Gilels Emil Grigorievich 1916–1985 outstanding Soviet pianist Emil Gilels was born on October 19, 1916 in Odessa, into a Jewish family. His father, Grigory Gilels, worked at a sugar factory, his mother, Esther, was a housewife. Emil began playing the piano in

Conductor Conducting is a dark business. N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Yes... There is some problem here. The fact is that the relationship between the conductor and orchestra members is often built in a somewhat antagonistic manner, adjusted for the peculiarities of subordination. Which, according to common sense, can

JUNE 1829 - DECEMBER 1829 ...My guilt is avenged with terrible revenge! A. Polezhaev. Bestuzhev left Irkutsk on July 4 in the most rosy mood. Soon the undulating valleys of the Irkutsk province were left behind. The Ob and Yenisei made noise, and the sad expanse of the Barabinsk steppe greeted

RUBINSTEIN Ida Lvovna 24.9 (5.10).1885 – 20.9.1960Dancer. Student of M. Fokina. The ballets “Salome”, “The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian”, “Pisanella, or Fragrant Death” (play by G. D’Annunzio, choreography by M. Fokine, scenery by L. Bakst) and others were staged for her.

The mutual fund market is one of the fastest growing - in the last year alone, the average amount of personal investment in shares has more than tripled, amounting to about 100 thousand rubles. The director of the sales department of Management Company Rosbank told Izvestia columnist Irina Fedotova about which mutual funds will be the most popular in a year, how to choose a management company and how to assess your risks. Grigory Rubinstein.

question: What types of mutual funds are the most popular today? And what mutual funds have investors not yet “seen out”, but will they be in demand in a year or two?

answer: The most popular are mutual funds of shares; they have the highest yield. If we compare the amount of assets, there are about 80 billion rubles in stock funds (not counting closed-end funds), no more than 20 billion rubles in bond funds, about 30 billion rubles in mixed funds, and about 40 billion rubles in real estate funds. A combination of economic, monetary and infrastructure factors so far determines cash flows into equity funds. The population prefers liquidity and invests in open-ended and interval funds intended for regular investments. Closed-end mutual funds are still difficult for the population to access, and retail shareholders have not yet “seen out” real estate funds and venture funds as alternative investments. Such funds are very attractive for portfolio diversification and good income, but their availability is associated with the liquidity of the secondary market for shares and the expansion of brokerage houses into the regions. Funds for shares of “second-tier” companies also have excellent prospects. The expected return of these funds is higher than that of classic equity funds, because... The funds' investment strategy involves acquiring blocks of shares in companies focused on the growing domestic market or improving corporate governance. The capitalization of such companies will grow faster than the capitalization of Gazprom, LUKOIL or Sberbank. As companies go public, we can expect the formation of industry equity funds, such as funds for companies in the booming consumer market, equity funds for companies in the construction industry, and other markets that have not yet been touched by portfolio investors at all, but have enormous potential.

V: What can you say about the risk of such investments? Is it about the same as in blue chip mutual funds?

O: No, such funds will show returns higher than classic mutual funds precisely due to greater risk.

The market positions of large companies in their industries, for example, LUKOIL, Gazprom, Norilsk Nickel or VimpelCom, have been stable for many years, and their stock markets are very efficient, i.e. Disclosure of information on such companies and work on capital markets have been carried out since the 90s. The risks of young companies formed during reforms or the creation of new markets, or former Soviet “enterprises” with a low level of corporate governance are very high, but the discount on their shares will decrease over time, as competition increases in the struggle for consumers and for portfolio capital will force companies to separate owners from management and focus on capitalization growth. The time of rapid growth of blue chips, associated with the underestimation of the Russian stock market by global investors, has passed, and next year the main growth will be concentrated in the shares of second-tier companies.

V: When will such mutual funds be offered to clients?

O: To a first approximation, they already exist. In our company this is the Almaz stock fund. The basis of his portfolio is the investment part, the planned composition of which will include 50 or more companies with the best prospects for capitalization growth, from our point of view. Unfortunately, due to the low capitalization of the “second tier” and the low liquidity of such stocks, a large fund cannot completely move away from blue chips, and the liquid part of the portfolio is still about 50% of the fund. We hope that by the end of the first quarter of 2007 there will be more growth stocks in the portfolio: many companies from interesting industries have announced IPOs.

V: What advice can you give to an investor who is choosing a management company and would like to reduce risks?

O: In fact, absolutely any investment, be it the acquisition of shares of bond mutual funds or stock mutual funds, requires a risk assessment of both the management company and the funds themselves. If I were choosing a company, I would take a list of management companies and look at their ratings from RA NAUFOR. And I would not consider companies with a rating less than BBB (AA) at all.

The next task is to select mutual funds for investments. It should be understood that the main criterion for the “quality” of a fund is the stability of its results over several years. Finally, it is useful to look at who will actually manage the portfolio. Each company has complete and open information about managers, their trade record (where they worked, what mutual funds they managed). After all, the shareholder actually buys the future result, and it depends more on the personal experience of the portfolio manager and less on the investment process itself in the management company.

V: How is mutual funds managed, for example, in your company?

O: Our managers are promptly responsible for their market: one manages the debt part of the portfolios, the other manages the shares. Therefore, if we are talking about mutual funds, then the Sapphire bond fund and the Emerald money market fund are managed by Evgeny Kirsanov, managing director of debt markets, and the Almaz stock fund and the mixed investment fund Granat are managed by Dmitry Shumilov , Managing Director of Equity Markets. The long-term investment strategy and short-term allocation of assets in the funds are established by the Investment Committee. By the way, in 2005 the Sapphire fund entered the top 10 bond funds in terms of profitability, and Granat took first place among mixed investment funds.

V: I wonder if all your clients understand that they cannot get high returns without risk?

O: There are shareholders whose required return is 30%, 50% or more, but they are not ready to take significant risks. Because while our market is growing steadily, it seems to them that there is no risk at all they will think about the risks only when we experience at least one significant downturn. For example, recently there was a strong correction, and clients inundated us with calls: “What’s going on?”, “What are the prospects for the stock market?” We also try to explain to everyone that only free money should be invested in mutual funds, i.e. those that are not intended for large purchases in the near future and which can be “forgotten” for several years. Our citizens are not yet accustomed to engaging in financial planning; they have no faith in long-term stability. In the United States there is a huge demand for financial and retirement planning services.

V: Where would you recommend investing for those who do not like to take risks?

O: Over the long term, mutual funds are obviously more profitable, for example, than deposits, the rates on which are reduced annually. But for people with a very low risk appetite and with long-term money, I would advise putting 50% of their savings on a deposit in Sberbank, and using the other 50% to buy shares of bond mutual funds. It is possible that over time their attitude to risk will change, and then at the next stage they can be advised to create a portfolio of funds: invest 30% in shares of a stock fund and 70% in shares of bond funds. And for short-term risk-free investments, a bank deposit or structured banking products are optimal, since you need to invest in a mutual fund for a minimum of 2-3 years. I try to convince my clients of this, but, unfortunately, it is not easy. Most people believe that every year there should be 100% profitability, and things reach the point of absurdity - people mortgage apartments and invest in mutual funds, focusing on last year’s rush.

V: Can you advise buying mutual fund shares right now or is it better to wait?

O: You can always enter mutual funds, because... they are intended for long-term investments. So if you have decided to invest, then there is no point in postponing. Even over a period of 5 years, the effect of market timing will be minimal. It's even better to invest regularly.

In October 2006, the Moscow State Conservatory celebrated the 140th anniversary of its existence. The anniversary of the oldest music university in Russia brought together guests from near and far abroad, from Europe, Asia and America. All of them took part in a solemn meeting in the famous building of the Conservatory on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, 13, in the Great Concert Hall of which a seven-day anniversary musical marathon, called the “solemn Week of the Moscow Conservatory,” was then held.

And despite all the solemnity of this moment, it seems that the anniversary was more than sad, despite dozens of congratulatory addresses to the hero of the day from high officials of the state, despite the solemn verbiage in honor of this musical institution - the only conservatory in Russia that has the status of a university. The Conservatory building, including its Great Concert Hall - a masterpiece of architecture and engineering, known throughout the world for its perfect, impeccable acoustics and the world's largest organ - are all in disrepair. This was more than expressively stated at that time by the words of Moscow Mayor Yu.M. Luzhkova: “There are no other buildings in operation in the capital that could be compared with the Conservatory in terms of accident rates.” And this is only part of the truth - according to the conclusion of the competent commission, the operation of the Conservatory building complex in its condition on the anniversary day threatened not only with the loss of a rare monument of architecture and culture, but also with human casualties. After its radical reconstruction at the end of the 19th - the very beginning of the 20th century, this building was never seriously renovated. There were renovation plans, delayed deadlines, and disputes between major federal and city government officials. The city has money, but no rights - the object is federal property, the federal authorities have rights - “but we won’t collect all the money.” And this is in one of the richest metropolises in Russia, with its multimillion-dollar luxury houses and country dachas of the Russian bureaucratic nobility and oligarchs.

You can’t help but remember how a little more than a century ago, according to a completely different scenario, in a different social setting, this unique architectural complex of the Conservatory was created, the founder of which was the thirty-year-old pianist and conductor N.G. Rubinstein, who later became its professor and first lifelong director .

Nikolai Grigorievich Rubinstein born in Moscow on June 2 (14), 1835 in the family of a baptized Jew, a Moscow merchant of the second guild - Grigory Romanovich Rubinstein. This baptism, according to the surviving record in the metric book of the St. Nicholas Church in Berdichev, took place on July 25, 1831. On this day, the entire family of the Zhytomyr merchant Ruven (in Orthodoxy Roman) Rubinstein, consisting of 35 people, converted to the Orthodox faith. Among them were his two sons, Abram and Gregory, with their families, who had previously lived in the village of Vykhvatintsy, near the town of Rybnitsa (now Transnistria in Moldova), where they rented land and from where they moved to Berdichev. One can only guess what was the root cause of such a step. But it is still worth remembering that shortly before the described event, Podolia, as well as the entire right-bank Ukraine, after the second partition of Poland in 1793, became Russian territory, and the Rubinsteins became Russian Jews in the Pale of Settlement (fourteen southwestern provinces of Russia ).

One can also say that the reign of Nicholas I was the most difficult period in the history of the Jews of Russia. One of the reasons for this, if not the main one, was the decree of the emperor, issued by him almost at the very beginning of his reign, which ordered the conscription of boys from Jewish families at the age of twelve years old to serve in the Russian army in the proportion of seven children out of every hundred. They were to be sent to cantonist schools and then serve for 25 years. In practice, this meant for the family the loss of the child forever, and for the child - sometimes forced baptism and, quite possibly, premature death far from relatives.

This reason could also be the notorious “Regulations on the Organization of the Jews” of Alexander I, which provided for the eviction of Jews from villages (1804 – 1808). There could be other reasons related to the need for a radical change of place of residence, the only way out of which could be a transition to Orthodoxy. Jews who remained faithful to Judaism could only live in the Pale of Settlement.

The real reason for this step today is a rhetorical question. The fact itself is important, playing an exceptional role in the history of Russian musical culture. In 1834, Zhytomyr merchants - brothers Abram and Grigory Romanovich Rubinstein, having enrolled in the Moscow merchant class, moved to Moscow. The merchant of the second guild, Grigory Romanovich, with his wife Kaleria Khristoforovna, with their sons Yakov and Anton, with their daughter Lyuba, after moving to Moscow, settled separately from other family members, in Zamoskvorechye, in a two-story house, on the ground floor of which there was a factory for pencil and pin production, on upper – living rooms. It can be assumed that it was in this house that Nikolai Grigorievich Rubinstein was born. Apparently, the youngest child of Grigory Romanovich, his daughter Sophia, also appeared there in 1841.

According to the memoirs of their elder brother, Anton (1829–1894), an outstanding Russian composer and performer, their mother, whose maiden name was Clara Levinstein, was raised in Orthodoxy by Kaleria (1807–1891). By origin, she comes from the Prussian city of Breslau. Cities with a high level of education for that time, where there was a university, several gymnasiums, one of which was accessible to all religious denominations, many private general education and music schools. Obviously, the wealth in Clara’s family gave her the opportunity to receive in her young years not only a diverse, but also a fairly deep education for that time, including knowledge of languages ​​and musical literacy. This allowed her, in a difficult time for the family (after the death of her almost bankrupt husband in 1846), to save the family from poverty, becoming a classy lady, a teacher of French and German in one of the Moscow boarding houses, and teaching music lessons there. Kaleria's European level of education, combined with her domineering, strict character, had a great influence on the children, making this family unique for Russia in the mid-19th century. The children of the Moscow, not very rich merchant Grigory Romanovich, the grandchildren of the Zhitomir, once rich merchant Ruven, ethnic Jews, some fifteen years after their baptism, parted with their merchant class, becoming prominent representatives of the emerging creative Russian intelligentsia.

This phenomenon of the departure of the children and grandchildren of many founders, Moscow commercial and industrial clans into Russian culture will only become a common occurrence for Moscow in a number of years: the tea merchant Botkin will give Moscow a galaxy of doctors, the tanner Bakhrushin - historians, the Ryabushinsky clan - the pioneer of aerodynamics and explorer of Kamchatka, etc. d. etc.

In the 40s and 50s, the family of Grigory Romanovich Rubinstein was the first on this path. His eldest son, Yakov (1827 - 1863), became a Moscow doctor with a university education, and his daughter Lyuba, having married a doctor, moved to Odessa in 1851. In her declining years, after 1865, Kaleria Khristoforovna also moved there to live, and there her life’s journey ended. In the first Christian cemetery of Odessa, her burial has been preserved to this day - a landmark of this necropolis.

The mother's influence was decisive in the destinies of her younger children. Feeling the extraordinary musical abilities of Anton and Nikolai, Kaleria Khristoforovna made every effort to ensure that her sons became professional musicians. After several years of home lessons for many hours with Nikolai’s older brother Anton, she transfers his further education to a professional teacher, Alexander Villuan was brought in as such - a descendant of emigrants who fled to Russia from the French Revolution, one of the best private Moscow teachers - another type of music school there was none in Moscow at that time.

After several years of visiting A. Villuan's studio, Anton, together with his teacher, left to continue his studies in Europe, where he not only studied music theory in Berlin, but also triumphantly concerts in the largest cities of Europe, gaining fame as a talented pianist. During the same period, his first musical compositions were created and published.

In 1844, Kaleria was also in Berlin to continue the musical education of her younger children Nikolai and Sophia - lessons from T. Kullak (piano) and Z. Dehn (music theory). However, an unexpected illness and sudden death of the head of the family, Grigory Romanovich, forces Kaleria and her younger children to urgently return to Moscow.

Anton was left alone without any material support, earning a living from concerts, sometimes experiencing dire need. He returned to Russia from revolution-ridden Europe only in 1848, making St. Petersburg his main place of residence. Piano concerts and lessons in playing this instrument were, at that time, the main sources of his existence.

By the end of the 50s, Anton Rubinstein was already a recognized master of piano playing, the head of the musical community of St. Petersburg. On his initiative and under his leadership, in 1859, the Russian Musical Society RMO was created in St. Petersburg (imperial - since 1868, the august patron of the Society is V.K. Elena Pavlovna). RMO is a musical educational organization designed to make serious music accessible to the general public and to promote the spread of music education. Anton became a member of the directorate, participated as a conductor and pianist in all the Society’s concerts, and headed the open RMO Music classes in St. Petersburg.

In 1862, Anton Rubinstein founded the first St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, among whose teachers was his only teacher, A. Velluan. Anton headed and taught at the conservatory intermittently until 1891: he was the director of the orchestra and choir, taught piano classes, and an ensemble. Among his students was P.I. Chaikovsky.

In Russia, where there were not only no higher musical educational institutions, but even specialized music schools, the creation of the first conservatory was a significant step in enhancing Russian musical culture, in training professional teachers and performers. But at the same time, talented Russian composers lived and worked in St. Petersburg, including the creators of the national opera, and there was even an informal association of them - “The Mighty Handful”. In their opinion, the conservatory was not only useless, but even a harmful institution due to the academic approach to the education system and the orientation toward Western musical culture of its creator, Anton Rubinstein.

However, a significant, if not decisive, role in the implementation of Anton’s innovations was played by his illustrious patroness V. K. Elena Pavlovna Romanova (1806 – 1873), whose court musician he was. Born Charlotte Maria, Princess of Württemberg, who received her musical education in Stuttgart and Paris. Since 1824, she has been the wife of Nicholas I’s younger brother, Mikhail Pavlovich. German by birth, French by upbringing, Russian by spirit, philanthropist, philanthropist, she was the “Black sheep” in the royal family during the time of Nicholas I. An ardent supporter of Russian culture, seriously interested in Russian music, she did not even spare her diamonds for the opening St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Anton Rubinstein spent the last four years of his life mainly in Dresden. He died suddenly on November 20, 1894, surrounded by his family at his dacha in Old Peterhof. The actual state councilor, professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, honorary citizen of Old Peterhof, an outstanding composer and virtuoso pianist was buried in St. Petersburg, at the Nikolskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In 1938, his ashes were transferred to the Necropolis of Art Masters (at the Tikhvin Cemetery).

As for the fate of the founder of the Moscow Conservatory, Nikolai Rubinstein, his creative and life path after the death of his father diverged from that of his brother. And although the figures of the Rubinstein brothers are quite comparable in terms of the scale of their talents and their influence on Russian musical life, in their work they were in many ways antipodes. Unlike his “Westernizer” brother, Nikolai, who settled in Moscow, was imbued with the Moscow spirit, and over time became an integral part of its creative intelligentsia, which did not prevent the brothers from maintaining deep friendly relations with each other and a sincere interest in the destinies of other family members.

Upon returning to Russia, Nikolai, despite the difficult financial situation of his family, studied with A. Villuan for another two years (1847 - 1849), while simultaneously touring with him in major cities of Russia. These concerts brought him all-Russian fame as an outstanding pianist. Further studies with a student superior to the teacher, in Valloin’s opinion, no longer made sense, and Nikolai’s entire further musical career was the result of his independent activity. But since 1847, the Nikolaev soldiery loomed visibly before him, a merchant’s son who did not have the means to pay the fee for being in the merchant guild, and who became a tradesman.

There was no money to enter the gymnasium, which was exempt from the army. There were no private teachers for admission to the university either. For three years, Nikolai independently prepared to enter Moscow University and in 1851 passed the exams as an external student. Having graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow University in 1855, he entered the service in the office of the Governor-General, receiving one of the junior ranks - provincial councilor (12th according to Peter's table of ranks), which remained with him until the end of his life.

But Nikolai’s career as an official did not appeal to him. The young musician returned to concert activity again, combining piano concerts with symphony concerts he organized, at which he also performed as a conductor. The young talented musician became a member of Moscow secular society, was fond of balls, and was received in many of the best Moscow houses. At one of the balls, he met and became interested in a girl from a noble family, who reciprocated his feelings. But their marriage, which took place despite the objections of his and her family, was short-lived.

In 1857, he quit his official service, got divorced and devoted himself entirely to music. For almost a year he has been teaching music at the Nikolaev Orphan School. Until the end of his life, there was only one more incurable passion - playing cards, often with negative results. During these years, his lifesaver was often the supply of his father’s pencils that had not yet been sold.

Since 1858, Nikolai's concert activity has been regular, mainly in Moscow, where he performs as a pianist and conductor of symphony orchestras. At the same time, his activities as a public musical organizer unfolded, which in less than a decade radically changed the musical atmosphere in Moscow - in a city, in this sense, which was previously quite provincial.

One of his first actions in this role was the creation in early 1860, in Moscow, following the example of St. Petersburg, of the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society (MO RMS), the permanent chairman of which he was until the end of his life. The Board of Directors also included several other people who were close to Nikolai in their spiritual spirit. And although they differed significantly in their social status, the unifying factor for them was their love of music.

One of them was P.I. Jurgenson (1836–1903), the organizer of music publishing in Moscow, who made printed sheet music available to a wide range of music lovers. For many years, his closest assistant was the passionate music lover Prince N.P. Trubetskoy (1828–1900) - a representative of a noble family in Rus', a descendant of the Great Lithuanian Duke Gediminas. He was the co-chairman of the RMO IO for 17 years, and then its honorary member. There were three categories of membership: honorary, active (paying an annual fee) and executive members. Prince N.P. Trubetskoy was one of those titled nobles who fully supported Nicholas; he invested not only his energy, his organizational skills, but also large sums of money. Prince V.F. was also a supporter of Nicholas in Moscow. Odoevsky is a musicologist, music theorist, and a representative of another ancient branch of the Russian titled nobility - the Rurikovichs.

Following the Musical Society, in the same 1860, on the initiative of the same Nicholas within the framework of the Russian Medical Society, several private free Music classes began to operate in Moscow, in which leading Moscow musicians were invited to teach. Expenses will be borne by the Musical Society.

A few years later, within the framework of the RMS MO, which already numbered more than 1,000 people, an amateur choir appeared; public symphony concerts were regularly held on Saturdays, the conductor of which, in most cases, was Nikolai himself. These concerts, with their unusually wide and varied repertoire for that time, which included not only works by recognized European classics such as Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Schumann, Chopin, but also Russian contemporary composers, were the best means of promoting serious music, filled and crowded the Moscow halls.

The venue for them was not only the Columned Hall of the Noble Assembly (in Soviet times - the House of Unions), but also the Manege building - the largest hall in Moscow, where up to 12 thousand people gathered. And this, despite the fact that Nikolai was strict and demanding of the behavior of the audience, mercilessly breaking the old traditions of their behavior, for example, the audience entering the hall after the start of the concert or talking in the audience during the performance of a number, etc.

The memories of old Muscovites about these concerts are curious. About how all the intelligent and elegant Moscow gathered - the secular layers below, the rest in the choirs, filling not only the hall, but also the neighboring rooms where chairs were placed. The fact that society ladies, going to concerts of the Musical Society, dressed in evening dresses, men wore tailcoats. About how the hall froze when Nikolai Grigorievich stood at the conductor's music stand and looked around the hall. About the frantic applause and standing ovation that accompanied every public appearance of Moscow's favorite. One can only wonder how a thirty-year-old musician, who came from a Jewish merchant family, whose mother was raised on the art of Germany and instilled, to the best of her ability, this culture in her children, managed to become so imbued with the spiritual life of Moscow at a turning point in Russian history.

The pinnacle of this closeness is the participation of Nikolai, along with A.N. Ostrovsky and A.A. Grigoriev, in the creation and many years of activity of the Artistic Circle (a club of the city’s creative intelligentsia in 1865 - 1883), where artists, performers, writers and musicians gathered. Among the honorary members of the club were such iconic figures of Russian culture as I.S. Turgenev and M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Creative meetings, preparation of new performances and, of course, card games.

Moscow at this time can hardly be called a musical backwater, but it still clearly did not reach the level of St. Petersburg, where the St. Petersburg Conservatory had been fully operational for several years and had its own composition schools. Nikolai begins to actively promote the idea of ​​opening a conservatory in Moscow. The draft charter he compiled was essentially similar to the St. Petersburg one, sent to him by his brother in advance. Bureaucratic obstacles on the part of the office of the Governor General and the City Duma were overcome by the highest rescript of the chairman of the RMO. K. Elena Pavlovna, authorizing the establishment of a higher music school in Moscow.

However, to open a conservatory in Moscow, significant money was also needed. We turned to the public for help. The announcement of the charitable subscription was positively received by the newspapers, emphasizing the all-Russian significance of the future educational institution. These donations were started by V.I. Yakunchikov, who contributed 1000 rubles. The largest Moscow entrepreneur, who later received the title of commerce advisor, is related by family ties to such Moscow industrial clans as the Mamontovs, Alekseevs and Tretyakovs.

Vasily Ivanovich knew the Rubinstein brothers well. In his mansion, in one and Kislovsky lanes, next to the current building of the Conservatory (the house has been preserved), impromptu concerts were held more than once with their participation. The owner himself was quite good at playing the violin (Amati played the violin), and his wife, nee Zinaida Mamontova, was a gifted pianist. Among those who also contributed 1000 rubles. there were both initiators of the project and simply patrons of the arts: V.K. Elena Pavlovna, N.G. Rubinstein and N.P. Trubetskoy, P.N. Lanin.

In February 1866 the Conservatory already existed. Elena Pavlovna approved Nikolai Grigorievich as its director. Initially, a house was rented for the classes of the Conservatory, which once stood on the corner of Vozdvizhenka Street (in Soviet times - Kalinin Avenue) and Borisoglebsky Proezd (Arbat Square in its current form did not yet exist). The mistress of the house was Baroness Cherkasova. An extensive house of classical type with three high floors and a corner rotunda, with spacious rooms. Once upon a time, after the War of 1812, the house was one of the cultural centers of Moscow: amateur performances, literary evenings were held here, and lectures were given. In 1941, the house was completely destroyed by a Nazi bomb.

Nikolai managed to attract the best domestic and foreign musicians to teach; in particular, for several years a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, 26-year-old P.I., was a teacher of music theory. Tchaikovsky, who lived in the same house, in the same apartment with Nikolai. Nikolai himself taught a piano class and conducted a student orchestra. Among Nikolai’s students were S.I. Taneev, A.I. Siloti, E. Sauer - German composer and pianist. The duration of training was six years, and at that time it was not cheap - one hundred rubles a year. But the main means of existence of the Conservatory were still donations and money taken against bills of exchange, often paid by Nikolai from his concert proceeds.

In 1871, the owner of the house demanded that the rent almost double. There were not enough funds, the number of students gradually increased, and the premises became cramped. I had to find a new, more suitable premises. The directorate's choice fell on a two-story mansion of considerable size on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, building 13 (Herzen Street in Soviet times) - the former estate of Prince M.S. Vorontsova

The site on which this building stood was acquired by the legendary Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (1743 - 1810, Countess Vorontsova in her maiden name, princess by marriage) back in the mid-18th century. The design of the estate was allegedly drawn up by the princess herself, but there is an undocumented assumption that this building is in the classical style of the late 18th century. after all, V.I.’s project Bazhenova. After her death, the estate passed to her nephew, Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov (since 1852 - His Serene Highness, Field Marshal General). The same Pushkin “half my lord, half merchant...”. The prince himself never lived: he and his heirs rented out the estate to a variety of institutions and private individuals. (It is interesting to note that in the winter of 1832, A.S. Pushkin’s parents rented an apartment here.)

From 1871 to the present day, the Moscow Conservatory has been located in the former Dashkova estate. But, having settled into this house, we became convinced that the building, built according to the canons of the 18th century, did not satisfy the needs of the conservatory. There are not enough rooms, some of them are cramped, with low ceilings, the acoustics are poor, and most importantly, the building does not have suitable space for a concert hall. From 1875 to 1887, some classes of the Conservatory were temporarily housed even in the building of the former Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Khokhlovsky Lane, transferred in 1875 to the RMO Ministry of Defense.

Initially, Dashkova’s estate was only rented, which did not give the directorate the right to make any changes. But, already in this estate, the directorate of the conservatory in a relatively short period of time significantly strengthened its financial position. After the performance of Gluck's opera Orpheus by students of the Conservatory in 1872, which was attended by Alexander II, Tsarevich Alexander III - the future emperor, and other members of the royal family, the Conservatory was awarded an annual subsidy in the amount of 20,000 rubles per year for the next five years.

But this was not the main thing in the future fate of the Conservatory. The seventies in Moscow are the time after the reform heyday of merchant entrepreneurship, a time when the second or third generations of merchants-founders of industrial enterprises, who embraced all the achievements of contemporary culture, replaced the nobility, which had lost its economic power, in the field of charity and patronage.

Back in the 1860s, Nikolai Grigorievich, seeking funds to create a new musical civilization in Moscow, was received in many rich houses, where he not only collected money, but also tried to attract some of their inhabitants, capable financiers and organizers, to manage his household. It was then that the brother of the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov, became the financial director of the RMO and the Conservatory, and later became the head of the Moscow city administration.

His place in the Directorate of the Moscow Region Moscow Region in 1877 was taken by a prominent representative of the Alekseev industrial clan - Nikolai Aleksandrovich Alekseev, managing director of the family sewing factory "Vladimir Alekseev", the future city mayor, who did a lot to transform Moscow, with its rural way of life, into a modern one. a civilized city with developed infrastructure: water supply, sewerage, etc. The efforts of these people became the decisive factor in raising funds for the needs of the RMO and the Conservatory.

Finally, the Conservatory bought the former Dashkova estate into its own property and received permanent registration, which made it possible to significantly expand the student population and strengthen its status as a higher musical educational institution equivalent to a university. By the end of the 1870s. Moscow was no longer inferior in level of musical culture not only to St. Petersburg, but also to any European musical center (and in some ways even surpassed them). For the first time in the history of the city, foreign musicians went to Moscow not only to teach, but also to learn - from Rubinstein, from the Russians!

About the role of N.G. Rubinstein in musical Moscow 60 - 70 years. XIX century is best said in the memoirs of old Moscow by a representative of an ancient noble family, a prominent public figure, chairman of the Theater and Literary Committee of the Imperial Theaters, N.V. Davydova:

“The personality of N.G. seems downright legendary. Rubinstein now, when, after many years, you look back at everything that he did, and remember what vigorous, but productive activity he showed then, without the slightest rest. It seemed that the creation and management of the Musical Society and Conservatory, the directorship of which he took upon himself and where, in addition, he himself taught a piano class, was more than enough for a strong man, but Rubinstein did not limit himself to this; It seems that there was not a single concert given in favor of a truly worthy, generally beneficial cause, in which N.G. would not perform as an orchestra conductor or soloist. He was the constant leader of concerts given for the benefit of the underserved student body, he led the rehearsals of the choir of the Musical Society, and all the musicians who came to Moscow turned to him for all matters, as the master of musical Moscow.” And further: “N.G. “He was a completely sympathetic and kind person, who did not know how to refuse when his help was really needed, and he did not take into account his personal funds at all and gave away much more than he himself had, then living in debt.”

And what is significant, he was neither an anchorite nor an ascetic - a man completely absorbed only in his musical activity. He loved a feast in the company of friends, loved to drink with them and could spend the night at the card table, but at the same time he never allowed himself to be late for classes.

However, it would be wrong to assume that his entire career in Moscow was strewn with roses. There were also thorns. It was not at all easy for the “Provincial Secretary” to solve complex ethical problems when faced with bureaucracy and noble arrogance. He was even tried for the fact that he, being just a provincial secretary, allowed himself to drive out a careless student, the general’s daughter, from class. Tried and sentenced to 25 days in prison. Only the intervention of the Senate canceled this shameful trial. And even his awarding in 1869 with the Orders of Vladimir 4th degree and Anna 2nd - orders of low hierarchy - essentially did not affect his status.

Nikolai gave few concerts abroad, but in 1872 he organized Russian concerts at the World Exhibition in Paris, participating in them as a conductor and pianist. In fact, he became the first serious promoter of Russian music in France, long before Diaghilev’s famous “Russian seasons” in Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century.

At the end of the 70s, Nikolai Rubinstein held a series of concerts in Russia, performing in 33 cities, the proceeds from which he donated to the Red Cross - the Russian-Turkish War was going on.

But these were already the last years of star life. A memorable performance by the now ill musician was the concert he organized at the anniversary celebrations marking the opening of the monument to A.S. in Moscow. Pushkin - June 1880, where he conducted an orchestra performing a cantata by S.I. Taneyev “I erected a monument...”

Seriously ill, at the beginning of 1881 he still continued to conduct and teach. His doctors, including S.P. Botkin, insisted on traveling to Nice for treatment. But he did not reach Nice and died in Paris on March 23, 1881. His visitors in the last minutes of his life were C. Saint-Saens, I.S. Turgenev and Polina Viardot.

His body, brought to Moscow by brother Anton, was accompanied to the cemetery of the St. Danilov Monastery by almost all of Moscow. The director at the funeral of the city’s idol was 18-year-old Konstantin Sergeevich Alekseev (who did not yet have his famous pseudonym “Stanislavsky”), recruited for this purpose by his relative, member of the Moscow City Duma N.A. Alekseev - Nikolai’s close friend and assistant in the directorate of the Russian Medical Defense Ministry. As a sign of mourning, on the day of his funeral in Moscow, in the French style, street lamps were lit. Later, after the closure of the monastery, the cemetery was razed, but some burials, including N.G. Rubinstein in 1931 were moved to the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent.

A sheet music album with piano works by composer Nikolai Rubinstein, published immediately after his death, P.I. Jurgenson, became the first visible monument to him. P.I. also responded to his death with his works. Tchaikovsky - piano trio “In Memory of the Great Artist” and S.I. Taneyev cantata to words by A.K. Tolstoy "John of Damascus". The memory of him is the “Rubinstein dinners” in the Arbat restaurant - a favorite meeting place for the Moscow intelligentsia, which are firmly entrenched in the history of the restaurant. On the first Sunday after March 11 (the day of Nicholas’s death according to the old style), for many years, until the events of October 1917, the most prominent musicians gathered in the restaurant to celebrate his memory. He himself once, in a conversation with P.M. Tretyakov asked to celebrate the day of his death.

After the death of Nikolai Grigorievich, during the 8 years closest to this date, the Conservatory changed three directors. Each of them was an excellent musician and teacher, but as an administrator, none of them was able to find a solution to its main problems: the stability of the pedagogical process, finances, premises.

The election in 1889 of Vasily Ilyich Safonov (1852-1918), an outstanding teacher, pianist, conductor, a man of irrepressible energy and hard work, but with a very complex, willful and despotic character, as the director of the Conservatory, made it possible to introduce high professionalism and firm order into the work of the Conservatory.

Without in any way detracting from the importance of V. Safonov as a teacher, it must be admitted that the main act of his life was the construction of the Conservatory building with its Great Concert Hall, which has survived to this day.

The construction epic required great willpower and effort from the new director, but the son of a retinue general from the Terek Cossacks did not need to lack strength of character. For the sake of music, he, a graduate of the Alexander Lyceum (formerly Tsarskoye Selo, transferred to St. Petersburg in 1853), against the will of his father, even abandoned a brilliant bureaucratic career, graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory and devoted his life to music.

Initially, V. Safonov intended to build a new building on another, more prestigious site in the very center of the city. Such a site was even selected on Teatralnaya Square - opposite the Bolshoi Theater, along the Kitai-Gorod wall, approximately where the monument to Sverdlov stood in Soviet times. But the City Duma did not want to transfer it to the Conservatory free of charge, and Governor General V.K. Sergei Alexandrovich was generally strongly against the transfer, considering this site an ideal place for parade parades. And then the leadership of the RMO, November 1893, decided to completely rebuild the existing building, considering this project to be the most economically profitable.

It is this epic that I would like to contrast, as an extremely relevant historical lesson for today, with the modern process of repair and reconstruction of the Conservatory building during the times of the so-called free market economy.

The issue of financing was resolved in two ways: a treasury subsidy in the amount of 400,000 rubles, achieved through the efforts of Safonov, paid by two emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II, and with the help of the public. It’s hard to even list everyone who helped. Patrons of the arts helped - merchants and entrepreneurs, creative intelligentsia, professors of the Conservatory. It was also significant that after the death of N. Rubinstein, the tradition of electing leading representatives of the business world to the position of financial directors was preserved.

Here are the names of those who were on the verge of the 19th and 20th centuries. There are quite a few people who contributed to the implementation of V.I. Safronov’s project. Konstantin Sergeich Alekseev (Stanislavsky) - he was already mentioned above; Mikhail Abramovich Morozov and his wife Margarita Kirillovna (née Mamontova), representatives of the Old Believer Tver branch of the Morozovs; Pavel Ignatovich Kharitonenko is a Ukrainian tycoon, the largest sugar refiner, philanthropist and philanthropist, with whose money 20 students studied at the Conservatory.

The first large payment for construction is 200 thousand rubles. made back in 1891 (for the 25th anniversary of the Conservatory), the wealthy Moscow merchant-Old Believer G.G. Solodovnikov. This man, about whose stinginess there were jokes in Moscow, can without fear of exaggeration be called the most generous philanthropist in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The entrepreneur, whose property was estimated at more than 20 million rubles, an astronomical amount at that time, saved on everything: on food, on clothes, on theater tickets - on everything. But when he died, he left only 800 thousand rubles to his family and friends, and donated more than 20 million to charitable purposes.

Numerous other private donations followed. Generous contribution - 9 thousand rubles. was from Anton Rubinstein, Nikolai's brother. Proceeds from paid musical concerts organized by V. Safonov also played a role.

Thus, Safonov formed a significant fund, which allowed him to begin implementing his planned project. To have an idea of ​​the public's contribution, we can say that in general the total cost of the project exceeded a million rubles.

The dilapidated foundations of the old Dashkovsky house would not have been able to withstand the additional load of a more voluminous building necessary to meet the needs of the Conservatory in the last decade of the 19th century. It was decided to erect a new building, while preserving the facade wall of the main building with a semi-rotunda at the level of the two lower floors. Everything else from the old house had to be demolished. This bold decision for its time preserved the appearance of the classical building located in the depths of the courtyard. It is only in modern Moscow that the facades of reconstructed architectural monuments are collapsing. The Construction Commission, headed by V.I. Safonov, managed to brilliantly resolve not only the financial and technical aspects of the project, but also to obtain a very effective aesthetic solution to the urban planning problem - the rebuilt building is still one of the best decorations of B. Nikitskaya Street.

Management of construction and architectural works V.I. Safonov instructed the experienced architect V.P. Zagorsky (1846 - 1912), a graduate of the St. Petersburg Art Academy, academician (since 1881), who worked a lot in Moscow. However, in the memory of his contemporaries, and even in our time, he is, first of all, the author of the building of the Conservatory - his most significant creation. Project V.P. Zagorsky not only developed it for free, but also announced his agreement to “retain for life and free of charge” the position of architect at the Conservatory building. His assistants, engineers N.F., were also a match for the architect. Kazakov and N.F. Grouper, who calculated the most complex building structures of this huge hall for free.

The demolition of the buildings of the former Dashkovsky house began in August 1894, and already on July 9, 1895, the foundation stone for a new building took place. IN AND. Safonov and other honored guests placed a commemorative plaque and silver rubles minted in 1895 at its base. G.G. Solodovnikov distinguished himself in this too - he put in 200 coins.

By the fall of 1897, the construction of all classrooms and apartments for employees was completed, and in October 1898, the opening of the Small Hall of the Conservatory took place. Finally, on April 7, 1901, the grand opening of the Great Hall marked the completion of all work on the construction of a new complex of buildings for the Conservatory.

The hall with almost 1800 seats, with a huge stage for orchestra and choir, still impresses today with its bold size, abundance of light, and artistic decoration, giving it a palace appearance. The impression is enhanced by the portrait gallery in the form of 14 medallion portraits framed by laurel wreaths on the side walls of the hall - the work of academician of painting N.K. Bondarevsky. Classics of Russian and Western European music, including M. Glinka, P. Tchaikovsky, A. Rubinstein. Above the stage is a bas-relief medallion of Nikolai Rubinstein. During the years of the struggle against “rootless cosmopolitanism,” portrait bas-reliefs with dissonant names: Mendelssohn, Handel, Haydn, Gluck were replaced by images of Russian composers: Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Chopin.

But the main advantage of the hall is its acoustics, which was mentioned from the very beginning of these notes, perfect, impeccable, unsurpassed not only in Russian, but also in foreign construction practice. And today this hall is one of the best places in the world for recording concerts, often used for this by foreign musicians.

The pride of the Conservatory is the organ, which, according to experienced musicians, is equivalent in its perfection to the Stradivarius violin. The instrument, which still adorns the Great Hall, was ordered from the prestigious Parisian firm Cavaillé-Col in 1899 by Baron S.P. von Derviz (from the Russified Germans) - a railway magnate, a music lover with a conservatory education, whose children studied with P. Tchaikovsky. The organ was one of the greatest instruments of its time. In Russia, only the organ of the Riga Dome Cathedral was larger than it, but even that was inferior to it in the number of registers. The manufacture, transportation and installation of the organ cost S.P. von Derviz 40 thousand rubles.

The Great Hall organ was not the only gift of this kind. Back in 1886 V.A. Khludov, one of the representatives of the clan of textile entrepreneurs-Old Believers, donated an organ for the Small Hall. This instrument worked at the Conservatory for seventy-three years - first in the old Small Hall, and then in the new one. Now it is in the Museum of Musical Culture.

And if we talk about gifts, there were a lot of them in kind, in monetary terms, and, by the way, very valuable. The architect V. Zagorsky worked, as already mentioned, for free, but also donated the marble steps of the main staircase to the Hall. Brothers Mikhail and Ivan Morozov, patrons of the arts and friends of Nikolai Rubinstein, provided the hall with equipment and furniture at their own expense, and sugar factory owner P.I. Kharitonenko - carpets.

We can summarize: by taking everything from the state 400 thousand R. IN AND. Safonov, calling on patrons for help, erected a complex architectural complex and equipped it with everything necessary, costing over 100,000 rubles. And this in the shortest possible time for that time.

When the Conservatory building was rebuilt, it was planned to erect a monument to N.G. in the middle of the courtyard facing Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street. Rubinstein. But no funds were found to implement it. At V.I. Safonov came up with the idea of ​​creating a museum named after him at the Conservatory; a room was even prepared in the form of a large, bright room next to the library, but it was also not possible to equip it due to lack of funds.

Only in 1912 M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov (professor and then director of the Conservatory in 1909 - 1922) decided that it was still necessary to finally perpetuate the memory of the founder of the Conservatory, at least by creating a Museum named after him. In the same year, a memorial museum for Nikolai Rubinstein was opened in the former office of the founder of the Conservatory. In 1943, on its basis, the extensive Museum of Musical Culture named after. M.I. Glinka (GCMMC) outside the walls of the Conservatory.

During the Soviet years, famous Jews, even baptized ones, were not welcome and in May 1940, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in honor of the centenary of the birth of the composer P.I. Tchaikovsky, gave the Conservatory his name, Nikolai Rubinstein's centenary was just five years earlier.

The same fate befell the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Founded not only on the initiative, but also by significant personal efforts of Anton Rubinstein, it was named in honor of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, who had nothing to do with either its founding or its activities and was even an opponent.

With the fall of the Bolshevik regime, much has changed in approaches to preserving the memory of past years. In 1995, the rebirth of the N.G. Museum took place. Rubinstein, whose exhibits were collected bit by bit in educational buildings, classrooms, concert halls: photographs, picturesque portraits, documents, musical instruments.

P.S. Almost two years have passed. The buildings of the Conservatory have undergone some cosmetic repairs: some things have been patched up, some things have been patched up, but the main building, with its Great Concert Hall, the rarest in the world, continues to deteriorate and collapse. What's next?

According to Russian media reports, the federal target program "Culture of Russia" provides for the allocation of 100 million budget rubles in 2009-2010 for the repair and reconstruction of the complex of buildings of the Conservatory, including the restoration of the Great Hall and its organ. There is also a figure of 2.5 billions of the same budget rubles. But so far these are only projects. And where are the patrons? It is obvious that this species of “Homo sapiens sapines” has become extinct in Moscow of the 21st century.

© Grigory Bokman

Especially for the portal "Russia in Colors"

As a Kommersant correspondent was told at the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Sverdlovsk Region, on June 28 at 8.15 Grigory Rubinshtein left the apartment and went down the stairs to the car that was waiting for him. His wife Olga, as usual, saw her husband off and looked out the window. Concerned that he did not leave the entrance for a long time, she went out into the stairwell and found Grigory Rubinstein lying in a pool of blood. The wounded man was taken to the hospital in an official car. Doctors concluded that the criminal inflicted two rotational blows to Rubinstein in the throat and stomach. Despite two operations, Rubinstein died without regaining consciousness. To assist in the investigation of this crime, the head of the Yekaterinburg RUOP Valery Barabanshchikov was urgently called back from vacation. But law enforcement agencies do not yet have any version of the murder.
According to the deputy of the Sverdlovsk regional department of Sberbank of Russia, Alexander Urevich, the Oktyabrsky branch is the largest of the 58 that are part of the department; its share in the total profit of the regional administration was more than 10%. Grigory Rubinstein himself was a prominent figure in banking circles and was a member of the board of the regional administration of Sberbank. Mr. Urevich noted that Rubinstein made most decisions alone. Many financial transactions were based on it, which even the regional administration did not know about. Perhaps, as Mr. Urevich noted, it was precisely this circumstance that played a fatal role.
In business circles, Grigory Rubinstein had a reputation as a talented financier and a decent person. Some considered him as the main candidate for the place of chairman of the regional management of Sberbank German Tashirov. At the same time, some bankers suggested that Rubinstein was killed by competitors. Alexander Urevich rejected this version, since, according to him, on June 27, Rubinstein openly announced to the department that he was finishing his last month at Sberbank and was leaving. He did not talk about future plans.
According to information received from Ekaterinburg businessmen, Rubinstein maintained smooth business relations with many of them. He treated representatives of criminal circles the same way. Despite a very selective lending policy, the Oktyabrsky Branch has recently experienced difficulties with borrowers repaying loans. Therefore, as some businessmen believe, Rubinstein could have been killed because he did not want to finance a dubious investment project (they refused to talk about its essence).
Kommersant will return to this topic after new details emerge in the case.
CRIME DEPARTMENT

Rubinstein Anton Grigorievich
Born: November 16 (28), 1829.
Died: November 8 (20), 1894.

Biography

Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein (November 16 (28), 1829, Vykhvatinets, Podolsk province - November 8 (20), 1894, Peterhof) - Russian composer, pianist, conductor, music teacher. Brother of pianist Nikolai Rubinstein.

As a pianist, Rubinstein ranks among the greatest exponents of piano performance of all time. He is also the founder of professional music education in Russia. Through his efforts, the first Russian conservatory was opened in 1862 in St. Petersburg. Among his students is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. A number of works he created took pride of place among the classic examples of Russian musical art.

Inexhaustible energy allowed Rubinstein to successfully combine active performing, composing, teaching and musical educational activities.

Anton Rubinstein was born in the Transnistrian village of Vykhvatinets, Podolsk province (now Vykhvatintsy, Rybnitsa region of the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic), the third son in a wealthy Jewish family. Rubinstein's father - Grigory Romanovich (Ruvenovich) Rubinstein(1807-1846) - came from Berdichev, from his youth, together with his brothers Emmanuel, Abram and half-brother Konstantin, he was engaged in renting land in the Bessarabia region and by the time of the birth of his second son Yakov (future doctor, 1827 - September 30, 1863) was a merchant of the second guild . Mother - Kaleria Khristoforovna Rubinstein (nee Clara Lowenstein or Levinstein, 1807 - September 15, 1891, Odessa) - musician, came from Prussian Silesia (Breslau, the family later moved to Warsaw). The younger sister of A. G. Rubinstein - Lyubov Grigorievna Weinberg (1833-1903), a piano teacher in K. F. von Lagler's music classes - was married to an Odessa lawyer, collegiate secretary Yakov Isaevich Weinberg, the brother of writers Pyotr Weinberg and Pavel Weinberg. Another sister, Sofia Grigorievna Rubinstein (1841 - January 1919), became a chamber singer and music teacher.

On July 25, 1831, 35 members of the Rubinstein family, starting with their grandfather, the merchant Ruven Rubinstein from Zhitomir, converted to Orthodoxy in St. Nicholas Church in Berdichev. The impetus for baptism, according to the later recollections of the composer’s mother, was the Decree of Emperor Nicholas I on the conscription of children for 25 years of military service by cantonists in the proportion of 7 for every 1000 Jewish children (1827). The laws of the Pale of Settlement ceased to apply to the family, and a year later (according to other sources in 1834), the Rubinsteins settled in Moscow, where their father opened a small pencil and pin factory. Around 1834, the father purchased a house on Ordynka, in Tolmachevy Lane, where his youngest son Nikolai was born.

Rubinstein received his first piano lessons from his mother, and at the age of seven he became a student of the French pianist A. I. Villuan. Already in 1839, Rubinstein performed in public for the first time, and soon, accompanied by Villuan, he went on a large concert tour of Europe. He played in Paris, where he met Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt, and in London he was warmly received by Queen Victoria. On the way back, Willuan and Rubinstein visited Norway, Sweden, Germany and Austria with concerts.

After spending some time in Russia, in 1844 Rubinstein, together with his mother and younger brother Nikolai, went to Berlin, where he began to study music theory under the guidance of Siegfried Dehn, from whom Mikhail Glinka had taken lessons several years earlier. In Berlin, Rubinstein's creative contacts with Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer were formed.

In 1846, his father dies, and his mother and Nikolai return to Russia, and Anton moves to Vienna, where he makes a living by giving private lessons. Upon returning to Russia in the winter of 1849, thanks to the patronage of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, Rubinstein was able to settle in St. Petersburg and engage in creative work: conducting and composition. He also often performs as a pianist at court, having great success with members of the imperial family and personally with Emperor Nicholas I. In St. Petersburg, Rubinstein met composers M. I. Glinka and A. S. Dargomyzhsky, cellists M. Yu. Vielgorsky and K. B. Schubert and other major Russian musicians of that time. In 1850 Rubinstein made his debut as a conductor, in 1852 his first major opera “Dmitry Donskoy” appeared, then he wrote three one-act operas based on the subjects of the nationalities of Russia: “Revenge” (“Hadji-Abrek”), “Siberian Hunters”, “Fomka” -fool." His first projects to organize a music academy in St. Petersburg date back to the same time, which, however, were not destined to come to fruition.

In 1854, Rubinstein again went abroad. In Weimar, he meets Franz Liszt, who speaks approvingly of Rubinstein as a pianist and composer and helps stage the opera “Siberian Hunters.” On December 14, 1854, Rubinstein gave a solo concert in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, which was a resounding success and marked the beginning of a long concert tour: the pianist subsequently performed in Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, Hamburg, Nice, Paris, London, Budapest, Prague and many others. European cities. In May 1855, Rubinstein’s article “Russian Composers” was published in one of the Viennese music magazines, which was disapprovingly received by the Russian musical community.

In the summer of 1858, Rubinstein returned to Russia, where, with the financial support of Elena Pavlovna, in 1859 he sought to establish the Russian Musical Society, in whose concerts he himself acted as a conductor (the first symphony concert under his direction was held on September 23, 1859). Rubinstein also continues to actively perform abroad and takes part in a festival dedicated to the memory of G. F. Handel. The following year, music classes were opened at the Society, which in 1862 were transformed into the first Russian conservatory. Rubinstein became its first director, conductor of the orchestra and choir, and professor of piano and instrumentation (among his students was P.I. Tchaikovsky).

Inexhaustible energy allowed Rubinstein to successfully combine this work with active performing, composing and musical educational activities. Every year visiting abroad, he meets Ivan Turgenev, Pauline Viardot, Hector Berlioz, Clara Schumann, Niels Gade and other artists.

Rubinstein’s activities did not always find understanding: many Russian musicians, among whom were members of the “Mighty Handful” led by M. A. Balakirev and A. N. Serov, were afraid of the excessive “academicism” of the conservatory and did not consider its role important in the formation of Russian musical schools. Court circles were also opposed to Rubinstein, a conflict with which forced him to resign as director of the conservatory in 1867. Rubinstein continued to give concerts (including with his own compositions), enjoying enormous success, and at the turn of the 1860s - 70s he became close to the “kuchkists”. The year 1871 was marked by the appearance of Rubinstein’s largest work, the opera “The Demon,” which was banned by censorship and first staged only four years later.

In the 1871-1872 season, Rubinstein led concerts of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, where he conducted, among other works, Liszt's oratorio "Christ" in the presence of the author (it is noteworthy that the organ part was performed by Anton Bruckner). The following year, Rubinstein made a triumphant tour in the United States together with violinist Henryk Wieniawski.

Returning to Russia in 1874, Rubinstein settled in his villa in Peterhof, taking up composition and conducting. The Fourth and Fifth symphonies, the operas “The Maccabees” and “Merchant Kalashnikov” (the latter was banned by censorship a few days after the premiere) belong to this period of the composer’s work. In the 1882-1883 season, he again took the helm of the symphony concerts of the Russian Musical Society, and in 1887 he again headed the Conservatory. In 1885-1886 he gave a series of “Historical Concerts” in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, Berlin, London, Paris, Leipzig, Dresden and Brussels, performing almost the entire existing solo piano repertoire from Couperin to contemporary Russian composers.

Rubinstein died on November 20, 1894 in Peterhof and was buried in the Nikolskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, later reburied in the Necropolis of Masters of Arts.

Charity

As critic A.V. Ossovsky writes, “Rubinstein’s monetary generosity is remarkable; according to a rough calculation, he donated about 300,000 rubles for various good deeds, not counting free participation in concerts in favor of all kinds of students whom A.G. always patronized, and not taking into account those distributions that no one saw or counted "

Memory

The Higher College of Music in Tiraspol, as well as the former Troitskaya Street in St. Petersburg, where the composer lived from 1887 to 1891, are named after Rubinstein.
There is a museum in the village of Vykhvatintsy, Rybnitsa district of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. And the museum has a corner in memory of Rubinstein.
In Peterhof, the city of the composer's last days, a street and a music school are named after him.
There is a memorial plaque installed on the house at 38 Troitskaya Street in St. Petersburg.

Essays

Among Rubinstein's works there are 5 spiritual operas (oratorios):
"Lost heaven"
"Tower of Babel"
"Moses"
“Christ” (until 2011 it was considered irretrievably lost)
one biblical scene in 5 paintings - “Shulamith”,
13 operas:
“Dmitry Donskoy” (1849; based on the tragedy by V. A. Ozerov, staged in 1852 - Bolshoi Theater, St. Petersburg).
"The Demon" (1875).
"Merchant Kalashnikov" (1880).
"Nero" (1877).
"Parrot".
"Siberian Hunters, or the Fortieth Bear" (in German).
"Feramors" (1862).
"Hadji Abrek".
"Fomka the Fool."
"Children of the steppes".
"The Maccabees" (1875).
"Among the Robbers"
"Goryusha" (1889).

Ballet "The Vine"

Six symphonies (the most famous is the Second with the program title “Ocean”), five piano concertos, concertos for cello, violin and orchestra, more than 100 romances, as well as sonatas, trios, quartets and other chamber music.

Theme with variations Among the literary works are diary entries under the general title “The Box of Thoughts,” which first saw the light only ten years after the death of the author.