In the second half of the 18th century musical life in Moscow was fl ourishing.
Attracted by high wages foreign musicians undertook long and complex journeys
to Russia aiming to assimilate, perhaps even to settle there permanently.
These musical travellers found that working in a foreign country presented copious
new perspectives giving them inspiring outlets for composition.
Originally from Mainz, Sebastian George was one such kapellmeister / composer
who fi rst travelled to Moscow in about 1766. In the early 1770s, as kapellmeister
he started to form connections with Moscow University and the
courts of the Sheremetevs and Razumovskys and, on settling in Russia, soon
established himself as an entrepreneur, running a music shop in St. Petersburg
from 1776–79 that sold scores, various musical instruments and, perhaps less
predictably… wine!
Returning again to Moscow, George began a collaboration with the famous
Petrovsky Theatre, staging his only opera (in 1780) and, in 1782–83, organizing
several major vocal and instrumental concerts. George‘s family left Russia
in 1783 and although their exact route is not known, it was recorded that his
daughter stayed in Karlsruhe in 1790. Into the next decade the family returned
to Moscow where George and his musically gifted children published their own
compositions and taught keyboard to a high level.
Sadly Sebastian George’s work was completely forgotten in the 19th century
and in the fi rst chronicals of Russian music of the 18th century he was mentioned
only briefl y. George was unknown to researchers and, perhaps inevitably,
he was categorised along with the other “opportunistic foreign composer/artisans
who had come to Russia to look for work”.
This perception changed only thanks to the researcher Larisa Ivchenko who
undertook a detailed study of the catalogue of Count A. Razumovsky’s collection
(Kiev, National Library of Ukraine).
The discovery of manuscripts of George‘s orchestral and chamber works immediately
led to performances and the quality of his music instantly exceeded
all expectations. George worked in a wide range of genres; opera, cantatas, symphonies, keyboard
concertos and various chamber works – quintets, string and mixed quartets,
trios, and keyboard music with and without accompaniment.
This CD includes chamber compositions for a variety of combinations of instruments,
some of which may be quite a surprise!