Description of the attraction
The Vielgorskys' house, originally in Moscow and later in St. Petersburg, was a famous and beloved musical and cultural center of the city. Its owners are nobles, the Vielgorsky brothers, heirs of a huge fortune, patrons of the arts and patrons of young talents. Count Mikhail Vielgorsky is a politician and public figure, a well-educated musician and composer who did not become a professional, since he was in the civil service. His brother, Matvey, played excellent cello and was a co-founder of the Russian Musical Society.
The Vielgorsky brothers played a huge role in the development and popularization of musical culture in the early 19th century. They were the most famous educators in St. Petersburg and in Europe as well. Mikhail played the piano masterly and wrote about 100 pieces of music: cantatas, romances, two symphonies, oratorios, an opera based on poems by A. S. Pushkin's "Gypsies".
Matvey organized the first St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. Their friends - poets, musicians, writers - with great pleasure visited the salon of the Vielgorsky brothers, calling it a "multilateral academy of arts", since not only true admirers of music, creators who held the premieres of their opuses, but also successfully passed literary readings …
For the first time in the Vielgorskys' house F. Liszt played Ruslana and Lyudmila from the score (sheet). The poet D. Venevitinov called the Vielgorsky house “the Academy of Musical Taste”, and G. Berlioz, who came to Russia, called “a small temple of fine arts”.
In the fall of 1844, the Vielgorskys moved to Mikhailovskaya Square in house number 4, the former house of the tobacco industrialist Zhukov, located at the corner of Arts Square. The first owner of the yard, Colonel Lancry, sold it to Prince Dolgorukov, who in 1830 began building a large building. The house was built under the direction of the architect A. Bolotov.
In appearance, the house is similar to that located on the other side of the square, opposite to it, the house of Jacot. The designs of the facades of both houses were developed by K. Rossi. According to the plan of K. Rossi, in the center of the building from the facade there was a passage to the courtyard from the side of the square, and on either side of it there were two main entrances. To date, the entrances from the side of the square have been removed; instead, the entrance from Italyanskaya Street, which was absent in Rossi's project, has been made. The perimeter building of the square, characteristic of the 19th century, was supplemented in the middle of the century by the construction of separate outbuildings for the courtyard.
In a spacious new house she rented an apartment of Karamzin, there was A. Smirnova's salon, the poet A. Tolstoy lived, then the Vielgorskys bought the 2 lower floors, and eventually the entire building. In the mezzanine of the mansion, they arranged a concert hall and living rooms facing the square. M. Glinka took an active part in musical evenings at the Vielgorskys' house in the 1840s. The Vielgorskys had eminent guests: V. Zhukovsky, N. Gogol, K. Bryullov, P. Vyazemsky and many others. Foreign celebrities who come to Russia first of all performed in the Vielgorskys' house. The walls of this house remember the play of G. Berlioz, F. Liszt, R. Schumann, J. Rubini. Mikhail Vielgorsky personally knew F. Chopin, G. Goethe, A. Pushkin, Mendelssohn, A. Griboyedov, F. Tyutchev. His brother, Matvey, has amassed a rich collection of stringed instruments; among the exhibits of this rare collection there were even five Stradivarius instruments.
In 1993, some part of the Vielgorskys' house was transferred to the Russian gymnasium at the State Russian Museum. Now, in this famous house, young gymnasium students are taught the basics of music, painting, science and art.
