Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev: biography. Meaning of Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev in a Brief Biographical Encyclopedia Russian music publisher and patron of the arts, founder of the Belyaev Circle, which brought together many outstanding musicians

Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich

(1836-1903) - an outstanding musical figure, to whom Russian music owes a lot over the past twenty-five years. His father is a rich timber merchant; he himself in his youth took part in the affairs of his father, having lived for several years on the shores of the White Sea. In Arkhangelsk, as before in St. Petersburg, he organized an amateur circle of quartet music, himself playing mainly the part of the second violin. In St. Petersburg, since 1882, he hosted weekly musical evenings of chamber music, which at first were not interrupted even in the summer. N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. K. Glazunov, A. K. Lyadov and many other outstanding musicians-composers and performers were regular visitors to the Belyaevsky Pyatnitsy; here you could meet A. P. Borodin, and P. I. Tchaikovsky, and Ts. A. Cui, and visiting artists, such as, for example, Nikish and others. They were performed at these evenings - mainly by an amateur quartet, in which he himself MP played the viola, along with classical works of foreign music, and newly written works by Russian composers. A large number of small individual plays, written on purpose for Belyaevsky Fridays, were then published by B. in two collections under the title "Fridays" (see "Bulletin of Self-Education", 1904, No. 6). On Fridays, essays were also played, which were sent annually to a competition established by B. at St. Petersburg. chamber music society. In recent years, B. was the chairman of this society. Under the influence of his enthusiasm for the latest Russian music, especially the works of A. K. Glazunov, B. from the beginning of the 1880s left all his trading affairs and devoted himself entirely to serving the interests of Russian music. In 1884, he laid the foundation for the annual Russian symphony and quartet concerts, and in 1885, a Russian music publishing company was founded in Leipzig. This firm published over twenty years a huge number of Russian musical compositions, from romances to symphonies and operas (in 1902, B. donated 582 volumes of his publications to the Imperial Public Library). This side of B.'s activity required an expense of several hundred thousand rubles, the return of which he never dreamed of. A week before his death, when the disease broke down his strong body and forced him to go to bed, the usual Friday quartet, at his insistence, was still not canceled. He bequeathed significant capital for the continuation and expansion of the musical business he had begun.

See the article by V. V. Stasov in the Niva magazine (1904, No. 2, p. 38).

N. Gezehus.

(Brockhaus)

Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich

Genus. February 10, 1836 in St. Petersburg, mind. December 22, 1903 ibid.; studied in St. Petersburg. Reformed school, after graduating from which he continued until 1884 to conduct a large forest business in the Olonets province., which he had adopted from his father. Playing the violin and fp. studied since childhood; continued to study music in adulthood, rotating mainly in German chamber circles. Only in the early 80s B. for the first time had to get acquainted closely with the works of Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin and others, including Glazunov, who was then still a young man. This acquaintance turned B. into a passionate admirer of new Russian music, to support which in 1885 he founded a large publishing business in Leipzig. Until now, he has published more than 2000 Nos. of works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Glazunov, Lyadov, Sokolov. Taneyev, Scriabin, Grechaninov and others (including scores and parts of several operas and many orchestral works). For the same purpose, they were founded in St. Petersburg. in 1885 "Russian symphony concerts", the program of which includes exclusively works by Russian composers (mainly symphonic, as well as chamber, etc.). These concerts are given annually to this day (3-6 per season), under the direction of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and others. Since 1891 he has been working in St. Petersburg. annual "Russian quartet evenings". In honor of B. Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Lyadov wrote a string quartet on the theme Be-la-ef. In 1898 B. was elected chairman of St. Petersburg. society of chamber music, and more than once, with the help of O. K. M. arranged competitions for Op. chamber music from donated funds. A biographical sketch of B. was compiled by V. Stasov ("Rus. Muz. Gaz.", 1895, No. 2).

[In his will, he appointed capital to ensure the continued continuation of the publishing activities of the company in the same spirit; at the request of the testator, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Lyadov became the head of the case.]

Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich

(1836-1903) - musical figure. Since childhood, he felt attracted to music, he learned to play the violin with A.F. Gulten and the piano with Stange. In 1884, B. founded a music publishing house under the firm of M. P. Belyaev in Leipzig, a major timber merchant. B.'s publishing activity was a significant contribution to Russian musical culture: he published works by Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Lyadov, Taneyev, Skryabin, Grechaninov and others. Quartet Evenings" and others.

Lit.: Stasov, V. V., M. P. Belyaev, St. Petersburg, 1895; M. P. Belyaev and the business founded by him, St. Petersburg, 1910; Correspondence of A. I. Scriabin and M. P. Belyaev, P., 1922; Belyaev, V. M., A. K. Glazunov, vol. I, Petrograd, 1922.

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See what "Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich" is in other dictionaries:

Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich is a famous Russian music publisher and philanthropist. The son of a wealthy timber merchant, Belyaev was born on February 10, 1836 in St. Petersburg and received a very good education. From the age of 9 he began to learn to play the violin and ... ... Biographical Dictionary

- (18361903), musical figure, music publisher. Born in St. Petersburg. A wealthy timber merchant, philanthropist, contributed to the development of Russian music. In the 188090s. a group gathered to music in the evenings in Belyaev’s house (“Belyaev Fridays”) ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

- (1836 1903/04) Russian philanthropist, timber merchant, music publisher. Established the Glinkin Prizes (1884). M. P. Belyaev founded the music publishing house in Leipzig (1885). Organized public Russian musical concerts (1885 1918). On musical... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Russian musical figure and music publisher. A wealthy timber merchant, B. was an active propagandist of Russian music, established the Glinka Prizes (1884), organized competitions (with prizes) ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (1836 1903), musical figure, music publisher. Born in St. Petersburg. A wealthy timber merchant, philanthropist, contributed to the development of Russian music. In 1880-90s. a group gathered to the music in the evenings in B.’s house (“Belyaevsky Fridays”) ... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich- BELYAEV Mitrofan Petrovich (1836 1903/04), philanthropist, lumber merchant, music publisher. He supported the development of Russian music with his artistic educational and patronage activities. Established the Glinkin Prizes (1884). Founded a music publishing house ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Wikipedia has articles about other people with that surname, see Belyaev. M. P. Belyaev ... Wikipedia

- (1836 1903/1904), Russian timber merchant, philanthropist. Established the Glinkin Prizes (1884). He founded the music publishing house "M. P. Belyaev in Leipzig ”(1885) with a trading base in St. Petersburg. Organized public "Russian music concerts" ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1836 1903) an outstanding musical figure to whom Russian music owes a lot over the past twenty-five years. His father is a wealthy timber merchant; he himself, in his youth, took part in the affairs of his father, having lived for this for several years on ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Mitrofan Petrovich (1836 1903/04), philanthropist, lumber merchant, music publisher. He supported the development of Russian music with his artistic educational and patronage activities. Established the Glinkin Prizes (1884). He founded the music publishing house M.P. ... ... Modern Encyclopedia

1836-1903/04), timber merchant, philanthropist. Established the Glinkin Prizes (1884). He founded a music publishing house (1885), organized "Russian Symphony Concerts" (1885) and "Russian Quartet Evenings" (1891). At musical evenings in B.'s house in St. Petersburg, the so-called. Belyaevsky circle (N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. K. Glazunov, A. K. Lyadov, etc.).

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Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich - a famous Russian music publisher and philanthropist. The son of a wealthy timber merchant, Belyaev was born on February 10, 1836 in St. Petersburg and received a very good education. From the age of 9, he began to learn to play the violin and self-taught the piano, which he later began to study systematically. As a 14-year-old boy, he became addicted to chamber music, playing in quartet evenings, first on the violin, then on the viola. His father did not want to constrain his inclinations and offered him to devote himself entirely to music, but the young man decided to continue his father's work, first under his guidance, and then on his own. From 1851 to 1866, Belyaev led the timber business in the Olonets province. From 1866 to 1884, Belyaev transferred his trading business to the Kemsky district of the Arkhangelsk province and conducted it independently, together with his cousin. At first, Belyaev was fond of mainly Western, German music and moved more in German amateur chamber circles. Only in the early 1880s did he recognize the works of the then representatives of the young Russian musical school, playing in the orchestra of an amateur circle under the direction of A.K. Lyadov. In 1882, Belyaev met the now famous composer A.K. Glazunov, whose compositions had just begun to be performed publicly. This acquaintance made Belyaev a passionate admirer of new Russian music. In 1884, Belyaev left his trading business and conceived two broad enterprises: concerts exclusively from the works of Russian composers, which were very rarely performed at that time, and the publication of works also only by Russian composers, who then had difficulty finding publishers. In 1884, Belyaev arranged the first symphony concert from the works of A.K. Glazunov. The following year, systematic Russian symphony concerts, the so-called "Belyaevsky" concerts, were launched. In the same year, Belyaev founded a music publishing business in Leipzig. Belyaev did not leave concerts and music publishing until his death. Since 1891, Belyaev began to arrange Russian quartet evenings, in which works of Russian chamber music were performed, which at that time were still few in number. At first they were little visited, but then they began to attract more and more numerous audiences. Thanks to them, Balakirev, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Scriabin and others got the opportunity to hear their compositions in orchestral performance and judge the impression that the orchestral effects they conceived produce. The same concerts (2 in number) were organized by Belyaev at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889. No less merit for Russian music belongs to his music publishing business. Since 1885, Belyaev has published about 3,000 issues of works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Glazunov, Lyadov, Sokolov, S.I. Taneyev, Scriabin, Grechaninov, the Blumenfeld brothers, Shcherbachev, Vitol and many others. All of Belyaev's publications are distinguished by elegance and comparative cheapness: there was absolutely no element of commercial profit in this completely ideological enterprise. The authors of the musical compositions published by Belyaev received a fee from him, often much more than other publishers gave. And besides this, Belyaev constantly, in various forms, provided financial support to both musical figures and various musical enterprises. In 1898, Belyaev was elected chairman of the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society and repeatedly held competitions for prizes for the best chamber music. Thanks to chamber music evenings in Belyaev's house, a whole series of small pieces for string quartet of our composers appeared, entitled "Wednesdays" and published by the same music publishing house. Belyaev died unexpectedly, still vigorous and energetic, on December 22, 1903. In his will, he left a significant capital - a large share of his large fortune - ensuring the issuance of annual "Glinkin" awards to Russian composers. The disinterested activity of Belyaev in the field of Russian music, according to a successful comparison by V.V. Stasov, has the same meaning as the activities of P. Tretyakov in the field of Russian painting. Both served the real national Russian cause, both were guided by a feeling that was far from official and ostentatious patriotism, incapable of selfless sacrifice. In the activities of these two Russian merchants, whose connection with the “taxable estates” was quite fresh, the healthy social principle lurking in the depths of the Russian collective soul affected. - See the article by V. Stasov in the "Russian Musical Newspaper", 1895, No. 2; ibid., 1904, Nos. 1 and 48; 1910, No. 49. S. Bulich.

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Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich

See the article by V. V. Stasov in the Niva magazine (1904, No. 2, p. 38).

N. Gezehus.

(Brockhaus)

Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich

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One fine morning of the first guild, the merchant and hereditary honorary citizen Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev woke up with the firm intention of retiring. Lying on a featherbed, he, with his characteristic clarity, thought out the whole plan for the upcoming sale and purchase and the profitable investment of the millions he had received. And then, finally, he will be able to surrender to his whims, the main of which was music.

A conversation with his late father, Pyotr Abramovich Belyaev, surfaced in his memory. It was in the spring of 1851; Mitrofan turned 15, and he had just graduated from a real school at the Lutheran Church. “You can devote yourself entirely to music!” his father told him. Isn't it true that such fatherly advice somehow does not fit with the stereotypical image of a Russian merchant-tyrant, who only knows what to bully children, not putting a penny on their personal will?

But Belyaev the father was by no means a petty tyrant. He was a refined man with great demands. He lived in the capital, in his own house on Nikolaevskaya street. He married a Swede and furnished his life with truly European elegance: elegant furniture, piano, paintings, books ... The children were raised by governesses, and the youngest, Mitrofan, was taught to play the violin from the age of 9, for which Gulpen, the conductor of the imperial ballet, was hired. A descendant of serfs, Pyotr Abramovich Belyaev most of all dreamed that his son would become an aristocrat of the spirit - a man of a different breed - an artist.

Soon, however, it became clear that the musician from the son will not work. Due to the rough structure of the hand, Mitrofan was forced to change the violin to the viola, which at that time was considered a second-rate instrument. Later, he completely decided that music was not his business, and took the place of an ordinary clerk in his father's company, with a salary of 15 rubles a month.

So he began to comprehend the basics of the family business. And this business was by no means small. The firm "Pyotr Belyaev with sons" supplied timber throughout Europe, mainly to England. The wood was harvested at the old, still grandfather's forestry in the Olonets province, to which a freshly acquired concession on the White Sea was added. The case was listed in the millions.

By the age of 25, Mitrofan Petrovich managed to go through all the steps of the clerk's hierarchy and grew to a full-fledged co-owner. Then for almost five years he traveled all over Europe, fulfilling his father's orders. During this time, he visited Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig - not counting the smaller cities. For half a year he lived in London, enjoying museums and basking in the delights of local concert life, but not forgetting about business. In Europe, he felt in his element. The main obstacle for Russians - languages - Mitrofan Petrovich overcame as a child. In the Lutheran school, all subjects were taught in German, and he learned the rest of the European languages at home, with a governess. He even admitted that he feels more like a German than a Russian.

By the age of thirty, young Belyaev had gained strength so much that he was able to return to Russia and, remaining a shareholder in his father's company, start his own business. In partnership with his cousin Nikolai, he was the first Russian industrialist to start logging in Kem. The case promised huge profits: it was not by chance that 70 years later, here, in the Kemsky forests, the Bolsheviks organized one of the largest timber processing centers of the Gulag.

How many millions Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev amassed on Kemsk timber - only God (and the Swiss bank) knows. Probably enough to afford little quirks. After all, he had no one to inherit these millions.

Unlike the textbook Fonvizin Mitrofanushka, Mitrofan Petrovich did not want to marry and for a long time resisted any attempts to force him to do so. In the end, succumbing to the onslaught of the brothers, he took as his wife the elderly widow Maria Andrianovna, who hardly spoke to her husband, did not contradict him in anything and was afraid of him to trembling knees. From her first marriage she had a daughter, Valentina. Mitrofan Petrovich and Maria Adrianovna did not have common children, since they slept defiantly in different parts of the house.

Until the end of his days, Mitrofan Petrovich's only passion was art. He read voraciously; in every city he visited art galleries, concerts and theaters. But most of all he loved to play music. Friends gathered at Belyaev's house every Friday. After a hearty dinner, surgeon A.F. Gelbke and professor of physics at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology N.A. Gezehus uncovered the violins, and professor of medicine V.V. Evalds took up the cello. They were joined by the owner of the house with his viola, and a good quartet was obtained.

And Mitrofan Petrovich loved to play in the orchestra. Every Saturday in the banquet hall of the restaurant "Demuth", which is on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Moika, about 40 members of the German Club gathered - mostly raznochintsy intelligentsia. They rehearsed without any purpose, not even intending to ever speak in public. They enjoyed the process. They hired a pool of conductors, bought sheet music - which was by no means cheap at that time - and with pleasure performed the symphonies of Beethoven and Mozart.

Mitrofan Petrovich greatly appreciated this repertory orientation of the Demutov circle. He himself recognized only very good music, and certainly German: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms...

However, with all his musical hobbies, Mitrofan Petrovich was and remained primarily a merchant. If the slightest snag arose in his affairs, he immediately put the viola aside and plunged headlong into commerce. In addition, he had a golden rule: never spend an ounce of his capital on music. Music was to him like cognac to other merchants. He knew exactly his "norm" and never allowed himself to be forgotten. Mitrofan Petrovich strictly adhered to these wise rules for almost thirty years. Why did everything suddenly change?

In 1881, the young composer Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was appointed musical director of the Demutov "Saturdays". The future author of Baba Yaga and the Musical Snuffbox imagined himself to be a genius and for this reason was unusually lazy. He couldn't stand any activity at all. Only lack of money forced him to mess around with rich amateurs, whom he despised from the bottom of his heart. Always offended by someone or something, he shouted at them, stamped his feet, threw his watch on the floor...

And then one day, in the midst of one of such Lyadov's tantrums, a young man of about sixteen, tall, full-bodied and dark-haired, appeared at the door. Noticing the newcomer, Lyadov immediately stopped conducting and went down to him; a long conversation ensued. The orchestra members yawned and were bored. And Mitrofan Petrovich at that time, with some strange feeling, peered into the face of a boy he did not know, passionately wanting to intervene in a conversation that was alien to him, but having no reason to do so. Thus was born a deep emotional attachment that turned his whole life upside down.

The next day, Belyaev, being with Lyadov for a short while, began to question him about his old interlocutor. He replied that it was Sashenka Glazunov, an extremely gifted composer and his, Lyadovsky, student. Mitrofan Petrovich's eyes lit up greedily. He certainly wanted to know what kind of music this young genius was writing. And Lyadov immediately volunteered to satisfy his curiosity. Mitrofan Petrovich took him to his house, seated him at the piano, and Lyadov, from memory (truly a talent!) Played for him Glazunov's newly written First Symphony. The merchant was delighted. Soon this thing - perhaps not without the help of Belyaev - was performed in a concert. Mitrofan Petrovich himself was present in the hall and was especially touched by the fact that Sashenka came out to bow in his gymnasium uniform.

“I remember that it was as if Mitrofan Petrovich was present at the dinner in honor of my debut at my parents' house,” Glazunov later recalled. “From that day on, he began to visit us, and I - to him ... Frequent meetings with Mitrofan Petrovich soon turned into a friendship that did not stop until his last days. How immodestly for me to confess, but I cannot but say that all the further extensive activity of Mitrofan Petrovich was created on the links of this rapprochement with me.

In subsequent years, Belyaev followed Sasha Glazunov wherever his music was performed. In Moscow, at the All-Russian Exhibition, Glazunov's symphony was conducted by his new teacher, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov. Mitrofan Petrovich was not afraid to personally introduce himself to the illustrious master; however, a couple of years later, for the sake of Sashenka, he fearlessly went to Franz Liszt himself.

Mitrofan Petrovich carefully rewrote every piece composed by his favorite from early childhood into a special album. Even the written exercises performed in the music theory class did not pass by his loving attention.

And in the spring of 1884, having secured the consent of Sasha's parents, Belyaev, together with the young man, went on a big trip abroad. We visited Weimar, where the annual congress of "progressive" German composers was held, headed by Liszt. Here Mitrofan Petrovich managed to arrange a performance of Sasha's symphony. In Paris, for the same purpose, they met Pauline Viardot; but the aged diva could do nothing to help them. Then two friends (one of them was 48, the other 19) continued their romantic journey: they visited Spain, then North Africa...

On the way back we stopped at Bayreuth, at Wagner's sanctuary, to attend the performance of Parsifal (the composer bequeathed not to stage this opera in any other place for 30 years after his death). Bayreuth made an indelible impression on Mitrofan Petrovich: he understood what material power love can have. The performance lasted 6 hours; and all this time, mortally bored, he thought of Wagner and of Ludwig of Bavaria, who built for his favorite the most beautiful theater in Europe. Why is his Sasha worse than Wagner? And is he himself poorer than Ludwig of Bavaria, this mad king who destroyed everything he had? ..

The next morning, Belyaev offered Glazunov a contract for the publication of his works. The terms were signed on July 4, 1884. And exactly one year later, on July 2, the publishing company "MP Belyaev in Leipzig" was entered in the city register of trade enterprises.

Mitrofan Petrovich did not immediately come to the idea of opening his own publishing company. At first he wanted to subsidize the publication of Sasha's works alone, but then he realized that this would be indecent. By that time, thanks to Sashenka, he had already managed to get acquainted not only with Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov, but also with Borodin. Sasha idolized them all. Mitrofan Petrovich originally recognized only German music. But nothing can be done - for the sake of Sashenka, Borodin and Lyadov had to fall in love.

And not just to fall in love, but also to promise that he will publish works by Russian composers with his own money and pay them high fees. This, of course, was not about all the composers, but only about those that Sashenka Glazunov liked. But even this was enough to drive Mitrofan Petrovich into complete ruin. The venture with the publishing house required free money, which Belyaev did not have, and which could be obtained only by placing all the capital in a bank at high interest rates. And this is in conditions when there was nothing to dream of profit - God forbid to avoid losses! In the old days, Mitrofan Petrovich would never have taken such a risk. But now, blinded by the insane affection for his pet, he gave up on all reasonable considerations and only vowed not to touch the fixed capital in any case.

After that, with all the prudence of an experienced merchant, he set about organizing the business. Even taking into account transportation costs, printing in Germany was cheaper than in Russia, not to mention the quality. Therefore, he placed his publishing house in Leipzig.

In Russia, the book and music business was dominated by pirates, who already in those ancient times used a painfully familiar scheme. Taking advantage of the fact that there was no copyright convention between the tsarist government and the European states, Jurgenson in Moscow and Bessel in St. Petersburg published huge editions of Verdi, Rossini and Mozart. They made fabulous capital on this and did not want to share it with anyone. Of the Russian composers, they published only the most popular and paid them miserable kopecks. Jurgenson cynically boasted that the income he received from the publication of a single romance by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was sufficient to cover all the costs of printing the rest of his works.

Belyaev took advantage of the same situation, turning her inside out. He printed Glinka's romances in Leipzig, and his nephews (since the composer himself was long dead) did not pay a penny. Mitrofan Petrovich was prudent... And somehow nervously punctual: he meticulously wrote down everything from various books, even the programs of his home quartet "Fridays".

By the way, these “Fridays” themselves, thanks to acquaintance with composers, have changed beyond recognition. Up to 70 people now gathered in Belyaev's house, mostly musicians from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. And all of them - especially students - were very fond of eating. At eight in the evening at Mitrofan Petrovich's they sat down to play; exactly at midnight - dinner. Rimsky-Korsakov only sighed as he watched his starving students flock to the sumptuous food. He did not like Mitrofan Petrovich and in his relations with him invariably maintained an official tone. It was unbearable for him that this rude merchant was imposing his tastes on him, a 600-year-old aristocrat and world famous composer.

And yet, Rimsky-Korsakov had to endure. After all, he perfectly understood that, except for Belyaev, no one would publish his seven operas. It was especially bitter for him to realize that Mitrofan Petrovich was publishing his monumental creations not out of respect for him as a composer, but out of courtesy towards Sashenka. Opera, especially Russian, Belyaev hated, and no amount of Rimsky-Korsakov's reasoning could shake him in this. However, the desires of the beloved were law for him, and he even printed what did not fit in his ideas about the "great and beautiful." In the name of friendship, he printed hundreds of incompetent creations of his students - all sorts of Antipovs, Artsybushevs and Kopylovs, gathering dust in mountains in a warehouse. In their circle it was called "nurturing talents." For the only time in all these years, Mitrofan Petrovich balked. When Sashenka asked him to print Korsakov's "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", he decided that it was too much and flatly refused, citing financial difficulties. The funny thing is that Rimsky-Korsakov was terribly offended,

For the sake of Sashenka, the aging merchant also started a concert entreprise. It began in 1884, when Mitrofan Petrovich hired an orchestra for the first time and arranged a public "rehearsal of the works of A. K. Glazunov." So this strange event was officially called. Beginning with the 1886/1887 season, Belyaev's concerts became subscriptions. Mitrofan Petrovich rents the best hall of the Noble Assembly in St. Petersburg (now the Philharmonic is located in this building) and the orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater. The program includes the same Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov, but mostly colorless creations of unknown students. Rimsky-Korsakov and Lyadov were convinced that it was very useful for young composers to listen to their "masterpieces" in orchestral performance. Is it interesting to the public? Rimsky-Korsakov and Lyadov did not even think about such a question, because Mitrofan Petrovich had already paid for everything. They were busy with high art, and the rest did not bother them at all.

Mitrofan Petrovich was also calm, despite the fact that the hall, which accommodated more than 1,500 people, was filled with a maximum of 5-10 percent. The number of spectators only occasionally exceeded the number of participants. As a result, the enterprise very soon turned into a "black hole", rapidly absorbing Belyaev's millions. To increase attendance, Mitrofan Petrovich was advised to hire popular soloists. But he didn't want to hear about it. He liked to feel like a true, disinterested knight of Russian music.

In 1889, the World Exhibition was held in Paris. Mitrofan Petrovich could not miss such an opportunity. He hired the famous Colonna orchestra and organized two "Russian" concerts from the works of all the same composers. In fact, he threw a colossal amount into the wind. No more than fifty people gathered in the hall, and the French musicians, on whom he counted so heavily, did not come at all. To everyone's surprise, this did not discourage Mitrofan Petrovich in the least.

In 1890, a turning point occurred in the relationship between the 54-year-old Belyaev and the 24-year-old Glazunov - they switched to "you". Since then, Mitrofan Petrovich has been openly and passionately jealous of his pet. Glazunov justified himself: “You reproach me for the fact that I seem to go to rehearsals only to look at ballet beauties. Believe me, at the present rehearsals I’m not up to it: this can be done in idle time. But peace between them was soon restored, especially since Glazunov did not forget to please his benefactor with a new quartet.

And then Glazunov became jealous. On the eve of his 60th birthday, Mitrofan Petrovich met his new love. It was young Alexander Scriabin. In vain did Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Lyadov, who were members of the advisory council at the Belyaev publishing house, dissuade their benefactor from publishing Scriabin's opuses. Mitrofan Petrovich stubbornly stood his ground. Moreover, he appointed a new pet something like a scholarship - 100 rubles a month, as if on account of fees for future works. At that time it was a professor's salary. After Scriabin's marriage, the scholarship was doubled - despite the fact that Mitrofan Petrovich vehemently opposed this marriage. Already mortally ill, he travels with his young friend through Europe, arranges his first triumphs...

On Christmas Day 1903, Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev died, leaving detailed instructions about his “musical business”. He arranged it so wisely that, if not for the well-known October events, the music publishing company would have flourished to this day. Special orders were given about Scriabin. The executors - Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Lyadov - were ordered to publish all his works. In the next 15 years, only Scriabin saved the Belyaev publishing house from the dullness in which it was mired due to the catastrophic dominance of Glazunov and Lyadov's students.

After the death of Belyaev, other amazing things were discovered. For example, the annual Glinkin Prize, which had been awarded to composers for many years on behalf of some mysterious "well-wisher", turned out to be the work of Mitrofan Petrovich. He died, and the award continued to be awarded until 1918, when the "Belyaev circle" - this ideal prototype of the Union of Composers of the USSR - ceased to exist due to well-known events.

Since then, for many years composers have been fed only by the state and did it in exactly the same way as Belyaev - not for talent, but for pull and for special devotion. The result is obvious ... good or bad - to judge the reader, depending on his involvement in this system. There are a lot of composers ... or very few - it depends on how you look at it. And all their products are for purchasing commissions and publishing houses, and not for God and people.

Russian patrons are not lucky. They were not given the glory they deserve. If you take The World Almanac, the most popular reference book among the writing fraternity of the whole world, which the US government agency for foreign policy propaganda sends free of charge to the editorial offices of thousands of newspapers and magazines in dozens of countries, there are no Russian patrons there at all. Even Tretyakov.

But that is the undisguised Russophobia of a foreign spill. They didn't have much luck at home either. Agitprop of the Central Committee of the CPSU (M.A. Suslov, A.N. Yakovlev and other "comrades") several times rejected the proposals of the publishing house "Young Guard" to publish a book about Tretyakov in the series "Life of Remarkable People". No, no, books about the creator of the Tretyakov Gallery were published in the USSR, but ... you can’t call a merchant, an exploiter a wonderful person: the party language won’t turn around, just as he won’t turn to call Friedrich Engels a capitalist and exploiter, who, by the way, took from the workers of his factory not only surplus value, but also sexual tribute.

As a result, by the end of the 20th century, in the minds of the Russian mass reader, there was an idea that, of course, there were patrons-philanthropists in our country, but extremely rarely, they can be counted on the fingers: Tretyakov, Morozov, Mamontov, Shchukin, Bakhrushin. Approximately “in this format” they trumpeted and drummed about Russian patrons during perestroika, when the words capitalist, entrepreneur, businessman and even merchant acquired a positive, politically reliable connotation. Slowly, unfairly slowly, the glorious names of Russian philanthropists-philanthropists, of whom we had a great many, emerge from artificial oblivion.

Most of them were merchants. The very class that the "intelligentsia", or rather, the educated contemptuously called the dark kingdom or Tit Titychi (for some reason, this name and patronymic does not jar to my Russian ear). Thousands of churches, hundreds of orphanages, almshouses, hospitals, schools, libraries were erected on our land by these people. Who remembers them, including large, educated, Europeanized ones, not to mention those who wore traditional old Russian merchant clothes, did not part with a long beard and parted their hair in the middle?

Having strained their memory, many will probably remember that the king of the tea trade in Russia in the 19th century was Alexei Semenovich Gubkin (the famous "tea house" in Moscow - from his company). He bought a factory in China, had sales offices in India, England, Java and Ceylon, the firm's branches operated in several Russian cities. But Gubkin never forgot his hometown of Kungur in the Perm province. At his expense, a secondary technical school, a women's shelter, and a needlework school for girls were built there. What is very important - Gubkin provided these institutions with the means of subsistence for a number of years. In total, he spent one and a half million rubles on these Kungur affairs. At the prices of that time (the philanthropist died in 1883) it was a lot of money. His grandson Alexander Kuznetsov continued the grandfather's tradition. In particular, in modern terms, he sponsored the publication in Russian of ancient historians - Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, Titus Livius. Supported emerging artists by buying their work.

Is there any tribute paid to the memory of the great Russian textile manufacturer Sergei Ivanovich Prokhorov, who at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 (it was, as its organizers declared, a meeting of the twentieth century) received two most honorable awards - the Grand Prix for the products of his enterprises and the Gold Medal for taking care of the life of the workers. Behind this medal was a whole system of transforming the lives of working people. First of all, there were several vocational schools. At the factory, a class for learning to play wind instruments, a library, a lecture hall and an amateur theater (with a hall for 1300 seats), the repertoire of which consisted of Russian classics (Ostrovsky, Gogol, Pisemsky), a hospital, an almshouse ...

And among all Russian patrons, the figure of the timber merchant Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev (1836-1903) stands out. It is distinguished by the fact that he did not create anything material, nothing that would be visible to future generations, as they see the Tretyakov Gallery, some temple or some hospital. For Belyaev directed his efforts and his considerable funds to support Russian music, Russian composers. According to the collective opinion of musicologists, without the participation of Belyaev, the creative fate of Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Cui, Balakirev, Scriabin and a number of other luminaries would have been different. Of course, they would have "come out" without the help of Belyaev, but with more difficulties and, most likely, at a later date. And other dates for the appearance of this or that author, this or that composition - and the whole history of musical art becomes somewhat different.

One important remark must be made here. For us, the names listed above sound like the undisputed names of world-class classics. But at the time of Belyaev, this was by no means the case. According to S. Bulich, the pre-revolutionary biographer of Belyaev, Mitrofan Petrovich himself only in the early 1880s recognized the works of the then representatives of the young Russian musical school, then their works were extremely rarely performed and it was difficult to find publishers. And the point is not that Belyaev himself was an amateur (he played the viola, violin and piano, played in quartets and orchestras, in particular in an amateur orchestra conducted by the composer Lyadov), and in general his main occupation was business; No. Such was the mood of educated society as a whole. "tops" recognized

Only Western music, primarily German and (in the operatic genre) Italian. You can’t erase a word from history - in the 1850s, the commander of the St. Petersburg garrison sent the guards officers who had made a fine “instead of the guardhouse” to the Mariinsky Theater to listen “as punishment” to Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. None other than the composer Anton Rubinstein at the same time arrogantly and impudently declared that it was impossible to create an opera based on the Russian national melos, and Glinka's experience proves this. In response, Glinka noted that, apparently, Rubinstein's judgment was influenced by his non-Russian origin; supporters of the latter naturally yelled about "anti-Semitism", and relations between the two composers broke down.

It is necessary to say especially about Rubinstein, or rather, about two Rubinsteins - about Anton, the author of the opera "The Demon", which he himself considered not Russian, but "European", and his brother Nikolai. These were very influential and authoritative figures in the musical circles of St. Petersburg (Anton) and Moscow (Nikolai), where, respectively, they were directors of conservatories. Reflections on this by our great composer Georgy Sviridov are quite remarkable.

“In Europe, professional music education,” he writes, “began in the 19th century. The first conservatory (Leipzig) was founded with the money of the banker Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in 1843. Its graduates dispersed to various European countries, from where they were taken to study in Leipzig, and tried to organize similar educational institutions in their countries.

Thus, two talented young musicians from the Bessarabian town, brothers Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein (baptized Jews), after graduating from the Leipzig Conservatory, managed, with the support of the court, to achieve the right to organize musical educational institutions in St. Petersburg (1862) and Moscow (1866), putting thus beginning professional music education in Russia. All this, of course, was valuable, but the question turned out to be not so simple! And not only in Russia, but also, for example. in Germany. It is well known that somehow it happened that militant musical academism (Salieri) rallied around Mendelssohn. The greatest musicians Schumann, Liszt, Wagner were in sharp opposition to this educational institution, and it, in turn, vilified their names.

It must be said that Anton Rubinstein, himself a very talented and very self-confident composer, began his work in Russia as in a wild, barbaric, musically uneducated country. Naturally, he could have formed such a view because he did not know Russia and had no desire to know. He felt himself to be the only conductor of European musical education and there was no particular reason to blame him for this. This gave him weight in his own eyes, and at court his point of view was completely shared.

But the highly educated Russian society, among which were representatives of the Russian well-born aristocracy, did not look at the matter that way. Some of them were, moreover, gifted with extraordinary musical abilities. I mean Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stasov, Balakirev. Such a view of musical Russia seemed to them unfair and deeply offensive to their national dignity. The point of view of the conservatory and a group of young nationally minded Russian musicians, who were contemptuously called "A bunch", putting an insulting meaning into this expression (and Stasov in his polemical article called them "A mighty bunch"), diverged decisively in their views on the path of musical Russia ... " .

I hope that the lengthy quotation from Georgy Sviridov's reflections is justified, because it clearly and concisely shows the alignment of forces in those years when music occupied a central place in Mitrofan Belyaev's circle of interests. He was born in St. Petersburg, in the family of a wealthy timber merchant, and received a very good education. The music was not forgotten either. There were no conservatories, as we know, the boy was given private violin lessons; he mastered the piano by himself. From the age of 14, he became addicted to chamber music, played violin and viola in quartets. A child of his age, young Mitrofan Petrovich practically did not leave the circle of German music, especially since he had the opportunity to play, as a rule, in German amateur circles. Belyaev Sr. offered his son to devote himself entirely to music, but he refused. From the age of 15, he helps his father in business. Until 1866 they were doing business in the Olonets province. Then Mitrofan Petrovich became an independent entrepreneur, and on shares with his cousin, he did business in the Arkhangelsk province. Trips around the outback, contact with folk musical practice will later help this wealthy Petersburger to understand that the composers of the Mighty Handful come from Russian melodic foundations, and the conservative “Rubinsteins” are deaf to them. He is clearly aware of which camp his soul is inclined to, but before that it was still far away. Business did not leave much time for music, and yet latently Belyaev made an evolution leading to the decision to devote himself entirely to musical affairs.
An important role in the life of Belyaev was played by a meeting with the composer Glazunov. Then, in 1882, Mitrofan Petrovich was already over forty, it would seem that his views would not change. (Now this is unthinkable, but it was around those years that Turgenev dropped the phrase “an old man of forty years old.”) But he refuted the conventional wisdom about the conservatism of older people. Acquaintance with Glazunov made Belyaev, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, a passionate admirer of new Russian music. In 1884, Mitrofan Petrovich left his trading business. By that time, he had rounded up his capital, became, as they said then, a millionaire.

Belyaev understood well what was needed in order to “move forward” Russian music: it was necessary to perform the works of contemporary Russian composers and publish their compositions. And he set to work with business acumen. In the same 1884, the first symphony concert from Glazunov's works was arranged. The next year was the beginning of the systematic holding of Russian symphony concerts, called Belyaevsky. Then Belyaev founded a music publishing house. He chose the best place for him - Leipzig; in this city, a community of first-class masters of musical notation has developed, and everyone knows that this is one of the most difficult areas of printing. The most difficult, and therefore expensive, but Belyaev did not spare money for his offspring. He was well aware that composers are escorted (with applause or indignant noise) according to their talent, but they are greeted “by clothes”. Well-produced sheet music, sheet music with the Leipzig mark, played to some extent the same role as a well-tailored concert coat. Very soon, the music publishing house of MP Belyaev became very authoritative. He was respected all over the world. It is impossible not to mention one more feature of this publishing house - it paid very high fees; this was one of Belyaev's forms of material support for Russian composers.

Beginning in 1891, Belyaev began to arrange Russian quartet evenings, at which Russian chamber music, then still little known, was performed. Now it sounds strange, but it is true - at first these concerts did not attract many visitors, but gradually the audience became more and more. Thanks to these concerts, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Glazunov, Scriabin were able to hear their compositions in orchestral performance. In this context, Belyaev must be rewarded for the fact that he walked the most difficult path in his patronage. After all, Mitrofan Petrovich invited not fashionable Western composers and not prestigious propagandists of their work, but those whom the “refined” public perceived, if not as plebeians, then as a provincial (provincial in relation to the West) curiosity. “Oh, just listen, these Russians, it turns out, are able to compose something!”

This is not a biting journalistic phrase. What is worth only one incident in the history of music in the Moscow Conservatory. A young Russian professor, who had been invited to teach there by director Nikolai Rubinstein, wrote his first piano concerto and asked him to listen to his composition. Rubinstein bluntly smashed the concerto and categorically rejected it. The professor's name was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. True, Rubinstein soon changed his mind, but nevertheless, his first reaction is quite characteristic of the meetings of "enlightened Europeans" with "the musical efforts of the natives." By the way, the echoes of this attitude are well audible now. They sound in every article in which Glinka seems to be respectfully called the ancestor/founder of Russian music. But in this way, centuries and centuries of its existence are crossed out. The composers supported by Belyaev were aware of their blood connection with folk song, with other types of musical folklore and, of course, with Orthodox liturgical music.

Let's not forget that in those days there was no recording yet, and music could only be heard "live". Therefore, the significance of the two Russian concerts at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, which, in modern terms, were sponsored by Belyaev, cannot be overestimated. Here is the program of one of them: Glazunov's Second Symphony, Piano Concerto and Spanish Capriccio by Rimsky-Korsakov, Glinka's Kamarinskaya, Polovtsian Dances from Borodin's Prince Igor, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, Balakirev's Mazurka, Tchaikovsky's Barcarole , Study of Blumenfeld and Scherzo Lyadov. In practice, this was the first acquaintance of Western Europe with the panorama of modern Russian music.

... Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev died suddenly at the sixty-eighth year of his life, he died without getting sick, in the prime of life. But it turned out that he, like a merchant, wisely took care of the will in advance. Someone calculated that Belyaev spent more than two million rubles on the support of Russian music, a huge amount on the scale of those prices. But he still had considerable capital. He ordered to spend the main part of it on the annual Glinkin Prizes for Russian composers.

The ideologist of the "Mighty Handful" Stasov, in an article dedicated to the memory of Belyaev, wrote that his activities in the field of Russian music are comparable to those of Tretyakov in the field of Russian painting. And it certainly is. But it must be admitted that Belyaev is incomparably less known than Tretyakov. Let's not refer to the fact that the music "disappears" after each performance. It is not the nature of music that is to blame, but you and me, that the great Russian philanthropist is still half-forgotten.

Yuri BARANOV

In one of the letters of V.V. Stasov to Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev there are such lines: “One day Repin suddenly says to me: “What a glorious figure, what beauty and significance in this Belyaev of yours! I often consider him in concerts of the Assembly of the Nobility, and I admire him more and more. That's who I would like to write!!" - "What, really," I answered with liveliness, "do you want me to go and tell him?" “Please, please,” answered Repin, and a few minutes later I went to the place where this “powerful and beautiful figure” was sitting, went and said: “Repin asks you to let him paint a sketch-portrait of you—your personality terribly like and pleasant! " “You immediately agreed, got to know him, and the matter went into motion.”
This Repin work is in the Russian Museum. There are also kept portraits of Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov, Glazunov. There is a deep pattern in such a neighborhood. The enlightened philanthropist did a lot for these composer friends of his, and for the prosperity of all Russian music at the end of the past - the beginning of this century. However, Belyaev himself did not like being called a philanthropist. “Wishing to pay my tribute to the motherland,” he said, “I choose the form that appeals to me the most.”

Everything foreshadowed Belyaev a brilliant commercial career. What was easier than following in your father's footsteps and continuing his well-established timber business? That's how it worked out in the beginning. But in 1884, Mitrofan Petrovich resolutely retired, and the reason for this was the artistry of his nature, selfless love for art.
A sharp turn in the life of a businessman was not a surprise to those around him. As a child, he mastered the violin and piano, and as a student at the St. Petersburg Reformed School, he enthusiastically played music in various amateur circles, played in orchestras and accumulated solid musical erudition.

The final turning point in Belyaev's aspirations is associated with a direct musical impression. Having heard in 1882 Glazunov's First Symphony, and then his own "Overture on Greek Themes", he decided to devote himself undividedly to the promotion and dissemination of Russian art. To this end, he defined for himself two types of activity. Since 1885, on his initiative, "Russian Symphony Concerts" were held in St. Petersburg. (They were discussed in detail in our last year's yearbook.) At the same time, Belyaev's publishing work began. And here the role of the "catalyst" was played by the work of Glazunov. The composer says: “When I had accumulated finished works, namely: a symphony, a quartet and a piano suite on the theme “S-a-s-c-h-a”, M. A. Balakirev found a publisher for them in the person of Khavanov, the successor of Johansen's firm. Khavanov immediately set about publishing the quartet and suite. But then, having spent a significant amount of money and not foreseeing a profit, he abandoned his intention to continue the business of publishing my works. This circumstance was partly taken advantage of by Mitrofan Petrovich. He conceived his own publishing business, bought my quartet and suites from Khavanov, and offered me his services for further publications. Thus, it was my lot to be the first to receive such an offer. Despite a warning from some competent musical figures, I without hesitation gave Mitrofan Petrovich my consent and transferred to him the right to the first "Overture on Greek Themes", which was included in the catalog of the firm "M. P. Belyaev” under the first number, followed by the First Symphony and my following compositions.”

Soon the publishing house received the specified name "M. P. Belyaev in Leipzig. It was in this German city, an ancient cultural center, that the technical resources of the company were concentrated. The local printed music of K. G. Raeder was famous throughout Europe. However, all creative issues were resolved in St. Petersburg, where a competent commission was created consisting of Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov and Glazunov. The works of these major masters became the foundation of Belyaev's music production. Characteristic in this respect is Rimsky-Korsakov's confession. “Your publishing business,” he wrote to Belyaev in 1890, “with the passage of time (whether you like it or not) has become terribly close and dear to me, as if it were my own.”
In 1894, Belyaev met Scriabin, and soon friendly relations were established between them. Belyaev provided financial support to the young musician, published many of his compositions. In the catalog of the Belyaev music company we also find the names of Glinka, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Taneyev and other famous composers. Taneyev's fundamental work "Movable counterpoint of musical writing" was also published here. Belyaev's field of vision also included the works of many young authors.

In 1904, the life of a remarkable man suddenly ended. Looking into the future, Belyaev, shortly before his death, decided to organize a board of trustees to encourage Russian composers and musicians. This council was to be led by his faithful friends, with whom he started his business, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Lyadov. The words of Mitrofan Petrovich were addressed to them: “I ask you to convincingly assume the duties of members of the board of trustees and invest in this institution that direction in the art of music, which I consider you the best representatives. The purpose of my institution is to encourage Russian composers on their difficult path of serving the art of music through awards, publication and performance of their compositions, and organization of competitions. And for a long time, Belyaev's undertakings fruitfully served the propaganda of Russian music, its victorious distribution throughout the world.

Read: B. Volman. Russian musical editions of the 19th-early 20th centuries. L., 1970.
rengs are already guarding the square from the imaginary pressure of the crowd. After a brief litia and the proclamation of eternal memory to the "unforgettable composer", the veil falls off the monument. Instead of a general—for some, or an artist, nervous, insightful, and spiritual—for others—there was a large bronze figure of a dense gentleman with a merchant's folds, akimbo with one hand and putting the finger of the other hand in his pocket. In the entire appearance of the bronze figure, in its pose, in its details, there is nothing Glinka, nothing that would capture the image of the very first and most dear to us artist-musician for many, many years. How Glinka was represented by the sculptor Mr. R. R. Bach - many knew about this in advance - at one time, pictures from the statue appeared everywhere in the press. The pedestal of the statue is just as ordinary - the same truncated granite pyramid of our cemeteries. And yet, regardless of the merits of an artistic, or rather non-artistic, work, the very fact of its staging and discovery is the great joy of everyone who loves their native art. This is the first monument erected in St. Petersburg to a musician, moreover, placed on a large square, and not squeezed, like a monument to Pushkin, into two narrow trellises of tall gray houses.
Yekaterinodar. According to the Kuban newspaper, the local violin maker T. F. Podgorny received a gold medal for his Madonna violin at the last international exhibition in Brussels. The case of a Russian handicraftsman abroad receiving a gold medal is very rare, especially for a violin that requires great finesse of decoration.

Warsaw. The police demanded from the theater entrepreneurs a signature stating that they would not allow offerings from the public of wreaths and flowers tied with red ribbons. Entrepreneur Weisfeld, who refused to sign because the demand was unfeasible, was ordered to oblige ushers not to bring offerings with red ribbons to the stage.