Alexandr Ivanovich Villoing born 12.3.1808 St. Petersburg died 2.9.1878 St.Petersburg
He was the son of French immigrants. He studied under John Field and Franz Xaver Gebel. He moved to Moscow and quickly acquired an outstanding reputation as a piano teacher. The Rubinstein brothers were among his pupils. His piano concerto in C minor was the first composed by a Russian composer. Anton Rubinstein thought so much of it he took it with him on a tour of Europe.
Orchestral
Piano Concerto in C minor Op.4
Piano Concerto in A minor
Violin Concerto
I have been unable to trace the second piano concerto or the violin concerto.
Villoing had a nephew Vasily Yuleyvitch Villoing 1850-1922 who composed
Are there any recordings of any of his works?
I see that his nephew, Vasilii Villoing (or Villoine? - 1850-1922) was a violinist, pianist, composer, conductor, teacher, music and public figure in Nizhny Novgorod, one of Russia's more important secondary cities - https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Виллуан,_Василий_Юльевич (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B0%D0%BD,_%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%AE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87)
I don't know of any. If the second concerto could be located there is a good chance for them to be recorded.
Quote from: giles.enders on Thursday 25 May 2017, 11:47
I don't know of any. If the second concerto could be located there is a good chance for them to be recorded.
How so Giles? Are there indications it could be worth it?
The solo piano part* of the Op.4 concerto is @ IMSLP... (in a 1870s edition it seems but first published in the 1820s, allegedly**), but it would still be good to have more thorough research: are we quite sure it was the first piano concerto (or concertante work?...) by a Russian composer, and not something by someone earlier still even if slightly...
*Alone, right now; no orchestral parts.
**Ok, published in the 1820s- but when is it believed to have been composed? That's the statement being made, if "first piano concerto composed" is the thing at issue.
RSL has a few other works, some downloadable, (library http://rsl.ru) by one or another of the Villoings:
Нормандский обычай : романс : для женского голоса с диапазоном (для альта) by Vasily Villoing (a song, his Op.18 No.4)
Продолжен жизни путь (continue the path of life, for mezzo) by Vasily Villoing (Villuana)
Есть роза дивная (There was a marvelous rose, after Pushkin) (op.21/3, Vasily Villoing)
Школа для фортепиано (Aleksandr Villoing's school for piano)
Баллада о Горном царе : на текст из драмы Ибсена "Праздник в Сольгаугль" (Vasily Villoing's music for a song from Ibsen's Ballad of the Mountain King)
Couple of others. I don't see the concertos though (the part @ IMSLP is from a German library, not RSL @ Moscow.)
Looking at what is available on ISMLP it could be worth it if the other concerto or even the violin concerto could be found. Additionally it has curiosity value which always guarantees some sales.
I have posted most of the information that I have. If a Russian speaker could translate the snippets that Eschis1 has posted that might help.
I was able to use Google Translate to partially translate some of them as it was, though not -well- (but sorry about that.)
Quote from: giles.enders on Saturday 27 May 2017, 10:25
If a Russian speaker could translate the snippets that Eschis1 has posted that might help.
Eschiss's translations are pretty much correct!
Giles - I was just wondering why you had focused on this particular composer's unrecorded works given that there many 19th century Russian composers whose works have never been recorded. Senilov, Kalafati, Alferaki, Kochetov, Gorelov, Suk (no, not that one), d'Osten-Sacken....I could go on...!
Simple. The Piano Concertos! it's my 'thing'
You are more than welcome to do profiles about those you mention. Once topics are posted on this site, it does seem that it raises awareness about the composers elsewhere.
Fairly sure there already is a topic here about Vasily Pavlovich Kalafati, for instance (teacher of Stravinsky, Jacobo Ficher (who was also a Maximilian Steinberg student) and others...)
Quote from: eschiss1 on Tuesday 30 May 2017, 15:22
Fairly sure there already is a topic here about Vasily Pavlovich Kalafati, for instance (teacher of Stravinsky, Jacobo Ficher (who was also a Maximilian Steinberg student) and others...)
Yes I'm curious about him too but only because he won a prize (or THE prize?) at the 1928 International Schubert Competition in Vienna for his symphonic poem Legenda.
And because wikipedia describes him as "
one of the most important composers in Russia during his lifetime" without saying why. And because the same source says that he "
composed in a style which resembled that of Rimsky-Korsakov" which means I will almost certainly like him!
But sorry we are stealing thunder from Villoing....
Feel free to edit that first one out of the article. At best, it's a quote from some other source, which needs quoting.