Yevstigney Fomin

16 April] 1800) was a Russian opera composer of the 18th century Fomin was born in St. Petersburg into the family of a cannoneer, an artillery soldier of the Tobolsk infantry regiment.

In 2008 it was performed in Moscow for the first time on period instruments by Pratum Intergum orchestra under Pavel Serbin (conducting) and Rossiiskij Rogovoi Orkestr (Russin horn-band, St.Petersburg).

[2] also: Opera Orchestral, chamber and instrumental "Yevstigney Fomin, one of the most talented composers of his day and age and the founding father of Russian musical drama, also [like Vasily Pashkevich] died in poverty... His melodrama, based on the well-known legend about Orpheus and Eurydice, is a real masterpiece whose red-hot passions and tragic collisions have since been put to music with equal excellence.

Orpheus premiered at Count Nikolai Sheremetev’s theatre in 1792 to the strains of a choir, orchestra and with a large cast of ballet dancers and actors.

And still, the money Fomin earned for his labors was dwarfed by the exorbitant royalties picked up by his Italian colleagues invited to work in St. Petersburg.