Identifier: moderncomposerso00elso (find matches)
Title: Modern composers of Europe : being an account of the most recent musical progress in the various European nations, with some notes on their history, and critical and biographical sketches of the contemporary musical leaders in each country
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Elson, Arthur, 1873-1940
Subjects: Composers
Publisher: Boston : L.C. Page
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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de, andcoworker of Balakireff, was born at Vilna on Jan-uary 6, 1835. He was the son of a French soldier,Antoine Cui, who settled in Russia after Napoleonsdefeat and proved himself a man of intellect andan excellent French teacher. Cesar Cui, like hisfather, followed a military career, and graduatedfrom the Engineers School in St. Petersburg. He isat present a major-general, and professor of fortifi-cation in the military schools of the capital. Withsuch a responsible position, his love of* music mustcertainly have been sincere, or he would never havetaken the time for his many efforts in compositionand criticism. After some lessons with Hermann and Dio, hebecame a pupil of the celebrated Polish composerMoniuszko, but it was really Balakireff who arousedhis enthusiasm for the art, and caused him to studyfurther by himself. His first opera, The Pris-oner of the Caucasus/ based on an early poem ofPushkin, was not given until 1883, long after his William Ratcliff and Angelo had appeared.
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C£SAR ANTONOVITCH CUI. THE NATIONAL RUSSIANS 253 Ratcliff is based on Heines tragedy, while An-gelo, the composers favourite, is modelled afterVictor Hugos drama. Le Filibustier was writ-ten for France, to a libretto based on Jean Riche-pins work, while The Saracen is founded on Charles VII. chez ses Grands Vassaux, byDumas. It seems somewhat strange to find Cui,the literary champion of the Russian school, choos-ing so many subjects from foreign countries. Noneof his operas has met with real success, and evenhis own fellow countrymen accuse him of lackingmelodic originality. There is no plagiarism in hisworks, but the themes are merely echoes of previouscomposers, and not radically new or interesting.His other works include songs, piano pieces, cho-ruses, orchestral scherzos, symphonies, and the comicopera The Mandarins Son. The theories of the new_Russians bear a singularresemblance to those of Wagner. Like him, thesecomposers revolted against the inanities of the oldItalian opera,

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