Osip Antonovich Kozlovskii

Kozlovskii, Osip Antonovich 

(also Józef Kozlowski). Born 1757, in Warsaw; died Feb. 27 (Mar. 11), 1831, in St. Petersburg. Russian composer; figure in the music world. Came from a family of the Polish (according to some sources, Byelorussian) dvorianstvo (nobility or gentry).

Kozlovskii received his musical education in Warsaw. From 1791 he lived in St. Petersburg. He worked for the imperial theaters in St. Petersburg as inspector of music from 1799 and as music director (head of the department of music) from 1803 to 1819. Among Kozlovskii’s most important work is music for the plays of V. A. Ozerov (including the tragedy Fingal) and those of A. A. Shakhovskoi. Kozlovskii’s numerous polonaises were popular (most of them written for chorus and orchestra), especially Let the Thunder of Victory Resound (lyrics by G. R. Derzhavin). His art songs entitled Songs of Russia (the 1790’s) were an important landmark in the history of the development of Russian vocal lyrics.

REFERENCES

Asaf’ev, B. V. “Pamiatka o Kozlovskom.” In Muzyka i muzykal’nyi byt staroi Rossi. Leningrad, 1927.
Grachev, P. V. “O. A. Kozlovskii.” In Ocherkipo istorii russkoi muzyki, 1790–1825. Leningrad, 1956.
Levasheva, O. E. “Pesni Kozlovskogo.” In Russko-pol’skie muzykal’nye sviazi. Moscow, 1963.