Elisabeth von Schultz
Robert Severin
Ella Adayevskaya (1846-1926) was a Russian composer, ethnomusicologist, and pianist trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. She concertized in Russia and Europe and composed choruses for the Imperial Chapel Choir, operas, and chamber music. Her 1881 Greek Sonata for clarinet and piano utilized quarter tones and was inspired by her research on the Greek church and Slavonic folksong. The 1877 opera Zarya svobodï (The Dawn of Freedom) was censored due to its scene of peasant uprising. In addition to composing and performing, Adayeskaya was a prominent scholar and published extensively on folk music and the music of Ancient Greece. She settled in Venice c. 1891 and moved to Germany in 1911 to join the intellectual circle around the poet Carmen Sylva. The name Adayevskaya is a pseudonym derived from the kettledrum pitches (A, D, A) in Mikhail Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila.
Works:
1873 Nepri′gozhaya (‘The Homely Girl’)/Doch′ boyarina (‘The Boyar’s Daughter’) (opera)
1877 Zarya svobodï (‘The Dawn of Freedom’) (opera)
Solomonida Saburova (opera)
1881 Greek Sonata (clarinet and piano)
1896 Horazische Ode (soprano, baritone, piano)
Resources:
Sources:
Brown, Malcolm Hamrick. “Adayevskaya [née Schultz], Ella Georgiyevna.” Grove Music Online. 2001.
Works Featured on Expanding the Music Theory Canon
“Proëmion” from Sonata Greca
Excerpt
Pages: Compound Meters, Mediant