Daniil Pokhitonov
Daniil Ilyich Pokhitonov (1878–1957) was a conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre and a professor at the Leningrad Conservatory. He was named People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1957. He was born on April 8, 1878, in Raivola, Finland, where his father worked as an accountant at an iron foundry. He completed the local rural school and had five brothers.
Pokhitonov graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1905, studying piano with S. F. Tsurmyulen and composition theory and orchestration with Anatoly Lyadov, Alexander Glazunov, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His early teachers also included the rural teachers P. I. Travin and I. V. Ornatsky, the priest Gavriil Rozanov, the psalmist S. A. Kamenev, and Anastasia Obolenskaya, the widow of a deacon.
From 1905, he worked as a pianist-accompanist and choirmaster. He conducted at the Mariinsky Theatre from 1909 to 1956 and also conducted at the Maly Opera Theatre from 1918 to 1932. His Mariinsky debut came when he replaced the ill Felix Blumenfeld in a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden in 1909. Eduard Nápravník encouraged his future as a conductor. Pokhitonov became known for his command of the operatic repertoire, precise reproduction of scores, strong technique, and sensitive ensemble playing as an accompanist. He worked mainly in the classical repertoire.
A significant stage in his development was a 1912 performance of Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina in Moscow with Feodor Chaliapin, who subsequently sang in many productions conducted by Pokhitonov, including Boris Godunov, The Maid of Pskov, Rusalka, Judith, The Power of the Enemy, Mozart and Salieri, and The Barber of Seville. As a choirmaster, Pokhitonov took part in Russian opera tours in Paris and London in 1913, where Chaliapin appeared in Boris Godunov, Khovanshchina, and The Maid of Pskov. Pokhitonov later partnered Chaliapin on several recordings. Singers including Leonid Sobinov, Ivan Ershov, and Ivan Alchevsky valued his advice.
Pokhitonov taught opera ensemble and wind-orchestra conducting in 1919 and from 1938 to 1941, and became a professor at the Leningrad Conservatory in 1939. His operatic productions included Khovanshchina, The Barber of Seville, Eugene Onegin, Auber's La muette de Portici, Boito's Mefistofele, The Power of the Enemy, Serov's Judith, Lohengrin, Pagliacci, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Lakmé, The Maid of Pskov, Nápravník's Dubrovsky, and Carmen. He wrote From the Past of Russian Opera, published in Leningrad in 1949. He died in Leningrad on December 31, 1957.