Maksym Berezovsky - Education

Education

On June 29, 1758 he was accepted as a singer into the Prince Peter Fedorovych capella in Oranienbaum (now known as Lomonosov), near St. Petersburg. Berezovsky participated in Italian operas and his name appears in printed librettos of the operas Alessandro nell'Indie by Francesco Araja and La Semiramide riconosciuta by Vincenzo Manfredini given in Oranienbaum in 1759 and 1760.

In 1762 he became a singer of the Italian Capella of the St. Petersburg Imperial palace, which was the palace chapel choir. Here he studied under singer N. Garani and Capella director F. Zoppis and likely under composers Vincenzo Manfredini and Baldassare Galuppi. He continued as court musician and composer for the majority of the 1760s.

In 1763 Berezovsky wed Franzina Uberscher (also translated as Francisca Iberchere), a graduate of the Oranienbaum theatrical school. Not much is known about their life together. When he died in 1777, the composer's government funeral allowance was given to court singer J. Timchenko. This implies that Berezovsky was either separated or widowed from his wife during his final days, since this allowance would normally be given to the wife of the deceased.

Berezovsky was sent to Italy in the spring of 1769 to train with renowned teacher padre Giovanni Battista Martini at the Bologna Philharmonic Academy, where he graduated with distinction. Along with fellow graduate Josef Mysliveček, Berezowsky wrote an exam to compose a polyphonic work on a given theme. This was a similar exam to that given to fellow alumnus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart several months earlier. Berezovsky's piece for four voices is still kept in the Academy’s archives. On May 15, 1771 he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica.