Verstovsky, Alexey Nicolaievich (1799-1862)

Russian composer. He studied civil engineering at St Petersburg but picked up a musical training at the same time, studying theory, singing, violin, and piano, the last with Field and Steibelt. As a rich man's son he remained an amateur, but produced his first operetta at the age of 19. In 1824 he was appointed inspector of the Imperial Opera at Moscow, where in 1828 he produced his first opera (which was influenced by Weber's Der Freischütz/The Marksman). His Askold's Tomb was the first Russian opera staged in the USA (New York, 1869). In 1842 he married the famous actress Nadezhda Repina.

Works Pan Twardowski (1828), Vadim (1832), Askold's Tomb (1835), Homesickness (1839), The Valley of Tchurov (1841) and Gromoboy (after Zhukovsky); 22 operettas; cantatas, melodramas and dramatic scenas; 29 songs, including Pushkin's ‘The Black Shawl’.