Catterino Cavos

Catterino Albertovich Cavos (Italiano: Catarino Camillo Cavos; Russian: Катери́но Альбе́ртович Ка́вос) (October 30, 1775 – May 10 (OS April 28), 1840), born Catarino Camillo Cavos, was an Italian composer, organist and conductor settled in Russia. He played an important role in the history of Russian opera and was the father of Alberto Cavos.

Cavos is celebrated in Russian musical history as the man who composed the opera Ivan Susanin in 1815, 20 years before Mikhail Glinka's opera of the same name. The plot, based on an episode from Russian history, tells the story of the Russian peasant and patriotic hero Ivan Susanin who sacrifices his life for the Tsar by leading astray a group of marauding Poles who were hunting him.

Cavos was born in Venice, Italy, on October 30, 1775. His father, Alberto Giovanni Cavos, was the Primo Ballerino Assoluto (lead male ballet dancer) and director of the La Fenice theatre in Venice.

Cavos studied under Francesco Bianchi. At the age of twelve, Cavos composed a cantata to celebrate Leopold II's arrival in Venice. At fourteen he was offered the post of organist to St Mark's Basilica, but refused the position, allowing the post to be given to an older, impoverished musician.

In his early twenties, Cavos accepted a position as conductor of the Italian operatic company Astariti, and traveled with the company to St. Petersburg in 1797. The company was soon disbanded, but Cavos had fallen in love with St. Petersburg, and entered the service of the Imperial Theatres, at first as composer for a French opera troupe with the responsibility to write music for the opera-vaudevilles. In 1803 the Emperor appointed Cavos Kapellmeister of Italian and Russian opera, placing him in charge of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. He also served as a professor at the Saint Catherine School, and later occupied the same place in the Smolny Convent.

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