Anna and Theophilus Automatic translate

The State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin presents a new exhibition project “Anna and Theophilus” in the Svyatoslav Richter Memorial Apartment. The chamber exhibition will open on the pianist’s birthday. The project is dedicated to Anna Pavlovna Moskaleva and Teofil Danilovich Richter, as well as their large family, which united Russian nobles and German colonists, in which the love for music, theater, and painting never dried up.

The exhibition “Anna and Theophilus” will feature exhibits from the collections of the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin, first of all, from the collection and archive of Svyatoslav Richter and the graphics department, as well as from the collection of the Russian National Museum of Music.

Of particular interest are unique archival documents from the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Among them are rare family photographs, an invitation to the wedding of Anna Moskaleva and Theophilus Richter in Kyiv, diplomas from Teofil Danilovich, a graduate of the Vienna Conservatory in piano and composition, his musical manuscripts, as well as works by Svyatoslav Teofilovich dedicated to his parents.

The drawings of members of the Moskalev-Richter family are extremely revealing. Here, full of self-irony, are sketches of the miserable life of the 1920s, sketches of room interiors, silhouettes and portraits of relatives made by the hand of Aunt Mary (Tamara Moskaleva), a drawing by Anna Richter on a play dedicated to Svetik, views of Zhitomir, works by Theophilus Richter and pastels made in Odessa young Svyatoslav.

In addition to materials related to Zhitomir and Odessa (Office and Bedroom of N. L. Dorliak), a separate section of the exhibition (Dining Room) is dedicated to Vienna, Theophilus Richter’s years of study at the Vienna Conservatory and his musical environment. On the wall you can see his picturesque portrait made by the Austrian artist Angelo Trentin. There will also be engravings by Luigi Casimir and Rudolf von Alt with views of Vienna at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. A special place is occupied by Theophilus Richter’s album with photographs of old Vienna, which Svyatoslav constantly studied in Odessa at a young age. According to Richter’s recollections, his father was a devout Wagnerian and was also interested in modern music. The showcase displays a photograph of Richard Wagner and the score of his opera Siegfried, photographic portraits of Gustav Mahler and Franz Schrecker, with whom Theophilus Richter studied at the Vienna Conservatory.

In the late 1980s, Svyatoslav Richter told Valentina Chemberdzhi in great detail about his childhood, family members and the parents who determined his fate: “Dad was very reserved, and when I saw him for the first time, I immediately (albeit small) felt : European. Dad had terrible stage fright because he rarely (unlike Vienna) performed. Therefore, my mother told me to play in front of guests everything that I could and wanted… So I began to compose. Mom was very smart. Dad always studied in the evenings, for two or three hours. I was sitting on my mother’s lap (feeling of security) - during this period I really became attached to my mother… Dad was studying, and suddenly an emotion stirred inside me, and it seemed to me: flowers began to bloom before my eyes, I still feel like that Seems. Nocturne No. 5, Fis-dur (Chopin). That’s how the music hit me.”