Jump to content

Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Olgabaird (talk | contribs) at 21:20, 10 September 2011 (→‎Legacy and selected Compositions). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Fergus(s)on (Lewis-William Ferguson-Tepper, Tepper von Ferguson), 1768, Warsaw - 1838, Paris. Polish-German-Russian musician and composer, a music teacher associated with the Imperial Lycee in Tsarskoye Selo (near St Petersburg, Russia).

Origin of the family

Tepper de Ferguson was born in Warsaw as Lewis-William Ferguson-Tepper. His surname 'Ferguson' indicates Scottish origin of the family. Indeed, in 1703, William and George Ferguson of Inverurie emigrated from Scotland and came to Poland.[1] In 1714, William Ferguson married Katherina-Concordia Tepper, a sister of wealthy and influential merchant and banker, furrier and fur trader Pjotr Tepper of Poznan. Pjotr Tepper managed the large-scale international trade using family connections, and imported goods to Poland from many countries, including Britain.[2]

William Ferguson and Katherina-Concordia had three sons, one of which, Peter (1732–1794), entered in partnership with his maternal uncle Pjotr Tepper. In 1767 he was officially adopted by Pjotr Tepper under the condition to add the name Tepper to his name Ferguson.

In 1779, the Scottish and Polish branches of the family found each other. According to a James Boswell's column in a later (1786) issue of "The Scots Magazine", "In June 1779, he [Peter Ferguson-Tepper] had his arms matriculated in the Herald Office, London, and obtained permission to use the surname and arms of Tepper jointly with the surname and arms of Ferguson.[3] The father's writings being destroyed during the civil war in Poland, the son did not know from what part of Scotland his father came; and his Scots relations, not having heard from Poland for near fifty years, believed their friend in that country had died without issue; but the above paragraph in our Magazine caused them to make inquiry, when with equal joy they discovered other; and in a few months thereafter, Mr Ferguson Tepper came to Edinburgh to see them./.../Mr Peter Ferguson Tepper, of Warsaw is supposed to be the second banker in Europe. Mister Walter Ferguson writer in Edinburgh and he are brothers' children".[4]

Early years

Bernardo Bellotto.The Tepper's Palace,Warsaw

In 1763, Peter Ferguson-Tepper married Maria-Philippina Valentin d'Hauterive (c.1736-1792[5]). The 1770s-1780s were the time of their prosperity. The Tepper's bank had partners in Holland, Italy, and Russia and undertook large-scale financial operations of international scale. Among their clients were Russian aristocrats and the Polish King Stanisław August Poniatowski whose army they financed. The splendid Tepper's Palace in Warsaw was depicted in 1770 by Bernardo Bellotto. In 1777, Peter Ferguson-Tepper became Treasurer and Agent of the Maltese Order[6].In 1787, the Teppers entertained the King Stanislaw-August Poniatowski in their county estate Falenty.[7] A recent research revealed the participation of the Teppers in the Scottish politics of the time: after the death of Princess Charlotte (1753–1789), the illegitimate daughter of Charles Edward Stuart (1720–1788, the last Scottish Pretender on the English throne), they acted as guardians for her children.[8] In the 1790, the Teppers were granted the rank of Polish Nobility.

They had ten surviving children, and Lewis-William born on the 10th December 1768, was their sixth child and the third son. His yearly years were spent in splendour of his parents' palace. He was intended for the Law, and spent his early youth studying in Stuttgart, at University of Strasbourg, and travelling around Europe. After the crash of his father's bank in 1793, he spent several months in Strasbourg, and then lived in Vienna where he met Haydn and made an acquaintance with Beethoven. There he started his career as a composer.

In Russia

In 1797 he came to St Petersburg, Russia, where the Tepper's bank used to have business partners and was well known to the Russian aristocracy. Many of his musical compositions which have been preserved in the libraries of St Petersburg, Vienna, Hamburg, Weimar, bear dedications to the famous members of St Petersburg society: Princess Golitsyna, Countess Mniszek. He taught music to Grand Duchesses, younger sisters of the Emperor Alexander I. From 1802, he held the post of the court Kapellmeister, after Giuseppe Sarti. From 1802, he was a member of St Petersburg Philarmonic Society. He participated in one of the first St Petersburg performance of the Haydn's oratorio The Creation in 1802. In 1812, his own Oratory Te Deum was performed in St Petersburg.

Valerian Langer.Tepper's House in Tsarskoye Selo. 1820
Tepper's House in Tsarskoe Selo. Modern View

In 1803 he married Jeanne-Henriette Severin, a daughter of a wealthy St Petersburg banker. They had no children, but they were bringing up Josephine Velho, Jeanette's niece, a member of the Portuguese merchant and banker family of José Pedro Celestino Velho[9].

From the 1810s, the Teppers lived permanently in Tsarskoe Selo. They had a house there which has survived and is still known as "Tepper's House". Tepper de Ferguson gave music lessons to Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden), the Consort of Alexander I.

File:Imperial Lycee-Museum music room.jpg
Display of the music room in the Museum-Imperial Lycee in Tsarskoye Selo. Modern view
L-W Tepper de Ferguson.'Six Years.' The Farewell Song of the first students of the Imperial Lycee in Tsarskoe Selo

From 1816, he also taught choir singing and music at the Imperial Lycee where among his pupils was Alexander Pushkin. Tepper composed music for the amateur theatrical performances which took place in the Lycee, and organised a choir of the Lycee students which gave informal performances in Tsarskoe Selo. In 1817, he composed music to the "Six Years, the Farewell Song of the First Students of the Imperial Lycee in Tsarskoe Selo", the words of which were written by Anton Delvig. The Farewell Song is one of the best-known Tepper's opuses. In 1818, he composed choral music for the consecration of the new Evangelical church in Tsarskoe Selo. In words of Wilhelm Küchelbecker, "Music, full of feeling and expression, is worth our honourable friend, good Tepper."[10]

Siblings and relatives

Ludwing-Wilhelm had nine brothers and sisters[11]

Henrika-Katarina (born 24 May 1763) married in 1780 August-Wilhelm Arndt, an employee at Tepper's bank. Charlotte Rosa (born 4 July 1764) was in her first marriage the wife of baron d’Axt, Minister of Prussia in Warsaw. Her second husband was M.Milashevich, Colonel in Russian military service.[12]

Elzbieta-Dorota (born 8 August 1765) married in 1783 Karol Szulc (Schulz, Schultz),a young banker in Warsaw.

Peter-Charles (Peter-Karol) (1766-1817) married Marie Henriette Bоuè (р.1769), daughter of Pierre Boue (1738–1802), an influential banker in Hamburg. The famous French scholar, botanist and geologist Ami Boué (1794–1881) was a nephew of Marie-Henriette.

Phillip-Bernard (1 August 1767–1829). In 1786 he was sent by his father to Edinburgh to study English. On the 5th July 1786 he was granted the citizenship of the city of Edinburgh.[13]. He died in Warsaw and was buried in the Evangelic Cemetery[14] in Powazki, Warsaw, which had been established in 1792 on the property of his brother-in-law Karol Schultz.

Daniel-Frederick (born in 1772).

Ann-Margaret (born 11 August 1775)

Anna-Isabel (born 12 August 1778) married in 1792 Count Jan Henryk Wołodkowicz[15] (1765–1825) and divorced him in 1804.

Otto-Walter (1779-1796). There is a portrait of him dated 1785 at the National Museum, Warsaw.

Last Years

In 1819, Tepper de Ferguson, his wife and step-daughter undertook a long European travel. However, when in Paris, Josephine Velho died in a tragic accident (July 1820), and in 1823 his wife died in Dresden. Tepper de Ferguson returned to Russia for a short time, but left in May 1824 for Paris where in July 1824 he married Marie Catherine Adelaide Canel[16]. His last years he spent in Paris where he was known as Louis-Guillaume, baron Tepper de Ferguson. In 1838, he died in Paris.

A nephew of Ludwig-Wilhelm, Pierre Charles Guillaume Fergusson-Tepper(the son of Peter Charles and Marie-Henriette Boue) established a successful and profitable business of printed fabric in Bavilliers (Franche-Comte). Among his children were Marie Philippine, Tepper's god-daughter, and Louis Guillaume Edouard Fergusson-Tepper (1837–1890)who might have been named after Tepper. Louis Guillaume Edouard became a sculptor and exhibited his works in the Salons of Paris in the 1870s.

Legacy and selected Compositions

In Russia, Tepper is immediately recognised as Alexander Pushkin's music teacher. But in the wider context of Russian and European cultural life of that time, his efforts to introduce the Haydn's "Creation" to Russian audience seem even more important. Tepper's chamber music is well known in Russia and Europe and it is constantly performed. His "Farewell Song" is traditionally performed at the Museum-Pushkin's Lycee in Tsarskoe Selo annually, on the 19th October (the anniversary of the inauguration of the Lycee in 1811). Music scores of Tepper's compositions have been preserved in the music libraries of St Petersburg, Hamburg, Vienna, Weimar, etc.

  • An die Freude. Hamburg,1796; Berlin, 1797;
  • Zwelf Deutsche Lieders von den besten Dichtern. Hamburg, 1798;
  • Neuf Variations sur l’air de la Pastorale de Nina pour Le Clavecine ou Forte Piano. 1798;
  • Opera 'Eulenspiegel', libretto by August Cotzebue.
  • Opera 'Herminie', libretto by Gaston.
  • Romance de l’opera 'Une folie' de Mehul variée tres humblemeneut.
  • Danse cosaque mise en variations. SPb.
  • Te Deum. 1812.
  • Oratorio on the Deliverance of Moscow. 1812.
  • Six Years. The Farewell Song of the First Students of the Imperial Lycee in Tsarskoe Selo. 1817.
  • Sonata in D. Piano 4 hands.1818;
  • Variations sur l’air Loin de toi ma Felicie / composées et dediées à Madame la Princesse Galizin née Princesse Wiazemski. с.1820;
  • Variations sur une romance de la composition de Madame la Princesse Kourakin née Comtesse Golowin.ок.1820;
  • Variations Sur un air de danse de Monsieur l’abbé Vogler / composées et dediées à Madame A. E. De Pestel, née de Kroock.ок.1820;
  • Variations Sur une Romance de la composition de Mademoiselle S. de K. (cinq ans y a que connais ma Delphine): c.1820.

Literature

  • Грот Я. Пушкин, его лицейские товарищи и наставники. СПб.1887(Yakov Grot. Pushkin, ego lizeyskie tovarishchi i nastavniki(Pushkin, his Lycee friends and Tutors. SPb, 1887).
  • Ступель А. Лицейский учитель пения./Пушкин: Исследования и материалы.М-Л.1960. Т.3. (Stupel' A. Liceyski uchitel' peniya (A Lycee Music teacher)./In: Pushkin. Researches and Materials. Moscow-Leningrad, 1960. Vol.3).
  • Руденские М.П. и С.Д. Наставникам...за благо воздадим. Л.1986. (Rydensky M and S. Nastavnikam... za blago vozdadim (Let's thank our tutors....Leningrad, 1986).
  • Яценко О.А. Учитель пения: Штрихи к биографии Л-В Теппера де Фергюсона./Дома у Пушкина. СПб,1994. (Yatsenko O.A. Uchitel' peniya: shtrikhi k biografii L-W Teppera de Fergusona (The music teacher: some additions to the biography of L-W Tepper de Ferguson). In: At Pushkin's home. SPb, 1994).

Records

Oleg Timofeyev. Talisman, Music of Russian Princesses: From the Court of Catherine the Great (Dorian Records, 2001)[2]

References

  1. ^ Fischer Th A. The Scots in Germany. Being a contribution towards the history of the Scot abroad. 1902; Campbell Lock. Ferguson of Inverurie: Ferguson-Tepper. Notes And Queries. S.III. June 24, 1911. P.489
  2. ^ Smolenski Wladislaw. Miezczanstwo warszawskie w koncu XVIII w. Warszawa. 1976. с.79.
  3. ^ The Scots Magazine, Vol.41, 1779. P.341
  4. ^ The Scots Magazine, Vol.48, 1786. P.364
  5. ^ www.familysearch.org
  6. ^ Pininsky, Peter. The Stuart's Last Secret. P.65; The Scottish Antiquary, or, Northern Notes and Queries. 1889.
  7. ^ Rogowski Wojciech. Fergusson-Tepper’s Falenty: the episode of free banking in Poland in the 18th century.- [1].
  8. ^ Pininski, Peter, The Stuarts' Last Secret. Tuckwell Press, 2001; Corp Ed.[ed.] The Stuart Court in Rome: The Legacy of Exile. 2003.
  9. ^ http://darussia.blogspot.com/2007/06/os-velho-na-rssia.html
  10. ^ «Сын отечества» (Syn Otechestva, Son of the Vatherland), 1818. Part 49, № 45, P. 332.
  11. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~colin/Ferguson/DNA/GEN/Inverurie.
  12. ^ Ferguson of Inverurie.-http://dna.cfsna.net/GEN/Inverurie.html. Last access 2.10.2010.
  13. ^ The Scots Magazine, Vol.48, 1786. P.364; Davidson, John. Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch. Edinburgh, 1878. P.483.
  14. ^ Spis pochowanych na cmentarzu ewangelicko-reformowanym w Warszawie. http://sowa.website.pl/cmentarium/Cmentarze/spisKalw.html
  15. ^ Notice that the family relations in the referred article "Jan Henryk Wolodkowicz" are incorrect. Anna-Isabel was the daughter of Peter Ferguson-Tepper and sister of Phillip-Bernard Ferguson-Tepper.
  16. ^ Paris, France & Vicinity Marriages, 1700-1907. Record for Louis Guillaume de Tepper Ferguson./www.ancestry.com. Last access 02.10.2010.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ludwig-Wilhelm_Tepper_de_Ferguson&oldid=449602643"