Editing Maxim Berezovsky (section)

==Biography==
A lack of documentary evidence meant that little was known about Maxim Sozontovich Berezovsky until the 21st century. During the 1830s and 1840s, the librarians of the [[St. Petersburg State Academic Capella]] compiled details about his life and work. They had access to the composer's own scores and notes, but relied on anecdotal information from others who remembered him. The earliest writers to produce short biographies of Berezovsky were the German historiographer {{Ill|Jacob von Stehlin|ru|Штелин, Якоб}}, the [[antiquary]] and book collector [[Eugene Bolkhovitinov]], and the Russian poet and translator Nikolai Dmitrievich Gorchakov.{{sfn|Lebedeva-Emelina |2017}} Bolkhovitinov's unsubstantiated biography, written decades after Berezovsky's death, was used by later writers as the main source of information about the composer.{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}} Unconfirmed details still included in modern biographies include that he was a victim of his circumstances who was driven to suicide, either by debt or the lack of recognition of his creative genius.{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}}

===Early life===
Berezovsky's father may have belonged to the [[petty nobility]]. Contemporary descendants of a brother, Pavel, associate the family's origins with the [[Cossacks]]. The family's [[coat of arms]] has also been preserved, testifying to its Polish origins.{{sfn|Ritzarev|1983|p=14}}

[[File:1769 map of Poland and Russia in Europe (Facius) 1.jpg|thumb|A part of a map, produced in 1769 by Johann Gottlieb Facius. [[Kyiv]] (labelled "Kiow") and [[Hlukhiv]] ("Gluchow") are shown on the left and right sides respectively.|upright=1.5]]
Berezovsky's place of birth, father's name, and supposed period as a scholar at the [[Kyiv-Mohyla Academy]] in [[Kyiv]], are known only from verbal accounts, and so are not known for certain.<ref name="Yur" />&nbsp;Once-accepted aspects of his life story originate from a largely fictional play by Peter Smirnov, written in 1841, as well as from a novel written in 1844 by the Russian writer [[Nestor Kukolnik]].{{sfn|Ritzarev|2006|p=3}}

It was in the past believed that Berezovsky was born on {{OldStyleDate|27 April|1745|16 April}}, as recalled by a teacher in the Capella in Saint Petersburg. Other 19th-century sources cite different years: 1743, 1742, and even 1725.{{sfn|Ritzarev|1983|p=13}} Since being stated by an encyclopedic dictionary, published in 1836, that Berezovsky was born in around 1745, this year has become the accepted year of his birth. The month and the day of his birth appeared in works by {{Ill|Mikhail Lebedev (writer)|lt=Mikhail Lebedev|ru|Лебедев, Михаил Николаевич (писатель)}} and {{Ill|lt=Mikhail Solovyov|Mikhail Solovyov (writer)|ru|Соловьёв, Михаил Фёдорович}} respectively. It is unclear where their information originated from.{{sfn|Karabits|2021|p=16}}

Berezovsky's birthplace is unknown for certain, but according to many sources was [[Hlukhiv|Glukhov]], at that time the main residence of the [[Hetman of Zaporizhian Host]].{{sfn|Jaffé|2012|p=60}} During the 18th century, Glukhov served as the capital of the [[Cossack Hetmanate]] and the administrative centre of the [[Little Russia Governorate (1764–1781)|Little Russia Governorate]].<ref name="Rud" />

===Education in Glukhov and Kiev===
During the 18th century, as choirs arose in Ukrainian churches, monasteries and schools, composers and singers raised choral music to a high artistic and professional level.{{sfn|Korniy|1998|pp=14{{ndash}}15}} In contrast to the Italian practice of employing [[castrati]], the all-male Capella used [[boy soprano]]s. Ukraine became known as a place to recruit boys with excellent singing voices, and from the 1730s, Russian nobles brought talented youngsters from the region with them to perform at the Capella.{{sfn|Stites|2008|p=97}} From 1738, the {{Ill|Glukhov Singing School|ru|Глуховская школа пения и инструментальной музыки}} was used by the Capella to provide boys with their initial training, before those that were selected were coached as singers at the court in Saint Petersburg.{{sfn|Korniy|1998|p=194}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hlukhiv Singing School |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CL%5CHlukhivSingingSchool.htm |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com}}</ref> When their voices changed, those with the best voices were then trained as adult singers, and freed if they were [[serf]]s. Those not selected generally found work as government employees, or [[chorister]]s in monasteries.{{sfn|Stites|2008|p=97}}

Berezovsky is generally considered to have been a boy chorister at the school in Glukhov.{{sfn|Ritzarev|2006|p=105}} His name does not appear in surviving documents of this institution, but as it was the only one in the [[Russian Empire]] that trained singers for the Imperial Court Choir, it is likely that he was educated there,{{sfn|Ritzarev|1983|p=14}} as were other composers such as [[Artemy Vedel]], [[Hryhorii Skovoroda]], and {{Ill|Gavrilo Rachinsky|uk|Рачинський Гаврило Андрійович}}.{{sfn|Korniy|1998|p=381}} He may have composed three- and four-part [[motets]] as a boy.{{sfn|Kuzma|2001}}

It was asserted by some 19th-century sources that Berezovsky received part of his education at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, but when the academy's documents were made public at the start of the 20th century, Berezovsky's name was not found amongst any of the student lists.{{sfn|Ritzarev|1983|p=15}} There is no documentary confirmation of Berezovsky attending the academy.{{sfn|Karabits|2021|p=17}}

===Oranienbaum, and Saint Petersburg===
[[File:Внуков по рисунку Махаева - Проспект Большого дворца в Ораниенбауме.jpg|thumb| ''Prospect of the Grand Palace in Oranienbaum'', based on a drawing by {{Ill|Mikhail Makhaev|ru|Махаев, Михаил Иванович}} (1750s), [[Hermitage Museum]]|upright=1.8]]
On 29 June 1758, Berezovsky was accepted as a singer into the capella of the future [[Paul I of Russia]],<ref name="Yur">{{cite web |last1=Yurchenko |first1=Mstyslav |title=Maksym Berezovsky: Ukrainian Sacred Music (Volume 1) |url=https://claudiorecords.com/product/cb4730_berezovsky/ |publisher=Claudio Records |access-date=12 October 2023 |format=CD notes}}</ref> in [[Oranienbaum, Russia|Oranienbaum]], near Saint Petersburg. There he sang in Italian operas and his name appears in printed [[libretto]]s of the operas {{lang|it|Alessandro nell'Indie}} (1759) by [[Francesco Araja]] (when he played the role of Poro) and {{lang|it|La Semiramide riconosciuta}} (1760) by [[Vincenzo Manfredini]] (when he portrayed Ircano).{{sfn|Shumilina|2015|p=78}}{{sfn|Kuzma|2001}}{{refn|1=Berezovsky's date of birth was calculated by whether his voice had broken by 1757. There was once doubt as to whether the roles he sang were for a soprano or a tenor.{{sfn|Kuzma|2001}}|group=note}} Some 1756 salary receipts are preserved, signed by "Beresevsky", that confirm that he was a paid as an opera singer at the Oranienbaum.{{sfn|Karabits|2021|pp=17, 23}}

The future governor of Little Russia, [[Pyotr Rumyantsev]], brought the 13-year-old Berezovsky to the royal court.<ref name="Rud" /> He was employed at the court for 19 years, as an opera singer (until 1765), a musician in the orchestra (from 1766) and a composer (from 1774).{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}} In 1762, he became a singer of the Italian [[Saint Petersburg Court Capella]]. He was taught to compose and play the harpsichord by the Italian conductor Francesco Tsoppis,<ref name="Rud" /><ref name="Leb">{{cite web |last1=Lebedeva-Emelina |first1=A. V. |title=Berezovsky |url=https://www.pravenc.ru/text/78130.html |website=Orthodox Encyclopedia |access-date=10 October 2023 |volume=4 |pages=650{{ndash}}652 |date=2009}}</ref> and was taught composing by the Italian composer [[Baldassare Galuppi]].{{sfn|Ritzarev|2006|p=109}} Berezovsky surprised Tsoppis when he created a series of well-written choral concerts.<ref name="Rud" /> With [[Dmitry Bortniansky]], he took part in a performance of [[Hermann Raupach]]'s&nbsp;''Alceste'' in Saint Petersburg.<ref name="Tar" />

During the 1760s, Berezovsky was a court staff-musician and composed [[concerto]]s for church choirs.{{sfn|Jaffé|2012|p=60}} Influenced by the sacred concertos created by Italians at court, Berezovsky's new music in the Italian style was well received.<ref name="Yur" /> He no longer sang as a principal after Catherine II became empress in&nbsp;1762, perhaps because of his age, or because Russian musicians lost favour at court during her rule.{{sfn|Kuzma|2001}}

====Married life====
In 1763, at the age of 18, Berezovsky married a girl he had known since his days at Oranienbaum, a court ballerina named Franzina Uberscher,{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}} who was the daughter of one of the court orchestra's [[Horn (instrument)|horn]] players.<ref name="Rud" /> Berezovsky belonged to the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and Franzina was a [[Roman Catholic]], so permission had to be sought for the marriage. Having worked for 11 years as a dancer in the court theatre, in 1774, she was dismissed due to her age.<ref name="Rud" />

According to the conductor musicologist {{Ill|Mstyslav Yurchenko|uk|Юрченко Мстислав Сергійович}}, Berezovsky had another wife named Nadiya Matviivna, but the Ukrainian musicologist Olga Shumilina asserts that Franzina changed her name when she married into the Orthodox Church.{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}}

It is not known for certain why, shortly after Berezovsky's death, a court employee received a payment from the imperial treasury that would normally have been given to his wife, who was still alive.<ref name="Pry" /> A year after her husband's death, Nadiya Matviivna, left without means of subsistence, died in poverty. The death certificate, dated 1 January 1778, named her as the wife of Berezovsky, a chamber orchestra musician.{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}}

===First Italian trip===
[[File:St. Petersburg State Academic Capella record of the "status of theatre employees".jpg|thumb|The record of Berezovky's position as a court composer in Saint Petersburg]]

It is unclear exactly when or how often Berezovsky went to Italy, but there is evidence he may travelled there more than once. An imperial document exists concerning two passports issued on 26 August 1764 to persons from Little Russia sent to Italy at the private expense of [[Kirill Razumovsky]], the last [[Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host]]. One of the passports is thought to have been for Berezovsky.{{sfn|Karabits|2021|p=17}} Razumovsky had taken him from Glukhov to St. Petersburg in late 1757. He acted as his mentor, and assisted him financially. The passport document read: "In Little Russia to Kiev to the Little Russian nobleman Maxim Berezevsky and the merchant Ivan Konstantinov, sent by His Eminence Hetman Count Razumovsky to Italy". The indication that Berezovsky was a nobleman reveals that he probably had certain privileges, and a good salary. Shumilina states that the passport may not have been for Berezovsky, as the name "Beresevsky" is not the same as "Berezovsky".{{sfn|Shumilina|2019}}

After his return from Italy, Berezovsky was hired as the deputy director of the Capella, with an annual salary of 500 [[ruble]]s. His duties included writing operatic ballet music. This position is shown in a list of theatre employees that was made in 1766.{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}} His sacred choral concerts was performed in August 1766 in the [[Amber Room]] of the [[Tsarskoye Selo]] Palace in the presence of Catherine II. Five more concerts were written during the next two years and were praised by Italian musicians (including Galuppi) and courtiers alike.{{sfn|Shumilina|2019}}

===Return to Italy===
[[File:Padre Martini 1.jpg|thumb|Giovanni Battista Martini, Berezovsky's instructor at the Bologna Academy of Music]]
In 1769, Berezovsky, by then in his late twenties, made a return trip to Italy. He travelled first to Vienna, as a courier to the ambassador [[Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn the Younger|Dmytro Golitsyn]], as stated in a border crossing document dated 26 May. From there he went to [[Bologna]].{{sfn|Shumilina|2019}} There he studied with the composer [[Giovanni Battista Martini]] at the [[Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna]].{{sfn|Jaffé|2012|p=60}}{{sfn|Shumilina|2015|pp=80{{ndash}}81}} He stayed in Italy until 1773.{{sfn|Shulgina|2020|p=171}}

Berezovsky did not have the necessary letter of introduction for Martini. The letter was sent to Martini in February 1770 by the director of the Russian imperial theatres, [[Ivan Yelagin]], by which time Berezovsky was already in Bologna and had begun classes. Shumilina has proposed that the appearance of Berezovsky in Italy (at a time when Russia and the [[Ottoman Empire]] were at war) was not initially so that he could be taught by Martini, and that the Russian authorities used Berezovsky's tuition as a cover, so that he could act as a government agent.{{sfn|Shumilina|2019}}

In May 1771, Berezovsky formally requested to be allowed to take the graduation exam:{{sfn|Shumilina|2015|p=81}}{{refn|1="{{lang|it|15 Maggio 1771. Illustrimo Signor Principe e Accademici filarmonici...Massimo Beresovskoy detto Russo desiderando di essere aggregato in gualetà di Compositore e Maestro di Capella dell'Accademia Celeberrima de filarmonici, suplica in Signor Principe, et Accademia de filarmonici di ameterlo all esperimento, ad aggregazione dell'Accademia. Che della grazia qua deus.|italics=no}}"{{sfn|Shumilina|2015|p=81}}|group=note}}

{{Blockquote|text=May 15, 1771: Venerable Signor President and Professors of the Academy. Maxim Berezovsky, nicknamed The Russian, wishing to be admitted to the ranks of composers and conductors of the most famous Philharmonic Academy, asks the Signor President and members of the Philharmonic Academy to admit him to the exam for admission to the Academy. To the glory of the Lord.|author=Maxim Berezovsky}}

Along with fellow graduate [[Josef Mysliveček]],{{refn|1=By 1771, Josef Mysliveček had composed nine operas, more than 30 symphonies and [[overture]]s, three concerts, and many other chamber works.{{sfn|Karabits|2021|p=18}}|group=note}} Berezowsky had to compose a [[polyphonic]] work on a given theme. This was a similar exam to the one given to the 14-year-old [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] a year earlier.{{sfn|Jaffé|2012|p=60}} Academicians gathered to test the applicants, who assessed the candidates' examination pieces by secret ballot, using white and black balls to vote that the required standard had been reached.&nbsp;Unusually, both Mysliveček and Berezovsky received only white balls—which signified a positive vote—and so both became academicians. This brought them financial and social benefits.<ref name="keldysh1966"/><ref name="Per">{{cite news |last1=Perebijnis |first1=Olga |title=Йозеф Мислівечек та Максим Березовський: чех та українець, які підкорили музичну Італію |url=https://www.istpravda.com.ua/articles/2021/05/15/159491/ |access-date=13 October 2023 |work=[[Istorychna Pravda]] |date=15 May 2021 |page=|trans-title=Jozef Myslivecek and Maksym Berezovsky: a Czech and a Ukrainian who conquered musical Italy |language=uk}}</ref> Berezowsky's examination piece, {{lang|la|Hic vir despiciens}},{{sfn|Kuzma|2001}} signed "Massimo Berezovsky", is now kept by the academy.<ref name="Rud" /> Berezovsky's compositions in Italy include ''[[Demofonte (Berezovsky)|Demofonte]]'', a three-[[Act (drama)|act]] ''[[opera seria]]'', with an Italian libretto by [[Pietro Metastasio]]. It was staged in [[Livorno]] and premiered in February 1773.{{sfn|Jaffé|2012|p=60}} The music he composed in Italy had to be published in France, as during his lifetime, neither Russia or Italy regularly published printed music.{{sfn|Karabits|2021|p=24}} Berezovsky became the first Russian member of the Academia Filarmonica di Bologna.<ref name="keldysh1966"/>

===Return to Saint Petersburg===
Having run out of funds,<ref name="Tar" /> Berezovsky returned to Saint Petersburg in October 1773,<ref name="Rud2">{{cite news |last1=Rudyachenko |first1=Oleksandr |title=Максим Березовський. 2. Між мучениками і праведниками |url=https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-culture/3119094-maksim-berezovskij-2-miz-mucenikami-i-pravednikami.html |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=[[Ukrinform]] |date=18 October 2020 |page=|trans-title=Maxim Berezovsky. 2. Between the martyrs and the righteous |language=uk}}</ref>{{refn|1=Early biographies indicate that he returned in 1775.<ref name="Rud2" />|group=note}} and was put in charge of the choir in which he had been trained.<ref name="Tar" /> His allowance for his years in Italy was paid only in 1774, upon his return to Russia.{{sfn|Karabits|2021|p=18}}

As his duties involved writing and performing music, Berezovsky is referred to as a composer in some documents. However, no compositions or records of his employment at court from this period have survived. It is probable that he had no permanent position, and that following his return from Italy, his composing career effectively stopped.{{sfn|Shumilina|2015|pp=82{{ndash}}83}} He was never promoted again.{{sfn|Kuzma|2001}}

===Death===
[[File:Maxim Berezovsky - document relating to his burial.jpg|thumb|The document relating to Berezovsky's burial]]
Berezovsky received his last salary in February 1777.{{sfn|Shumilina|2018}} The Russian statesman [[Grigory Potemkin]] invited him to work as the director of a music academy in [[Kremenchuk]] (now in modern Ukraine),{{sfn|Kuzma|2001}} but on 24 March (2 April [[Gregorian calendar|N.S.]]) 1777, Berezovsky&nbsp;died in Saint Petersburg.{{sfn|Ritzarev|2006|p=x}}

Over time, the details of Berezovsky's death were embellished, for instance relating that he became alcoholic, and committed suicide.<ref name="Pry" /> No records to indicate that he died by this means are known.{{sfn|Shumilina|2015|p=83}} He is finally mentioned after his death, when the issue of his estate is discussed: "Composer Maxim Berezovsky died on the 24th day of this month; The salary he was owed is due to be paid, but since there is nothing left after his death, and there is nothing to bury the body, then please, your highness, give his salary to the court singer Yakov Timchenko...."{{sfn|Shumilina|2015|p=83}} According to ''Muzyka'' and ''[[The Day (Kyiv)|The Day]]'', the story that [[Catherine II]] secretly ordered the papers in Berezovsky's rooms to be burnt after his death are among the "myths and legends" surrounding his biography.<ref name="Rud" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Golynska |first1=Olga |title=Максим Березовський і Кирило Карабиць |trans-title=Maxim Berezovsky and Kyrylo Karabits |journal=Журнал "Музика" |trans-journal=Journal "Music" |date=29 December 2020 |url=http://mus.art.co.ua/maksym-berezovs-kyy-i-kyrylo-karabyts/ |access-date=4 September 2024}}</ref>

Bolkhovitinov wrote in his 1804 biography of Berezovsky that "hypochondria" caused Berezovsky to "stab himself to death".<ref name="Pry" /> His suicide, taken as fact from the early 19th century, may have happened because of debt problems, as opposed to earlier theories such as his supposed poor treatment by the imperial court.<ref name="Tar" /> According to the Russian and Israeli [[musicologist]] {{Ill|Marina Ritzarev|ru|Рыцарева, Марина Григорьевна}}, Berezovsky died of a fever.<ref name="Pry">{{cite web |last1=Pryashnikova |first1=Margarita |title=Maxim Berezovsky (ca.1745–1777): Secular Music (Pratum Integrum Orchestra) |url=https://media.nativedsd.com/storage/nativedsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/02181630/CM0022003.pdf |publisher=Caro Mitus |access-date=11 October 2023 |format=CD notes}}</ref>