ABSTRACT
The Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich was a passionate music lover and violinist. Oriented on the taste and style of the Prussian court and tutored by Stahlin, Peter Fedorovich turned his estate at Oranienbaum into a cultural centre. Vincenzo Manfredini's direction of Peter Fedorovich's musical and theatrical ensembles won him his patron's favour. It is the accepted opinion that Maxim Berezovsky sang in Francesco Araja's Alessandro nelle Indie and in Manfredini's Semiramide riconosciuta, as an unbroken soprano voice. Berezovsky was thus hired as a singer in the service of the Grand Duke on 29 June 1758, with a wage far exceeding the usual payment received by Russian musicians. The libretto of Manfredini's Semiramide riconosciuta also indicates that all the participants were either women or one male soprano, with only one 'unclear' Berezovsky cast in the role of Ircano. Following the Oranienbaum period, Berezovsky's life can be traced at the Imperial court.
