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Lot Essay
Sadko
The story of Sadko, the merchant and gusli player of Novgorod and his adventures in the realm of the Sea King, was a popular and influential medieval bylina. It was widely reproduced in the Russian decorative arts, especially in cloisonné enamelled objects, and served as a basis for a number of derived works. The story famously was set to music by the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) in the opera Sadko, which premiered in Moscow in 1898.
Arthur Nikisch
Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922), to whom the present lot was a gift in 1904, was an esteemed Hungarian conductor who held posts at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Opera in Budapest. He was considered an exceptional interpreter of the music of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt. In 1904, Nikisch undertook his second tour of Russia with the Berlin Philharmonic. In April, they gave three concerts in St Petersburg in memory of Tchaikovsky, a major event in the cultural life of the capital. All six symphonies were performed, as well as the overture-fantasia Hamlet, Francesca da Rimini, and the Piano Concerto No. 2. The present lot was given to Nikisch during his tour of Russia by the Austrian Ludwig Metzl (b. 1854) and his wife, Ludmilla. Metzl, the affluent founder of Russia's first advertising agency, was known as a music enthusiast. A mere three years later in Paris, Nikisch was given the honour of conducting Sadko in the presence of Rimsky-Korsakov himself.
The story of Sadko, the merchant and gusli player of Novgorod and his adventures in the realm of the Sea King, was a popular and influential medieval bylina. It was widely reproduced in the Russian decorative arts, especially in cloisonné enamelled objects, and served as a basis for a number of derived works. The story famously was set to music by the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) in the opera Sadko, which premiered in Moscow in 1898.
Arthur Nikisch
Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922), to whom the present lot was a gift in 1904, was an esteemed Hungarian conductor who held posts at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Opera in Budapest. He was considered an exceptional interpreter of the music of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt. In 1904, Nikisch undertook his second tour of Russia with the Berlin Philharmonic. In April, they gave three concerts in St Petersburg in memory of Tchaikovsky, a major event in the cultural life of the capital. All six symphonies were performed, as well as the overture-fantasia Hamlet, Francesca da Rimini, and the Piano Concerto No. 2. The present lot was given to Nikisch during his tour of Russia by the Austrian Ludwig Metzl (b. 1854) and his wife, Ludmilla. Metzl, the affluent founder of Russia's first advertising agency, was known as a music enthusiast. A mere three years later in Paris, Nikisch was given the honour of conducting Sadko in the presence of Rimsky-Korsakov himself.