Early Life
Oleksiy Rozum was born on March 17, 1709 (NS: March 28) on the farm Lemeshi near Chernihiv in the family of a registered Ukrainian Cossack, Hryhory Rozum. In his youth he was a shepherd; then he was taught to read and write by the rural sexton. Having a fine voice he sang in the choir at the village church. In 1731, Colonel Vyshnevsky, one of empress Anna Ivanovna’s courtiers, while passing through the village on his way back to the Russian capital from a mission to Hungary, was wonder-struck with his vocal ability, and took him to St. Petersburg where he joined the choir of the Ukrainian palace chapel.
The beauty and talent of Razumovsky captivated Elizabeth Petrovna who took him to the imperial court in 1732. Upon deportation of Elizabeth’s minion Aleksey Shubin, Razumovsky replaced him as tsesarevna's favorite. After losing his voice, he was accepted in the post of the court bandura player, and then the manager of one of her mansions. He received the rank of the hof-quartermeister; and actually supervised Elizabeth's court. During the period of Anna Leopoldovna’s reign he was made a Kamer-Junker.
Read more about this topic: Alexey Razumovsky
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