Boris Fitinhof-Schell
Baron[1] Boris Alexandrovich Fitinhoff-Schell (Russian: Борис Александрович Фитингоф-Шель, tr.
Fitinhoff-Schell was born to Baltic German noble Baron Alexander Otto von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel and Yelisevet Pavlovna Yazykova.
Fitinhoff-Schell is also noted for his Fantastic Overture to his opera Mazeppa (1859, libretto by Prince Grigory Kugushev), in which whole-tone scales were profusely employed.
Franz Liszt greatly appreciated this piece, describing its effect as " ... terrifying to all long and protruding ears."
Liszt himself made use of the whole-tone scale in his Divina Commedia, illustrating the Inferno, and he used it systematically in his posthumously published organ and late piano pieces.
Piano reduction of the
Wedding March
written especially by Fitinhof-Schell for the wedding of
Tsar Nicholas II
and
Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna
in 1895