The music of Nicholas I’s epoch was performed in the Presidential Library

June 27, 2018 the Presidential Library hosted another concert of the music and educational project "Music of Russian Statehood" dedicated to music of Nicholas I’s epoch. The concert organizers - the Foundation of the International Festival of Classical Music "Palaces of St. Petersburg" and the Presidential Library - dedicated an evening to the music of the epoch of the reign of Nicholas I, which lasted three decades and was marked by the creation and development of Russian industry and the flowering of literature, music, and visual art.

The first section of the concert was devoted to the history of the creation of the first Russian anthem "God Save the Tsar". This anthem has been the musical symbol of the Russian Empire for 84 years, that is, four reigns, until February 1917. It was performed by the State Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Region "Tavrichesky" under directed by Mikhail Golikov. As usual, the executive part of the program was accompanied by a fascinating commentary of the historian and writer Alexander Myasnikov, the creator of the project "Russia is My History". He made a special emphasis on the love of Nicholas I for music and literature, telling the audience that the emperor was a good musician, wrote a march in honor of Izmaylovsky regiment and liked to perform at court balls as a director of dances.

It was Nicholas I who ordered and approved the hymn "God Save the Tsar". It was the first real Russian hymn created for the musical glorification of the emperors by the Russian composer and Russian poet. Prior to this, all solemn events in Russia were accompanied by church hymns, and under Peter the Great - with military marches. In 1816, was elected one of the oldest European national anthems, the UK national anthem "God Save the King". In Russia, it was performed on the words of Vasily Zhukovsky's poem "Russian Prayer". From 1816 to 1833, this Russian anthem was sounded in all solemn occasions, but the music remained English.

The author of the music for the new official anthem was Alexei Fyodorovich Lvov, who in 1833 accompanied Nicholas I to Austria and Prussia, where the emperor was greeted everywhere with the sounds of "God Save the King". The tsar instructed Lvov to compose his own, Russian anthem. The composer wrote a melody and asked Vasily Zhukovsky to alter several lines borrowed from the British work, so that the words would go to music. On December 18, 1833, the first public performance of the anthem was held at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, which became known as "God Save the Tsar!". December 25, 1833 Nicholas I approved the hymn of Lvov.

Krzysztof Jablonski performed at the second half of the concert - one of the world's finest performers and connoisseurs of music by Frederic Chopin. "Concert for piano №2" was sounded, about which Franz Liszt said that in this work "there are places of striking greatness".

Jablonski is a virtuoso pianist, honored to open with his solo concert the Year of Chopin in the Senate of the Republic of Poland (2010). Krzysztof began to take piano lessons at the age of six, and performed his first concert with the orchestra at 12. He is a laureate of many prestigious international piano competitions, among which the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw is. Jablonski is a member of the jury of the Chopin Competitions in Europe and Asia, in the USA and Canada.

The concert also featured works by Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Borodin, Gounod. The evening was undoubtedly continued with Marina Zyatkova's soprano and Andrey Serov's bass.