Great pianist Svyatoslav Richter: the life and creative path

Richter Svyatoslav Teofilovich is an outstanding pianist of the 20th century, a virtuoso. He had a huge repertoire. S. Richter founded a charitable foundation. He also organized several music festivals.

Biography

Svyatoslav Richter, whose biography is presented in this article, was born in 1915 in Zhytomyr. His childhood and youthful years passed in Odessa. His first teacher was his father, a pianist and organist, who studied music in Vienna. At the age of 19, Richter gave his first concert. At 22, he entered the Moscow Conservatory. In 1945 he became the winner of the All-Union competition of musicians. For a long time, the authorities did not let Richter go abroad on tour. His first trip took place in 1960. Then he spoke in the US and Finland. In subsequent years, he gave concerts in France, Britain, Austria and Italy.

Svyatoslav Richter was the founder of several music festivals and a charitable foundation. During the war, he lived in Moscow, and his parents were in occupation in Odessa. Soon my father was arrested and shot. Mother left for Germany, and S. Richter believed that she was dead. He had not seen her for 20 years. The last years of his life the musician spent in Paris. Shortly before his death, he returned to Russia. The last concert of S. Richter took place on July 6, 1997. The pianist died on August 1, 1997. The cause of death is a heart attack. He was buried in Moscow, at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Creative way

Svyatoslav Richter in 1930 worked in the House of the Sailor in Odessa as an accompanist. Then he moved to the Philharmonic. Since 1934 he served in the opera house. In 1937, Svyatoslav Richter enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory. But soon the pianist was expelled. After a while he continued his studies. He graduated from the Conservatory of S. Richter in 1947. Fame musician received in the postwar years. In 1952, Svyatoslav Teofilovich for the first and last time in his life came on stage as a conductor. In the sixties the pianist first went abroad with concerts. Svyatoslav Richter was the first Soviet artist to be awarded the Grammy Award. He gave 70 concerts a year. At the end of his life he was often ill, but continued to speak, although often for health reasons he canceled concerts.

«December evenings»

"December Evenings" by Svyatoslav Richter is a music festival founded by a great pianist. It was first held in 1981. The festival is a series of concerts where music is played and pictures selected for it are shown. Thus, there is a close relationship between different types of art. During the existence of the festival, about 500 concerts were organized in the framework of the festival, in which outstanding musicians, poets, artists, actors, directors took part.

Repertoire

Svyatoslav Richter performed at various concerts. Music of various genres - from baroque to jazz - was part of the pianist's repertoire. Composers, whose works he performed:

• IS Bach.
• J. Haydn.
• M. Ravel.
• F. List.
• P. I. Tchaikovsky.
• M. Balakirev.
• L. Cherubini.
• M. Falla.
• B. Britten.
• F. Chopin.
• Zh.B. Vekerlen.
• J. Sibelius.
• P. Hindemith.
• A. Copland.
• A. Alyabyev.
• A. Berg.
• D. Gershwin.
• N. Medtner.
• L.Delib.
• G. Wolf.
• K. Shimanovsky.
• E. Chausson.
• S. Taneyev.
• L. Janachek.
• F. Poulenc et al.

While the repertoire was very wide and versatile, very little was recorded in the studio Svyatoslav Richter. The pianist's albums are listed below:

• "Concerto No.1 in B Flat Minor" for piano and orchestra by PI Tchaikovsky. With the participation of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of G. Karayan (1981).
• "Well-Tempered Clavier" IS Bach - Part 1 (1971).
• "Well-Tempered Clavier" IS Bach - Part 2 (1973).

S. Richter Foundation

In the 90s of the 20th century the Svyatoslav Richter Foundation was founded. Its activities are aimed at carrying out various cultural events in the province. First of all, these are festivals of classical music. It all started with the fact that S. Richter came up with the idea to create a school of creativity, where young artists and musicians could study and relax. To open such an institution, he dreamed in the town of Tarusa, where his dacha was. To realize his dream, money was needed. Then Svyatoslav Teofilovich came to the idea to hold annual festivals for artists and musicians, where he would participate, as well as his creative friends. The proceeds from these activities were planned to be used for the opening of the school. Friends and colleagues of the musician - Yuri Bashmet, Galina Pisarenko, Natalia Gutman, Elizaveta Leonskaya and many others - supported his idea. Thus, the S. Richter Foundation was founded. The pianist himself became its president. In the ownership of the fund, Svyatoslav Teofilovich handed over his dacha. The foundation's activity began with a concert by S. Richter. It took place on December 1, 1992.

Richter-artist

Richter Svyatoslav Teofilovich was fond of not only music. He collected a collection of paintings, as well as drawings created by people who were close to him: K. Magalashvili, A. Troyanovskaya, V. Shukhaeva, D. Krasnopevtseva. Of foreign artists in his collection were paintings by P. Picasso ("Pigeon" with a dedication inscription from the painter), H. Hartung, H. Miro and A. Calder. Anna Troyanovskaya was a great friend of the pianist, she learned to write pastel. In her opinion, Svyatoslav Richter had a wonderful sense of color and tone, the concept of space, imagination and phenomenal memory.

The works of Svyatoslav Teofilovich, which are kept in the museum:

• "Moscow".
• "Nanny".
• "Moon. China".
• The Blue Danube.
• "The old dacha."
• "Ninochka with Mitka on Rzhevsky."
• "Night and roofs."
• "In the South of Armenia".
• "By the church."
• «Pavshino».
• "Twilight in the Skatertnoy."
• "The Church in Pererva."
• "Snowstorm".
• "Carry a balloon."
• "Yerevan".
• "Mourning".
• "Spring weather".
• "The street in Beijing."

Awards and titles

Svyatoslav Richter is a pianist, who by right was awarded a large number of awards and titles. He is an honorable citizen of Turus. He received the title of People's Artist of the USSR, and then the RSFSR. He was awarded the Lenin and Stalin Prizes. The pianist was an honorary doctor of Strasbourg and Oxford universities. S. Richter was awarded the Order of the October Revolution, "For Services to the Fatherland." The musician also received awards: Leoni Sonning, MI Glinka, R. Schumann, F. Abbiati, "Truimph" and "Grammy." Svyatoslav Teofilovich is a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Literature (France), Hero of Socialist Labor and a member of the Academy of Art in Moscow. And this is not a complete list of titles and awards.

Nina Dorliak

In 1943, Svyatoslav Richter met his future wife. The personal life of the musician, despite the presence of her husband, was always surrounded by rumors of his homosexuality. Svyatoslav Teofilovich himself did not comment on the gossip and preferred personal life not to be turned into the public domain. Spouse S. Richter was Nina Dorliak - opera soprano, People's Artist of the USSR and the RSFSR. Nina Lvovna often performed in the ensemble with Svyatoslav Richter. Soon she became his wife. After she left the stage, she began to teach. Since 1947, she was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Nina Lvovna passed away less than a year after her husband Richter Svyatoslav died. Children, family, friends and all the other joys of life, according to the musician, were not for him, he believed that he should devote himself to art. Although his wife still appeared, and he lived with her for 50 years, but they had no children. Yes, and their marriage was unusual. The spouses called each other on you, and each had his own room. The apartment in which they lived, Nina Lvovna bequeathed to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

Apartment Museum

In 1999, in Moscow, in an apartment on Bolshaya Bronnaya, where he lived Svyatoslav Richter, a museum was opened. Here, furniture, personal belongings, notes, paintings - everything that belonged to the great pianist. The apartment does not have a luxurious environment. The way of life and the character of her master are felt in everything. A large room, which the pianist called the "hall", was used for rehearsals. Here is the musician's favorite piano. Now in this room you can watch movies and listen to operas. In the cabinet there are cupboards with notes, cassettes, concert costumes, records and gifts from friends and admirers. In the secretary is stored the manuscript of S. Prokofiev himself - this is the ninth sonata written by him, which is dedicated to the pianist. In the office - a large number of books, especially Svyatoslav Richter liked to read the classics: A. Pushkin, T. Mann, A. Blok, A. Chekhov, M. Bulgakov, B. Pasternak, F. Dostoyevsky, etc. The musician's rest room, Which he called "green", turned into an artistic one in those days when S. Richter performed with concerts. In addition to music, as we already mentioned, the pianist was interested in painting. He was not only a connoisseur, but also an artist. In a small room - a real exhibition of paintings. Here are pastels of Svyatoslav Richter, as well as works of various painters. The pianist himself very often organized in his house vernissages. In the museum-apartment there are guided tours, which include listening to audio and watching videos. In addition, there are evenings of music.

Memory of a musician

In memory of the outstanding pianist in 2011 in the city of Zhitomir, a memorial plaque was installed . His name is the international competition of pianists. In several cities there are monuments to Richter S. T. - in Yagotin (Ukraine) and Bydgoszcz (Poland). In Moscow, the name of Svyatoslav Richter is called the street.