Catterino Cavos (redirected from Catterino Al'bertovich Cavos)

Cavos, Catterino 

(Katerino Al’bertovich Kavos). Born Oct. 30, 1775, in Venice; died Apr. 28 (May 10), 1840, in St. Petersburg. Russian composer, conductor, and teacher. Italian by birth.

A student of F. Bianchi, Cavos was a conductor and composer of ballets in Padua. Beginning in 1799 he worked in St. Petersburg, initially at the Italian Opera, then from 1806 to 1821 at the Russian Opera. In 1832 he became music director of the imperial theaters. He composed many operas, among them The Invisible Prince (1805), IVia the Bogatyr’ (1807), and Ivan Susanin (1815). He also composed ballets, whose themes he took from classical mythology, medieval poetry, and the works of Pushkin and which were staged by the choreographer C. Didelot. These included Zéphyre et Flore (1808), Laura and Henry, or the Troubadour (1819), and The Prisoner of the Caucasus (1823). Cavos’ activities furthered the development of the Russian opera and ballet theater. Many outstanding singers were his students.

REFERENCE

Grachev, P. V. “K. A. Kavos.” In Ocherki po istorii russkoi muzyki, 1790–1825. Leningrad, 1956.