YEVSTIGNEI FOMIN (1761-1800)
Yevstignei Ipatyevich Fomin was born in 1761, the child of a military family in Petersburg. 
He attended the musie class of  the Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts from the age of  6 to 2l
and completed his studies with distinction. One of his teachers was the German
Heinrich Raupach. He subsequently studied for three years in ltaly with, among other teachers, 
Padre Martini. (In 1770, the 14-year-old Mozart was also among Martini's pupils.) In 1785, 
Fomin was made a member of  the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna.
After his return to Petersburg, Fomin devoted himself to composing stage music. In 1786, 
he wrote the opera ‘ The Novgorod Hero Boyeslayevich’ , based on a libretto by the 
tsarina, Catherine II, who, however, was not particularly taken with the music. 
ln subsequent years, Fomin wrote numerous operas dealing with Russian history. 
lt was not before 1797, after tbe death of  the tsarina,  Catherine II, that he obtained a 
post as répétiteur (vocal coach) at the Petersburg Theatre. Fomin died in 1800 at the early
age of 39. His last operas were THE AMERICANS,  CLORIDA AND MILON, and
THE GOLDEN APPLE, the first performance of  which he did not live to see.
                  
                  OVERTURE and DANCE OF THE FURIES from the melodrama ORFEO
The music for the melodrama Orfeo (Libretto by Y. Knyashnin) was composed in 1791 
or 1792. Unlike in an opera, the text is not sung, but declaimed grandiloquently, the speech 
of the character in question being given a musical setting by the orchestra.
A concert performance of the orchestral music and the choruses would make little sense
without the recitation of the text. However, Fomin's score includes two self-contained 
orchestral pieces: the overture, which sets the stage for the drama to come, and the 
 ,Dance of the Furies’, which ends the tragedy. The overture, in the manner of a 
symphonic poem, summarizes the most important stages of the plot. 
Contrasting emotions of pain and joy, sorrow and happiness, separation and reunion
are touchingly expressed in this work.
The overture - Largo, Vivace - is written in dramatic D minor. Twice, the pain and torment of 
the largo are set against a frenzied vivace.
The lamentation on Eurydice's sudden death is  heartwrenchingly portrayed in both largos. 
By way of contrast we have the vivace episodes, which can be interpreted at various levels. 
We hear the shrill inferno of the underworld as well as Orpheus's music, with which he 
not only charms Nature, but also forces access to Hades. In the first vivace, he plays the 
(magic) flute, in the second, the shawm (oboe). But as we well know, the rescue fails, 
and therefore the basic mood of the overture is predominantly tragic.
The concluding Dance of  the Furies -Furioso-  (like the overture in D minor) displays
breathtaking, ecstatic turmoil and  dramatic power.
The key of  D minor is not the only similarity this piece has to the overture and finale
of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Chromatic passages, reckless dissonances, sudden vehement chords: 
this is obviously no more retelling of some longsince discarded saga of Antiquity.
 - No -this is about universal questions of life and fate.

 Listening to Bortnyanski and Fomin, we realize that their music proves 
the truth of  Robert Schumann´s maxim, with which he welcomed the young and unknown 
Brahms  to the musical world:
>At all times there has been a secret alliance of kindred spirits. Draw closer all ye who belong 
together, so that the truth in art may shine ever more clearly, spreading joy and grace everywhere.<