A book about the musical life of the city in the early 20th century has been published in Vitebsk
The Vitebsk Regional State Archives and the Marc Chagall Museum have published Gavriil Yudin's book "Musical Life of Vitebsk in the First Quarter of the 20th Century". Its presentation took place at the Chagall Museum in Vitebsk.
The multifaceted musical world of Vitebsk at the beginning of the last century comes alive on the pages of this small volume. This unique book includes the memoirs of Gavriil Yakovlevich Yudin, a native of Vitebsk, a Soviet conductor, teacher, and composer, and the cousin of the outstanding pianist Maria Veniaminovna Yudin.
Gavriil Yudin was born in Vitebsk in 1905, studied at the Leningrad Conservatory, worked in the opera studio of the Bolshoi Theatre, as a conductor of opera theaters in Moscow, Ufa, Perm, Samara, in philharmonic societies of various Russian cities, and at the Moscow State Conservatory. However, Vitebsk never left him throughout his life. In the late 1960s, Yudin came to Vitebsk, where he meticulously gathered information about the city's musical life, piece by piece, in the library: about musicians who toured there, concerts, and performances on the stage of the City Theater and in parks. The result was a chronicle of the city's concert life from 1900 to 1917 (the main source for the author was the newspaper "Vitebskiye Vedomosti").
Yudin's manuscript found its way to the Chagall Museum: it was donated by the Moscow art critic Alexandra Shatskikh. And only now has it become possible to publish it.
The book includes interesting facts about the Vitebsk State Symphony Orchestra, which existed in the city from 1919 to 1921. As Svetlana Myasoedova, a leading archivist at the State Archives of the Vitebsk Region, explained, the orchestra's appearance dates back to 1919, and its formation began a year earlier with the establishment of the Vitebsk branch of the musicians' union. Its members appealed to the authorities with a proposal to create an orchestra and provide it with rehearsal time at the State Theater. Around the same time, a People's Conservatory was established in Vitebsk, recruiting teachers from the prominent Petrograd musician Nikolai Andreevich Malko. In November 1918, as chairman of the artistic council of the People's Conservatory, Malko proposed holding concerts on Mondays and Thursdays at the City Theater. On December 9, 1918, the first symphony concert by the orchestra, conducted by Nikolai Malko, took place in Vitebsk.
From that moment on, symphonic music became an integral part of city life. The orchestra gained unprecedented popularity among the Vitebsk public, giving concerts in Vitebsk and the surrounding region. According to contemporaries, the concerts were exceptionally popular, and the City Theater was always packed. In May 1919, the symphony orchestra was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Vitebsk District Music Department of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR and reorganized into a State Orchestra. The orchestra was allocated a summer concert venue in the city garden "Yelaginsky." Vitebsk residents simply "immersed themselves" in music. Live music could be heard in the "Evropa" garden on Kanatnaya Street, in the garden on Orlovskaya Square, and in the Lenin Garden.
Besides Nikolai Malko, guest conductors also worked with the orchestra, including Erast Belling and Georgy Sheidler. Vladimir Bakaleinikov, Henri Fortier (a French conductor and composer), and others conducted several concerts. The ensemble consisted of about 50 people at different times (this figure is approximate, as some left and others were hired): it was a group of Petrograd musicians who came to Vitebsk seeking tranquility, as well as Vitebsk musicians of various qualifications. In 1919, the orchestra gave 60 concerts. It was considered the pearl of Vitebsk, whose musical life flourished at the beginning of the 20th century...
Malko wrote: "...As an example, I recall Vitebsk, where 246 orchestral concerts were given in two and a half years, mostly for organized audiences, not counting military personnel – at least 50 during this period..." But a moment came when the music department of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR did not allocate funds for the maintenance of the orchestra. Musicians did not receive their salaries for long periods because the estimates for maintenance were not approved. As a result, on October 11, 1921, at a meeting of the presidium of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, a decision was made to liquidate the orchestra.
The book also includes other little-known details about the musical life of Vitebsk at the beginning of the last century. For example, we learn that outstanding musicians performed in Vitebsk – opera singer Leonid Sobinov, violinists Leopold Auer, Jascha Heifetz, and others, that there was a vibrant opera life here before the revolution, and that world ballet stars also visited.
A separate chapter is dedicated to the outstanding virtuoso violinist of the 20th century, Karl Grigorovich, who lived and worked in Vitebsk after the revolutionary events of 1917 and taught at the city conservatory.
Speaking of the musical Vitebsk of that time, the author cannot help but recall the outstanding pianist Maria Yudina, who traveled from her native Nevel to Vitebsk for music lessons from 1906 to 1912. She then entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, worked at the Leningrad and Tbilisi Conservatories, the Gnessin Institute, and was Stalin's favorite pianist. The personality of this talented woman, firm in her convictions, continues to inspire many great musicians to this day.
G. Yudina's book "Musical Life of Vitebsk in the First Quarter of the 20th Century" was published in a print run of 300 copies by the Minsk publishing house "Medisont" in December 2013. As Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya, Director of the Chagall Museum, said, with this publication, the museum is launching a series of books on the history of Vitebsk, "Chagall House Bookshop." Subsequent publications will continue to tell about the city and people whose lives are connected with Vitebsk.