Nicolas Tcherepnine

the brilliant director

Here is a profile of five of the Conservatoire’s founding figures: Rachmaninoff, Gretchaninoff, Glazunov, Chaliapin and Nicolas Tcherepnine. It was he who, from 1925 onwards, led and developed the Russian Conservatoire.

1909

The composer for Diaghilev’s Ballets

On 18 May 1909, the audience at the Théâtre du Châtelet was treated to a new production, Armide’s Pavilion, with the dancers Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina. This is the first of the Ballets Russes from Serge Diaghilev. The music was composed by Nicolas Tcherepnine, Sergei Prokofiev’s teacher at the St Petersburg Conservatoire and conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Imperial Opera.

Nicolas Tcherepnine was friends with the greatest Russian artists of his time. Among many others, these included the ballet legend, Anna Pavlova. It was she who, in 1924, invited him to come to Paris. But why did he want the composer to follow her to the French capital? You might find out if you happen to bump into Anna Pavlova on the upper floors of the Conservatoire…

1925

Working for the Russian Conservatoire

On 12 March 1925, Nicolas Tcherepnine was unanimously elected Director of the Russian Conservatoire, which was located in the 9th arrondissement at the time. He professionalised the school and recruited prestigious teachers from the leading conservatoires in Moscow and St Petersburg (the ones you see on the steps). Shown here is a letter dated April, signed by Tcherepnine, setting out the duties of the administrative staff.

The former composer for Diaghilev’s ballets is a simple man and human, who was much admired by his colleagues. The plight of Russian artists in exile was dire, and, out of solidarity, he always refused to accept his salary as director. In his diary, Prokofiev shares his sorrow at being reunited with his former teacher, whom he compares to «a first-class carriage that has derailed and been cast aside.»

1931

The years in America, then the return

Kept busy by his duties as director, Nicolas Tcherepnine lamented the lack of time he had left for composing. In 1931, the «first-class carriage» got back on track and set off for the United States to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is succeeded in his post by the prince Serge Volkonski, which can be found on the upper floor of the Conservatoire, in the room to the right of the stairs.

Following the death of Prince Sergei Volkonsky in 1938, Nikolai Tcherepnine was recalled to take up the post of director of the Russian Conservatoire (see opposite). He entrusted his the pleasure of seeing He found the school in a better state than it had been when he left seven years earlier, and said he was delighted with the new premises he was seeing for the first time. He added:

The main feature of our Conservatoire is that it is a Russian conservatoire, a centre for musical art which is now at the height of its glory. Particular attention must be paid to the teaching of Russian music, and it must be given a fitting place in the curricula.

1941

the ordeal of occupation

During the occupation, the SMRE, the association that governs the Conservatoire, was dissolved. Only five teachers continued to teach despite everything, including Alexandre Tcherepnine, a composer like his father.

The Chair, Nina Alexinsky, is noted for his actions against the Germans, whilst a pupil in the violin class, Michel Tagrine, died with a weapon in his hand during the fighting to liberate Paris. You might come across them on the upper floors…

Left without any means of support, Nicolas Tcherepnine fell into poverty. The’winter 1941 was so severe that he had to burn some of his scores – including some unpublished ones – to light the stove. Among these works, now lost forever, was the original edition of his symphony in memory of Rimsky-Korsakov, his old teacher from a previous life. He died on 26 June 1945, a few weeks after the signing of the’armistice. The Rachmaninoff Institute honours his memory.