Lvov, Alexei Feodorovich

Lvov, Alexei Feodorovich, Russian violinist and composer; b. Reval, June 5, 1798; d. Romano, near Kovno, Dec. 28, 1870. His father, Feodor Petrovich Lvov (1766–1836), was director of the Imperial Court Chapel Choir in St. Petersburg (1825–36). Alexei received his primary education at home and took up the violin in early childhood. After graduating from the Inst. of Road Engineering (1818), he entered the army. In 1826 he was made adjutant to Czar Nicholas I’s security chief in St. Petersburg. At the Czar’s request, Lvov composed the Russian national anthem, Bozhe, tsarya khrani (God Save the Czar), in 1833. It was first performed on the Czar’s name day in Moscow on Dec. 18, 1833, and remained the national anthem until the Revolution of 1917. Lvov succeeded his father as director of the Imperial Court Chapel Choir in 1837, a post he held until 1861. In 1840 he traveled in Europe, eliciting great praise in Leipzig for his playing by Schumann. Back in St. Petersburg, he founded a series of orch. concerts. Growing deafness forced him to abandon his musical activities in 1867.

Works

dramaticOpera: Bianca und Gualtiero (Dresden, Oct. 13, 1844); Undina (St. Petersburg, Sept. 20, 1847); Starosta Boris, ili Russkiy muzhichok i frantsuzskiye marodyori (Boris the Headman, or the Russian Peasant and the French Marauders; St. Petersburg, May 1,1854). orch.: Violin Concerto (1840); Divertimento for Violin, Cello, and Orch. (c. 1841; also for Violin, Cello, and String Quartet or Piano); Overture (c. 1850). chamber:Le duel for Violin and Cello (c. 1840); Divertimento for Violin, Cello, and Piano or Organ (c. 1840); 24 caprices for Violin (c. 1850). vocal:Stabat Mater for Soloists and Orch. (1851); many sacred choral pieces.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire