Dmitry Bortniansky

Dmitry Bortniansky (1751–1825) was a composer, harpsichordist and conductor who served at the court of Catherine the Great. Bortniansky, who has been compared to Palestrina, is known today for his liturgical works and prolific contributions to the genre of choral concertos. He composed in many different musical styles, including choral compositions in French, Italian, Latin, German and Church Slavonic. Dmitry Bortniansky was born on 28 October 1751 in the city of Glukhov, Cossack Hetmanate, Russian Empire (in present-day Ukraine). His father was Stefan Skurat, a Lemko-Rusyn Orthodox religious refugee from the village of Bartne in the Malopolska region of Poland. Skurat served as a Cossack under Kirill Razumovsky; he was entered in the Cossack register in 1755. Dmitry's mother was of Cossack origin; her name after her first marriage was Marina Dmitrievna Tolstaya, as a widow of a Russian landlord Tolstoy, who lived in the city of Glukhov. At age seven, Dmitry's prodigious talent at the local church choir afforded him the opportunity to go the capital of the empire and sing with the Imperial Chapel Choir in St. Petersburg. There Dmitry studied music and composition under the director of the Imperial Chapel Choir, the Italian master Baldassare Galuppi. When Galuppi left for Italy in 1769, he took the boy with him. In Italy, Bortniansky gained considerable success composing operas: Creonte (1776) and Alcide (1778) in Venice, and Quinto Fabio (1779) at Modena. He also composed sacred works in Latin and German, both a cappella and with orchestral accompaniment. Bortniansky returned to the Saint Petersburg Court Capella in 1779 and flourished creatively. He wrote operas and a number of instrumental works at this time, including piano sonatas, a piano quintet with harp, and a cycle of French songs. He also composed liturgical music for the Eastern Orthodox Church, combining the Eastern and Western European styles of sacred music, incorporating the polyphony he learned in Italy. In 1796, he was appointed Director of the Imperial Chapel Choir, the first director from the Russian Empire. With such a great instrument at his disposal, he produced scores upon scores of compositions, including over 100 religious works, sacred concertos (35 for four-part mixed choir, 10 for double choruses), cantatas, and hymns. Bortniansky died in St. Petersburg on 10 October 1825, and was interred at the Smolensky Cemetery in St. Petersburg.