Maksym Berezovskiy

Maksym Berezovsky
Maksym Sozontovych Berezovsky
Born	27 October (O.S. 16 October) 1745 Hlukhiv, Cossack Hetmanate, Russian Empire
Died	24 March 1777 (N.S. 2 April) (aged 31) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Era	Classical

Maksym Sozontovych Berezovsky (Ukrainian: Максим Созонтович Березовський) (c.27 October 1745 – 2 April 1777) was a Ukrainian composer, opera singer, and violinist.

Berezovsky was the first Ukrainian composer to be recognized throughout Europe and the first to compose an opera, symphony, and violin sonata. His most popular works are his sacred choral pieces written for the Orthodox Church. Much of his work has been lost; only three of the 18 known choral concertos have been found. Dmitry Bortniansky was thought to be the first Ukrainian symphonic composer until the discovery in 2002 of Berezovsky's Symphony in C by Steven Fox in the Vatican archives, composed around 1770 to 1772.

Not much is known about Berezovsky's biography. His life story was reconstructed in a short novel written in 1840 by Nestor Kukolnik and a play by Peter Smirnov staged at the Alexandrine Theatre in Saint Petersburg. Many particulars from these works of fiction had been accepted as fact, but have since been proven inaccurate.

Some accounts speculate that Berezovsky was born on 27 October 1745 in Hlukhiv, and studied at the Kiev Mohyla Academy. However, no hard evidence exists for this information, and his name is missing from the annals of the Academy. Since Hlukhiv was the only other music school training singers for the Imperial Court Choir, it is likely that he did spend at least some of his childhood there. Today there is a monument to Maksym Berezovsky in Hlukhiv, which is believed to be his birthplace.

On 29 June 1758 he was accepted as a singer into the Prince Peter Fedorovych capella in Oranienbaum (now known as Lomonosov), near Saint 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.