Later Years
His opera Demofonte to the Italian libretto by Pietro Metastasio was staged in Livorno, Italy, and premiered in February 1773.
Berezovsky returned to St. Petersburg in October 1773 (early biographies indicate that he returned in 1775). According to archival discoveries in the late 20th century, Berezovsky was appointed a staff member of the imperial theatres and capellmeister of the Royal court capella eight months later. This was a high ranking position for a musician and contradicts the notion that Berezovsky’s talent was not appreciated upon his return to St. Petersburg. Some sources state that the he committed suicide as a result of depression for not being accepted upon his return to St. Petersburg. His first biographer, Eugene Bolkhovitinov, made this assertion in 1804 based on testimonials of those who knew Berezovsky. Marina Ritzarev, a contemporary scholar, asserts that he did not commit suicide but rather likely caught a sudden fever resulting in his death after developing some psychic disease. He died in St. Petersburg on March 24 (April 2, N.S.), 1777.
Read more about this topic: Maksym Berezovsky
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“A young man is not a proper hearer of lectures on political science; for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur in life, but its discussions start from these and are about these; and, further, since he tends to follow his passions, his study will be vain and unprofitable, because the end that is aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character.”
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