Fomin E.I., (1761-1800), composer

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
FOMIN Evstigney Ipatovich (1761 - 1800, St. Petersburg), composer. Enlisted at the age of 6 for classes at the Academy of Arts, from which he graduated in 1782. He was sent to Bologna to perfect his art, and passed the membership exam of The Academic Philharmonic of Bologna in 1785. He returned to St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1786 and wrote music to a dramatic story intended for Empress Catherine II Novgorodian Bogatyr Boeslavich (divertimentos). The opera was unsuccessful, but Fomin was accepted to serve at the Directorship of Imperial Theatres. From 1797 he composed for and tutored the Russian Court Troupe. By that time Fomin accomplished all the works for which he became known as an outstanding Russian drama composer: the operas Coachmen at a Station (after the text of a folk comedy by N.A. Lvov, 1787) and Americans (libretto by I.A. Krylov, 1788); and the melodrama Orpheus by Y.B. Knyazhin (1792). In the late 1790s he wrote another two Russian operas: The Golden Apple (libretto by I. Ivanov, 1799) and Clorinda and Milon (libretto by V.V. Kapnista, 1799), which were staged after Fomin's death; full scores were not preserved. It seems that Fomin organised rehearsals in two main buildings belonging to the theatre office: the house of Seidler (17 First Quarter of Liteinaya Part) and the New Block (the residence of Borozdina, 52 Nevsky Prospect, at the corner of Sadovaya Street). He visited Lvov, who lived in the residence of Count A.A. Bezborodko in Vygruznoy (today Pochtamtsky) Lane.

Reference: Доброхотов Б. В. Евстигней Фомин. М., 1968.

A. L. Porfiryeva. Bezborodko Alexander Andreevich
Catherine II, Empress
Fomin Evstigney Ipatovich
Ivanov Igor Alexeevich
Kapnist Vasily Vasilievich
KnyazhninYakov Borisovich
Krylov Ivan Andreevich
Lvov Nikolay Alexandrovich
Seidler
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 52
Pochtamtsky Lane/Saint Petersburg, city
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Доброхотов Б. В. Евстигней Фомин. М., 1968
История русской музыки: В 10 т. М., 1985
Музыкальный Петербург: Энцикл. слов. Т. 1: XVIII век. СПб., 1999 Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
Imperial Theatres Board