How Alexander III founded a musical group and what hits pleased his subjects

Historians evaluate Alexander III’s reign ambiguously: Some call him a peacemaker and a popular monarch, others a retrograde and counter-reformer. However, none of them disputes the emperor’s contribution to the country’s cultural development. It was thanks to Alexander III’s love of wind instruments that numerous orchestras appeared in Russia, and his passion for music gave rise to a unique court band that performed works on wind and string instruments.

Who instilled in Tsarevich Alexander the love of musical art

Born on March 10, 1846, Tsarevich Alexander began to show interest in music as a very young child. So, before he reached the age of three, he and his older brother asked their caregivers to buy them a real trumpet, which “must necessarily play.” The requests continued until one of the teachers, taking pity on the children, bought them two pipes with his own money.

Children’s toys made of zinc could make sounds when inflated lightly, but these sounds were so harsh on the ear that they drove everyone at home white-hot. Therefore, six months later, when the yard received new toys from Germany, everything related to brass music was promptly removed from the parcel.

The future emperor’s craving for such instruments was an inherited passion: his grandfather Nicholas I always had a weakness for the French horn, flute, and cornet. Having all these instruments, which he called “pipes” in simple terms, Nicholas I played them beautifully. In addition, having an excellent musical memory and good hearing, he composed music himself – mainly military marches, the playing of which the monarch later demonstrated at home concerts in the Winter or Anichkov Palace.

What kind of music did the Tsarevich like and which instruments did he prefer

It is noteworthy that at the age of 12, Alexander tried to teach piano playing. For four years, the Tsarevich tortured the instrument until his parents, realizing the futility of classes, came to the decision to stop them. Strangely enough, but the teenager, who during this time managed to learn only primitive scales, took this decision rather painfully. Not wanting to put an end to his musical education, he remembered his childhood hobby and began taking trumpet lessons.

To the surprise of his family, Alexander’s new instrument awakened a real craving for music – from now on, he studied the trumpet not only with a teacher, but also in his spare time, sometimes playing for up to 10 hours in a row. The favorite musical instruments for the Tsarevich were the helicon and a kind of trumpet – the cornet-a-pistol.

Even the professional cornetist Jules Levy appreciated the works he performed on the cornet at the time: he described the young man as an excellent amateur musician and emphasized that the cornet is precisely his instrument. Alexander also enjoyed playing on the helicon, but as he matured with age, his shoulders stopped fitting into the ring-shaped curved tube. Later, to perform the bass parts, the Tsarevich had to order an instrument to fit his size.

As for Alexander’s musical preferences, they were determined by age – at first he learned and performed more works by foreign composers, and as he matured, he expanded his repertoire with Orthodox and Russian folk music.

Tsarevich really liked Tchaikovsky’s music. It was he who insisted that Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin be staged in St. Petersburg, at the Imperial Theater.Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article. Tchaikovsky composed a Coronation March and a Coronation Cantata for Alexander III. Tchaikovsky was granted a lifetime pension of 3,000 rubles by the tsar.

Who was a member of the Alexander Alexandrovich septet group, where classes were held and concerts were held

In his youth, Alexander and his brother Nikolai enthusiastically played with a quartet, inviting General Polovtsev, cornetist Vasily Wurm or teacher Turner to participate. At the age of 23, the future emperor learned that the Prince of Oldenburg was gathering an octet of musicians in his palace and set out to listen to their performance. Grabbing a cornet, just in case, the Tsarevich entered the hall and, not seeing the audience, joined the musicians, having played the whole evening with them.

Alexander remembered his participation in the octet so much that he soon set out to create a septet for playing wind instruments. Besides the heir himself, General Polovtsev and the Prince of Oldenburg became permanent participants in this septet, along with the Altohorns, Counts Adam and Alexander Olsufiev with the cornets, and Alexander Bers with the Helicon. Later, Baron Meyendorff, who played on the althorn, joined them. Periodically, musicians Turner, Schrader and Berger played as invited guests in the band.

Rehearsals, like concerts, were usually held in the spring in the Tsarskoye Selo Garden – right in the fresh air. In the summer of 1872, the Tsarevich organized a large brass band with rehearsals in the Admiralty building: musicians gathered there on Thursdays at 8 p.m. until 1881. Once a month, the orchestra gave a concert for Tsarevna Maria Feodorovna and her guests, who gathered at the Anichkov Palace to listen.

How Alexander III founded the court orchestra, the only one of its kind in all of Europe

After Alexander became emperor, he did not have time to personally play in the orchestra. However, he actively participated in the musical life, supporting composers and musicians and promoting their concert performances. Moreover, when Alexander III ascended the throne in 1882, he approved the regulations on the “Court Musical Choir.” The orchestra, which later increased from 53 to 150 members, became Europe’s first court brass band, and then a symphony orchestra with an approved staff of musicians.

The emperor himself, although he retired from performing in the band, often played the French horn in his leisure hours, indulging in memories of the past.

How did his contemporaries evaluate Alexander Alexandrovich’s musical abilities and performing arts

The tsar’s contemporaries, foreigners and Indigenes who were well versed in music, always highly appreciated Alexander III’s musical talents.