1859–1935 · Russia · Romantic
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859–1935) was a composer, conductor and teacher of the Russian and Soviet eras. He studied with Rimsky-Korsakov, taught at the Moscow Conservatory for many years and led it. One of his most frequently performed works is the orchestral suite Caucasian Sketches; the site offers his choral Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov was born in Gatchina, near St Petersburg, on 7 (19) November 1859. His father worked as a mechanic at the palace. The boy was born with the surname Ivanov, and he appeared under it in documents until 1881. Later he added his mother's maiden name, Ippolitov, to avoid confusion with a namesake who was also a composer and music critic.
He studied music from childhood, beginning with the violin. Later, already living in St Petersburg, he attended the music classes for young choristers at St Isaac's Cathedral from 1872 to 1875.
In 1875 Ippolitov-Ivanov entered the St Petersburg Conservatory. He began in the double bass class, then moved to the specialist theory of music, and in 1880 joined the composition class of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. He completed his studies in 1882. Rimsky-Korsakov's influence remained strong in later years.
From 1882 to 1893 Ippolitov-Ivanov worked in Tiflis, today's Tbilisi. He set up the local arm of the Russian Musical Society and headed it, appeared as an opera and symphony conductor, and taught at the music school. In 1883 he married Varvara Zarudnaya.
Time spent in Georgia helped him grow interested in the music of that land. Among his pupils in Tiflis were the Polish composer and teacher Witold Maliszewski, who began his musical education in Ippolitov-Ivanov's class, and the conductor Edouard Grikurov.
Tchaikovsky's overture-fantasia Romeo and Juliet existed by then in a third and final version, and Ippolitov-Ivanov conducted its first performance in Tiflis on 1 May 1886.
He joined the Moscow Conservatory as a professor in 1893, invited by Tchaikovsky. He ran the opera class and taught harmony, orchestration and composition. His pupils included Balanchivadze, Vasilenko, Glière, Goldenweiser, Melikian, Zakarian, Igumnov and Bubek.
In 1905, when the conservatory's director V. I. Safonov went on a year's leave, Ippolitov-Ivanov took his place. Safonov refused to continue working at the conservatory, and Ippolitov-Ivanov remained at its head.
He put a great deal of effort into preserving the conservatory's traditions during the First World War and the revolution: he tried to keep its teaching staff together and looked for the funds that were needed. In 1917, together with his wife, he organised the P. I. Tchaikovsky Opera and Vocal Studio, which existed until 1924.
Alongside teaching, Ippolitov-Ivanov also worked as a conductor. From 1899 to 1906 he worked as a conductor at Savva Mamontov's Moscow Private Russian Opera and at the Zimin Opera. From 1909 he conducted at S. N. Vasilenko's Historical Concerts, and from 1925 he was a conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Among the operas first performed under his direction were The Tsar's Bride and Koschei the Deathless, as well as others. He was also known for his work in broadcasting and music journalism.
In 1922 Ippolitov-Ivanov was head of the Society of Writers and Composers. He stayed out of the disputes between musicians, some pressing for novelty in music and others for proletarian art, and kept a measure of independence.
His style took shape in the 1880s under the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov; to it he added an interest in folk music, above all Georgian. In 1924 he returned to Georgia and spent a year there reorganising the conservatory in Tiflis.
He received the Red Banner of Labour order on 30 January 1934. Ippolitov-Ivanov died in Moscow on 28 January 1935 and is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
In his work Ippolitov-Ivanov followed his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, and his style is close to his teacher's. In harmony he was a stranger to innovation. His music includes operas, orchestral and chamber works and many songs; he gave most of his attention to opera. He also wrote Russian church music.
Ippolitov-Ivanov turned to folklore: Russian, Georgian and Armenian. He took part in putting Georgian sacred chants into musical notation and made a large contribution to collecting and publishing Georgian folk songs. In 1895, on the basis of Armenian melodies written down in Nakhichevan, he created the Armenian Rhapsody (Op. 48), and in 1933 he wrote four pieces on Armenian folk themes for string quartet.
Among his most frequently performed works are the orchestral suite Caucasian Sketches (1894), which includes the Procession of the Sardar, and the choruses Bless the Lord, O My Soul, Now Bless the Lord, and the Hymn of the Pythagoreans. The part of the suite called In the Aul is heard in the film Dreams (1990).
His catalogue also contains a first symphony in E minor (Op. 46, 1908), the overture Yar-khmel (Spring Overture, Op. 1, 1882), a violin sonata (Op. 8, issued in Leipzig in 1887), a first string quartet in A minor (Op. 13), the Ballade Romantique, written for violin and piano (Op. 20; Universal Edition brought it out in 1928), Three Musical Tableaux from Ossian (Op. 56) and An Episode from the Life of Schubert (Op. 61, 1920). Ippolitov-Ivanov also completed Mussorgsky's opera The Marriage.
The site offers the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 37, No. 1, an edition for mixed choir (SATB) at the level "Intermediate+". This is church choral music, not a piano piece.