Cui assumed should be a complete symphony; consequently it was difficult to judge it in such a fragmentary state. Nevertheless, Cui acknowledged Antipov's gifts.
Besides the Symphonic Allegro9 and the songs, Op.4. there are nearly thirty piano pieces, all published by Belaieff and running consecutively from Op.1 to Op.13. M
It seems that at least four of his solo piano works (preludes Op.8 no.1 in E and Op.10 in F, Romance Op.5 no.1 in F-sharp major, also: Impromptu et Valse, Op.13 in F minor) have been recorded either on CD and/or YouTube but I don't know how much else of his music has. (Ah, also a fuguette Op.9 No.1, orchestrated and performed by synthesized strings by Jairo David Antolinez. That took a little extra searching. Also @ YouTube.)
the last half of the article from The Beauty.......
On 23rd. July, 1888, Glazunov wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov about Lyapunov's piano pieces, Op.1 which were published that year by Belaieff. He compared their qualities with those of Antipov, 'A great contrast with the manuscripts of Antipov, of whom Belaieff is printing six pieces.
The music in them is not the best, but done badly, although for all that, thanks to routine form, they are not so disconnected as the previous work by the maestro8'. Besides the Symphonic Allegro9 and the songs, Op.4. there are nearly thirty piano pieces, all published by Belaieff and running consecutively from Op.1 to Op.13. Mostly attractively written for the instrument, many of them call for an advanced technique. Not all are of equal merit.
Perhaps one of the best of Antipov's many short pieces is the Romance,Op.5, no.1. With all the charm which one associates with Lyadov, it leaves one with a feeling of disappointment that this miniaturist of undoubted gifts, ceased so abruptly after a promising start. Like some others of Cui's 'children', Antipov disappears from the Belaieff catalogue within only a short time of making his first appearance. He presumably continued with his career in the Russian Navy where he received a technical education and served as an engineer.
IIRC, some 20-30 or so years ago, Bhagwan Thadani took an interest in a number of 'unsung' Russian composers including, I believe, Antipov.
I do not know whether he is/was aware of 'Casanova' (I think his main - but not exclusive- interest was piano works) and whether he is still contactable (he lives in Canada if you google his name).
Anyway, just a thought
Best wishes and stay safe
Richard
Good heavens! Is Bhagwan still alive? I thought he had died. Very glad to find I was mistaken.
oh yes. I have correspondence from him in the early 2000's I will look it up. I remember he performed a huge midi collection onto DVDs. Let me reach out. Thanks
Oh, I have correspondence with him dating from around that time - but since about 2003 nothing... And a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. But I would be very happy to know he was still with us. A real enthusiast. He greatly encouraged my interest in Bortkiewicz and Blumenfeld.
hmm he did not answer my email and his website is now forsale... I do have his phone number.. so let me try there.As you know, he was instrumental in finding Bortkeiwicz works buried in boxes at the Fleisher Library that he apparently sent there in the evacuation of Crimea (Ukraine at the time).