Alexander Alyabiev

Alexander Alyabiev (1787–1851) is considered as one of the ‘fathers’ of Russian classical music and of the Russian art song. Born to a wealthy family in Tobolsk in Siberia, he learned music in his early years. After completing his studies he joined the Russian Army and fought as an officer during the Napoleonic War. Alyabiev moved to Moscow in 1824, but one year later he was sent to prison after an incident one night where there had been gambling and a man had died. While the evidence was not conclusive, Tsar Nicholas I expressly ordered him into exile to his native town of Tobolsk. Freed in 1831, he spent some years in the Caucasus before returning to Moscow, where he died in 1851. Alyabiev wrote works in virtually every genre: seven operas, twenty musical comedies, a symphony, three string quartets, more than 200 songs, and many other pieces. His most famous work is The Nightingale, a song based on a poem by Anton Delvig. It was composed while Alyabyev was in prison, in 1825. It has entered Russian consciousness as akin to a folk music. The song became more widely known after having been introduced into Rosina's singing lesson scene in Rossini's The Barber of Seville by Pauline Viardot. Mikhail Glinka wrote piano variations based on the song, as did Mily Balakirev. Franz Liszt also wrote a piano transcription of it.