Editing Maxim Berezovsky (section)

===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}}