Ipolit Altani

Ipolit Altani, 1887

Ipolit Kárlovich Altani also Ippolit Al'tani (Ипполит Карлович Альтани) (May 27, 1846, South Ukraine – February 17, 1919, Moscow) was a Russian conductor, choirmaster, and violinist.

Biography

In 1866, he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory as a violinist (studying with Henryk Wieniawski) and composer (studying with Nikolai Zaremba and Anton Rubinstein). In 1867-1882, he worked as a conductor and choirmaster at the Ukrainian National Opera in kyiv. Altani's activity contributed to the development of stage music in Ukraine. In 1882-1906 Altani was appointed chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

Altani directed the premieres Opríchnik (1874), Mazeppa (1884), The Queen of Spades (1891), Yolanta (1893) by Pyotr Tchaikovsky; The Snow Maiden (1893) and The Lady of Pskov (1901) by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; and Boris Godunov (1888) by Modest Mussorgsky.