Ippolit Al'tani

Ippolit Karlovich Al'tani (also Altani) (27 May [OS 15 May] 1846, South of Ukraine – 17 February 1919, Moscow – was a Russian conductor, choirmaster and violinist.

Biography

In 1866 he graduated from Saint Petersburg conservatory as violinist (studied under Henryk Wieniawski) and composer (studied with Nikolai Zaremba, and Anton Rubinstein). In 1867-82 he worked as a conductor and choirmaster at the Russian opera in Kiev. The activity of Altani contributed to the development of musical-stage skill in the Ukraine. In 1882-1906 Al'tani was chief conductor of the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow.

Al'tani conducted the premieres of "The Oprichnik" (1874), "Mazeppa" (1884), "The Queen of Spades" (1891), "Iolanta" (1893) by Pyotr Tchaikovsky; "The Snow Maiden" (1893), "The Maid of Pskov" (1901) by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; and "Boris Godunov" (1888) by Modest Mussorgsky.

Bibliography

* [I. K. Al'tani] И. К. Альтани..., «Русская музыкальная газета», 1902, № 41;
* [Ippolit Karlovich Al'tani] Ипполит Карлович Альтани. (По поводу 25-летия его дирижёрской деятельности), в кн.: Ежегодник императорских театров, в. 6—7, [СПБ] , 1909.