Ella Adayevskaya

Ella von Schultz-Adaïewsky; (Ella Georgiyevna Adayevskaya) ; 26 July 1926) was a Russian-German composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. Note: “Adayevskaya” is an incorrect appellation. Adaïewsky purposely selected a Russian male pseudonym to hide her identity as a female Protestant composer of German descent in Imperial Russia. She explained that she derived the first letters of her artist name (A-D-A) from the opening motif of the overture to Mikhail Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. Adaïewsky wrote vocal music (including choral works), chamber music, and two operas. She also edited a collection of Italian songs and published writings on folk music and the music of ancient Greece. Life Born in St. Petersburg on 22 February 1846 as Elizaveta/Elisabeth von Schultz, as the daughter of the prominent Estophile of Baltic German heritage Georg Julius von Schultz. Adaïewsky began learning the piano in childhood. Amongst her teachers were Adolf von Henselt, Anton Rubinstein, and Alexander Dreyschock. She studied composition with Alexander Famintsyn and Nikolai Zaremba. Adayevskaya was a pseudonym derived from the notes A, D, and A, played by the kettledrum in Mikhail Glinka’s opera Rus