Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

Home > People > Vladimir Shilovskii

Vladimir Shilovskii (1852–1893)

Vladimir Shilovskii

Russian artist, singer, poet and amateur composer (b. 1852; d. 30 June/6 July 1893), born Vladimir Stepanovich Shilovskii (Владимир Степанович Шиловский, Vladimir Stepanovič Šilovskij, Vladimir Stepanovich Shilovsky); also known after 1879 as Count Vasil'ev-Shilovskii (Граф Васильев-Шиловский, Graf Vasil'ev-Šilovskij, Graf Vasil'yev Shilovskii).

The son of Major Stepan Stepanovich Shilovskii and his wife Mariia (1830–1879), Vladimir showed an early aptitude for music, and he enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory aged fifteen. Here his abilities were recognised and encouraged by his professor of composition—Tchaikovsky. After Vladimir's graduation from the conservatory, a number of his pieces were performed in theatres and concert halls, and he is said to have contributed an entr'acte to Tchaikovsky's opera The Oprichnik (1870–72)..

Vladimir's mother and older brother Konstantin (1849–1893) were also friends of the composer, and during the 1870s Tchaikovsky frequently stayed at the family estate at Usovo, near Tambov, where he completed his fantasia The Tempest (1873), the opera Vakula the Smith (1874), and the Symphony No. 3 (1875).

In 1877 Shilovskii married Anna Alekseevna Vasil'eva (b. 1841), daughter of Count Aleksei Vladimirovich Vasil'ev (1808–1895), and in 1879 was granted the title of Count Vasil'ev-Shilovskii. He died on 30 June/6 July 1893, following a long illness.

Tchaikovsky's works dedicated to Vladimir Shilovskii:

• Two Pieces, Op. 10 (1872)
• Symphony No. 3, Op. 29 (1875).

Tchaikovsky's correspondence with Vladimir Shilovskii:

• 16 letters have survived from Tchaikovsky to Vladimir Shilovskii, dating from 1873 to 1893.