Aleksandr Varlamov (composer, born 1801)

Upon graduating and having amassed exceptional technical prowess during his studious decade, in 1819 he was chosen to act as the singing teacher at The Russian Court Church in The Hague (Holland), where Anna Pavlovna, sister to Alexander I and wife of Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, was living at the time.

However, within The Hague and Brussels, there was a strong presence of French operatic culture and thus, he was able to quickly learn about the technicalities of vocalic singing and developed his pedagogical skills.

[8] But despite his vast network of musical connections and dilettante friends, he felt overstrung with responsibilities and requirements, all of which were leaving him with no time for his own artistic work and development.

The fluctuation in income drove him to seek employment and in 1829, he joined the faculty at the State Academic Capella where he held the position as Choir Director and teacher of singing for the young students.

Two years later, in 1829 he also conjoined with his alma mater, St. Petersburg State Academic Capella, and became a Choir Director and Vocal Teacher there, further providing income and job stability.

Alongside his personal compositions, he also began writing scores for shows at the Maly Theater as well as in St. Petersburg written by Western and European sources.

This appointment would be provide Alexander with the space to grow his compositional voice, additionally aided by his intimate relationship to Glinka and the luminaries of Russian arts and culture.

During this period, Varlamov's life in Moscow was full of relationships with some of the capital's best artists, everyone from the troupe at the Maly Theater, actors S. F. Mochalov and M. S. Shchepkin, the composer A. Verstovsky and writer L.A. Zagoskin building rapport with the multi-talented musician.

[4][9] His draw to the folkish traditions and musical customs/tropes of Russian culture were cemented as his main focus and became his calling card for the rest of his compositional career.

Varlamov mostly created theatrical songs [vaudvilles] which used basic accompaniment or full orchestra and incidental compositions, along with orchestral poems and other semi-symphonic works.

[9] Between 1861 and 1864, a Complete Works edition of his music was published in St. Petersburg under the Russian title Polnoe sobranie sochineniy [Full compositions of writings].

The first song would be slow and methodical, often using more sedate textures and expansive harmonic gestures, while the second would be more lively and up-tempo, using bright sonorities and exuberant effects.

A peculiarity of these songs would be the emphasis on recreating the folk-song accompaniment, so polyphonic motion would often furnish the underpinnings to the vocal melody above, mimicking the Russian folk traditions of Podgolosnaya ["under the voice"].

Because his compositional prowess at utilizing folk material was so great, stemming all the way back to his childhood development into the musical art form, many of his tunes were mistaken for authentic, agrarian folk-tunes during his time.

Works like "The Red Sarafan," with its fluid lyricism and rustic harmonies, encased within the waves of easy rhythmicity and content tempi, showcased his indelible fidelity to the true natures of the Russian traditional music and her practices.

Another song entitled "Don't Wake Her Up at Dawn," won the composer praise for its solemnly pensive yet majestically lush evocativity, albeit using sparse texture and a simplistic accompaniment.