Evstignei Fomin

Fomin, Evstignei Ipatovich 

Born Aug. 5 (16), 1761, in St. Petersburg; died there late April (Old Style) 1800. Russian composer.

Fomin attended the Educational School of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where from 1776 he studied composition with H. Raupach and F. Sartori. In 1782 he undertook further study with G. B. Martini and S. Mattei at the Bologna Philharmonic Academy, becoming a member of the academy in 1785. In 1786, Fomin returned to St. Petersburg.

Fomin was the most important Russian composer of the late 18th century and one of the creators of the Russian opera. His opera Coachmen at the Relay (or Unexpected Play; 1787, text by N. A. L’vov) is strongly national in character. The melodrama Orpheus (1792, staged in 1800; libretto by la. B. Kniazhnin) attains the level of high tragedy. His comic operas include The Americans (1788; staged 1800), The Golden Apple (staged 1803), and Boyeslav, the Hero of Novgorod (1786). Fomin also composed choruses for V. A. Ozerov’s tragedy laropolk and Oleg (1798).

REFERENCES

Finagin, A. V. “Evst. Fomin: Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo.” In the collection Muzyka i muzykal’nyi byt staroi Rosii, vol. 1. Leningrad, 1927.
Fesechko, G. V. “Novye materialy o kompozitorakh P. A. Skokove i E. I. Fomine.” In Myzykal’noe nasledstvo, vol. 2, part 1. Moscow, 1966.
Dobrokhotov, B. Evstignei Fomin. Moscow, 1968.