Nikolay Bakhmetev

Nikolay Bakhmetev studied at Page Corps. The field of work recorded is music. Distinctions recorded are Order of Saint Anna, 1st class, Order of Saint Anna, 3rd class, Order of Saint Anna, 4th class and Order of the White Eagle.

• Name — Nikolai Ivanovich Bakhmetev • Native Name — Николай Иванович Бахметев • Born — 1807 • Died — 1891 • Birthplace — Russian Empire • Place of death — Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire • Occupation — Military, composer, violinist, director of the Imperial Court Capella • Works — Obikhod notnovo tserkovnovo peniya (Lvov-Bakhmetev, eds.)

Bakhmetev was born in 1807 in the Russian Empire. He served in the military before devoting himself to music. In 1861 he succeeded Alexei Lvov as director of the Imperial Court Capella. He remained in the position until 1883, overseeing repertoire, performance practice and the publication of official choral editions.

Bakhmetev edited and published the two-volume Obikhod notnovo tserkovnovo peniya (Common Book of Musical Church Singing, 1869–1879), which became the standard liturgical collection of the Imperial Court. Under his supervision, three further volumes of sacred choral compositions were issued, and his editorial revisions of traditional chants had lasting influence on Russian Orthodox church music.

Bakhmetev is noted for a legal dispute with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and publisher Pyotr Jurgenson. Exercising censorship privileges historically granted to the Capella by Catherine the Great and previously used by Dmitry Bortniansky, he banned the performance of Tchaikovsky’s newly published Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom during services. The prohibition was overturned in court, establishing a precedent that allowed greater freedom in publishing sacred music in the Russian Empire. • Illustration — N. Bakhmetev