Abstract

Carlo Evasio Soliva in Warsaw and St Petersburg: legends and documents The Italian composer Carlo Evasio Soliva (1791–1853), the son of Swiss emigrants, is known in Poland primarily as the conductor thanks to whom the very successful premiere of Chopin’s Concerto in E minor, Op. 11 took place, and also as a teacher with a controversial reputation. Disputes over his musical and pedagogical achievements continue to this day, mainly due to the fragmentary analysis of his compositional legacy scattered across the European countries where he was active (Italy, Poland, Russia, France). The twenty years he spent in the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian Empire – one-third of his life – saw him reach the peak of his professional career. So those crucial years are worth particular attention. Linking together facts gathered from Polish and Russian sources allows for a more objective look at Soliva’s output. Documentation from St Petersburg archives helps us to reconstruct the further course of his career, and above all to describe the stage that became a watershed in his life as a musician and is therefore important for the assessment of his activities. Working among numerous Western European musicians in the Venice of the North, exposed to a high level of competition, he failed to hold onto his teaching position, his music did not bring him fame as a composer and he did not become a renowned conductor. The collected information sheds new light on the doubts raised at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Warsaw musicians questioning Soliva’s qualifications. His peers in St Petersburg esteemed this welltrained Italian musician, who enjoyed success in Milan above all as a first-rate lecturer in music theory.