Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

Ippolitov-Ivanov [Ivanov], Mikhail Mikhaylovich

(b Gatchina, nr St Petersburg, 7/19 Nov 1859; d Moscow, 28 Jan 1935). Russian composer, teacher and conductor. He was taught music at home and attended classes for the choirboys of St Isaac (1872–5). In 1875 he entered the St Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied the double bass. In 1879 he graduated from the classes of Iogansen (canon and fugue) and Rimsky-Korsakov (special orchestration). In the period 1879–80 he attended meetings of the Balakirev circle, and from 1880 to 1882 he continued his studies with Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1882 he moved to Tbilisi, Georgia, where he directed the academy of music and the local branch of the Russian Music Society, also conducting at the Opera. In 1893 he was appointed professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where he remained until his death, teaching harmony, orchestration and composition, and directing the institution between 1905 and 1922. He also taught composition at the Tbilisi Conservatory (1924–5), which was reorganized under his guidance. His pupils included Sergey Vasilenko. He was also active as a conductor: he directed the Russian Choral Society (1895–1901), the Mamontov Opera (1898–1906), the Zimin Opera and the Bol'shoy (from 1925). His repertory with the Mamontov and Zimin companies (in which Chaliapin sang) included the premières of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride, The Tale of Tsar Saltan and Kashchey the Immortal; he also revived Boris Godunov at the Bol'shoy. During the 1920s and 30s he worked for the radio and edited a supplement called Muzïka dlya vsekh (‘Music for All’) for the magazine 30 dney. He was married to the singer Varvara Zarudnaya.

Throughout a long creative life Ippolitov-Ivanov maintained the standards of the Russian academic tradition; as Asaf'yev pointed out, he profited at an early stage from the examples set by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. His stylistic taste and technical thought, which had both been formed in the 1880s, remained practically unchanged throughout the Revolution and right up until the 1930s. Not possessing a dazzling creative individuality he made no attempt to establish an original style. From Rimsky-Korsakov, in particular, he borrowed the notion of a folksong-based programmatic nationalism, as his early ‘spring overture’ Yar-khmel' shows; he was also influenced by Balakirev in his interest in the oriental, displayed in his operas Ruf' (‘Ruth’) and Izmena (‘Treachery’) as well as in the well-known suite Kavkazskiye ėskizï (‘Caucasian Sketches’). All that he inherited from Tchaikovsky was an elegance of phrasing and a song-like arioso; Ippolitov-Ivanov's opera Asya was composed mainly under the influence of Yevgeny Onegin. His last opera Poslednyaya barrikada (‘The Last Barricade’), is set at the time of the Paris Commune. Other notable features of Ippolitov-Ivanov's music include influences of the folk music of Georgia (in Caucasian Sketches and Iveriya) and Armenia (in Armyanskaya rapsodiya). Folk borrowings of this type developed in his work after the Revolution, when he turned to Uzbek, Kazakh, Turkmen, Turkish and Arabic music.

WORKS

(selective list)

operas

Ruf' [Ruth] (lyrical op/biblical scenes, prol., 3, D. Tsertelev, after A. Tolstoy and A. Ostrovsky), op.6, 1883–6, Tbilisi, 27 Jan 1887

Azra (3, P. Opochinin, after Moorish legend), 1890, Tbilisi Opera House, 16 Nov 1890 [score destroyed by composer]

Asya (lyrical op, 3, N. Manïkin-Nevstruyev, after I. Turgenev), op.30, Moscow, Solodovnikov, 28 Sept 1900

Izmena [Treachery] (dramatic op, 4, 5 scenes, after A. Yuzhin-Sumbatov), op.43, 1908–9, Moscow, Solodovnikov, 4 Dec 1910

Ole iz Nordlanda [Ole from the Northland] (4, Ippolitov-Ivanov, after M. Jersen), op.53, 1915, Moscow, Bol'shoy, 8 Nov 1916

Zhenit'ba [The Marriage] (musical comedy, 4, after N. Gogol), op.70, Moscow, Radio Theatre, 18 Oct 1931 [Act 1 by Musorgsky]

Poslednyaya barrikada [The Last Barricade] (3, 4 scenes, N. Krasheninnikov), op.74, 1933, unpubd

other works

Orch: Yar-Khmel', spring ov. after P. Mel'nikov-Pechersky, op.1, 1881, unpubd; Kavkazskiye ėskizï [Caucasian Sketches], suite no.1, op.10, 1894; Iveriya, suite no.2, op.42, ?1894–6; Armyanskaya rapsodiya [Armenian Rhapsody], op.48, 1895; Sym., e, op.46, 1907; Mtsïri [The Novice], sym. poem after M. Lermontov, op.54, 1922–3; Iz pesen Ossiana [From the Songs of Ossian], 3 musical pictures, op.56, 1925; Tyurkskiye fragmentï, suite no.3, op.62, ?1928; V stepyakh Turkmenistana [In the Steppes of Turkmenistan], suite no.4, op.65, ?1932–5, unpubd; Muzïkal'nïye kartinki Uzbekistana [Musical Pictures of Uzbekistan], suite no.5, op.69, ?1936, unpubd

Vocal: 2 zaprichastnïkh stikha [2 Verses for the Eucharist], op.29, chorus, unpubd; Liturgiya Ioanna Zlatousta [The Liturgy of St John Chrysostom], op.37, chorus, unpubd; 5 kheruvimskikh pesen [5 Cherubic Songs], op.38, unpubd; Gimn pifagoreytsev voskhodyashchemu solntsu [Hymn of the Pythagoreans to the Rising Sun] (A. Amfiteatrov), op.39, chorus, 10 fl, tuba, 2 hp, org ad lib (1904); 3 bibleyskikh stikhotvoreniya [3 Biblical Verses], op.40, 1v, pf (1904); 7 psalmov Davida [7 Psalms of David], op.41, 1v, pf/hp (1905); Izbrannïye molitvosloviya iz vsenoshchnogo bdeniya [Selected Prayers from the All-Night Vigil Service], op.43, chorus, unpubd; Apostol'skiy zaprichastnïy stikh [Apostolic Verse for the Eucharist], op.49, precentor, unacc. chorus, unpubd; Tropar'na prazdnovaniye v chest'yavleniya ikonï Bogoroditsï vo grade Kazani [Anthem for the Celebration in Honour of the Appearance of the Icon of the Virgin in Kazan], op.54, SATB, pf, unpubd; Gimn trudu [Hymn to Labour], op.59, chorus, orch, brass band; mass songs, marches, short pieces

Chbr and solo inst: 5 Little Pieces, op.7, pf; Pf Qt, op.9; Str Qt, a, op.13, 1894; Miniatyura na narodnïye armyanskiye temï [Miniature on Armenian Folk Themes], str qt (1955)

Principal publishers: Jurgenson, Muzgiz

WRITINGS

Gruzinskaya narodnaya pesnya i yeyo sovremennoye sostoyaniye [The Georgian folksong and its present status] (Moscow, 1895)

Ucheniye ob akkordakh, ikh postroyeniye i razresheniye [A study of chords, their construction and resolution] (Moscow, 1897)

‘Beseda o muzïkal'noy reforme v Turtsii’ [A conversation about the reform of music in Turkey], SovM (1934), no.12, p.85 only

Pyat'desyat let russkoy muzïki v moikh vospominaniyakh [50 years of Russian music in my reminiscences] (Moscow, 1934; Ger. trans., 1993)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

N. Kashkin: ‘Teatr i muzïka: “Asya”, novaya opera M.M. Ippolitova-Ivanova’ [The theatre and music: ‘Asya’, the new opera by Ippolitov-Ivanov], Moskovskiye vedomosti (25 Sept 1900)

I. Lipayev: ‘“Asya”, opera M. Ippolitova-Ivanova’, RMG (1900), no.41

Yu. Ėngel': ‘“Ole iz Nordlanda” Ippolitova-Ivanova’ [‘Ole from the Northland’ by Ippolitov-Ivanov], MS (1916–17), nos.9–10, pp.17–23

S.M. Chemodanov: M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov (Moscow, 1927)

S.M. Chemodanov: M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov: k 50-letiyu muzïkal'noy deyatel'nosti [For the 50th anniversary of his work in music] (Moscow, 1933)

S. Bugoslavsky: Ippolitov-Ivanov (Moscow, 1936)

L. Podzemskaya: M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov i gruzinskaya muzïkal'naya kul'tura [Ippolitov-Ivanov and Georgian musical culture] (Tbilisi, 1963)

N. Sokolov, ed.: M.M. Ippolitanov-Ivanov: pis'ma, stat'i, vospominaniya [Letters, articles, reminiscences] (Moscow, 1986)

S. Neef: Handbuch der russischen und sowjetischen Oper (Kassel, 1989)

F.C. Lemaire: La musique du XXe siècle en Russie et dans les anciennes républiques soviétiques (Fayard, 1994)

INNA BARSOVA