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The 19th century was incredibly generous. It gave us dozens of names
of larger-than-life composers, hundreds of the greatest compositions, which
the entire music world knows. However, as fate would have it, these indisputable
‘giants’ intercepted from view dozens of other talented musicians. We shall
be discovering for ourselves many of  those,
who were almost forgotten. We focus now on one such composer – Stepan Davydov,
a Russian composer of the 19th century.
The opera “Lesta, a Mermaid of the Dnepr” by Stepan Davydov written in the early 19th century was quite the craze in Russia! It was staged countless numbers of times in opera theatres all across Russia, and its melodies were on everyone’s lips. From the recollections of contemporaries: “The “Mermaid” had completely taken over the stage. Sweet young girls everywhere were heard to sing out the rather tasteless lines from the opera: “Come to my golden room, my love!” Or: “Men all over the world cling to us like flies!” and such like. It never occurred to them to laugh at these far from refined words.” Davydov’s “Lesta” was loved by everyone, and sung throughout, a fact
that even became the subject of an ironic stab from Pushkin in his famous
novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”:
Incidentally, originally from this opera is a melody that is regarded as a Russian folk song – to this day it is remarkably popular “Amidst the Sprawling Valley”. It shot to popularity overnight – hardly had the premiere taken place. Moreover, it immediately became a much-sought theme resorted to in endless variations for diverse instruments. Among the authors of these variations, for example, was Mikhail Glinka, a younger contemporary of Davydov.“Where the tea is poured by sweet Dunyasha Stepan Davydov’s music was known in practically every household; the royal court favored him - in the early 19th century all the most serious official events were accompanied by his music. His opera “Lesta – a Mermaid of the Dnepr” was a resounding success both at Imperial theatres and small provincial towns. By the way, this is not just one opera, but really four! Just like Wagner – the same intricate storyline, as in the “The Ring of the Nibelung” – with gods, people, fantastic, spiraling plots, and quite ordinary episodes, too. This opera presaged the advent of the epoch of Romanticism, and the future scope of evolution of the opera genre in Russia – as national opera, in other words, throwing the spotlight on distinct national colors of the language. No less triumphant than Davydov’s opera productions featuring his Divertimentos. In fact, it was Stepan Davydov who rendered the genre amazingly popular in Russia of the early 19th century. His Divertimentos are stylized tableaus of folk lifestyle with songs, dances, light symphonic music. Perhaps, Davydov was one of the first in Russia not to quote popular folk melodies. All this is his original music, genuinely Russian, quite fluent in its own, national language… We can name dozens of unacknowledged geniuses, whose music is being
returned to us decades or even centuries later. Stepan Davydov’s destiny,
it seems, is quite the opposite: he was close to being the most popular
musical celebrity of the early 19th century. Practically several years
after his death in 1825, Stepan Davydov’s very name was totally forgotten
by his compatriots. Such was the paradox. Quite inexplicable, really, as
many things in history are…
08/16/2005
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