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Personalities | Alexander Dargomïzhsky | Late Romantic | Classical

(Al-yek-san-der Där-go-mezh’-ke) 1813–69
Russian composer

From a landowning background, Dargomïzhsky was renowned in the salons of St Petersburg as a performer and composer, while pursuing a civil service career. Emulating the example of his contemporary Glinka, Dargomïzhsky followed his first opera Esmeralda (1839) with two works of overtly Russian character based on Pushkin, Rusalka (1856) and The Stone Guest (completed in 1870 by Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov). The exploration of speech inflection and realism in this last work had a profound influence on ‘The Five’, notably on Mussorgsky’s The Marriage (1868), based on Gogol, only one act of which was completed due to criticism of its radical style.

Recommended Recording:
The Stone Guest, soloists, Bolshoi Theatre Chorus and Orchestra (cond) Andre Tchistyakov (Chant du Monde)

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

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