Yelizaveta Belogradskaya Explained

Yelizaveta Osipovna Belogradskaya (1739 – ca. 1764 [?]) was a Russian Imperial Court opera singer and composer for keyboard.

She was born in St. Petersburg in 1739, the daughter of Osip Bilohradsky, a court singer and choral conductor, and niece of Timofiy Bilohradsky, the court lute player. She was a kammermädchen at the court[1] of the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna.

In 1753 she performed the part of Procris in Francesco Araja's opera Cephalus and Procris, which was the first opera set in Russian,[2] with the text by Aleksandr Sumarokov. She sang in G.P. Raupach's "The Refuge of Virtue" and "Alcesta". She appeared at court concerts and festivities as a singer and harpsichord player. Extant are her "Variations on a theme by Starzer" for keyboard. She died around 1764 and was interred at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

References

  1. http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804020236 Profile
  2. http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804026998 Cephalus and Procris profile

Source (in Russian)