Antoine Bullant, also Anton Bullandt (Russian: Антон Булландт or Антуан Бюлан, born: February 9 1751 in Mělník, Bohemia — died: June 25 [OS 13] 1821 St Petersburg) was a Czech musician (bassoon player) and opera composer that worked first in France but primarily in Imperial Russia.

[edit] Name and place of birth

Antoine Bullant is also sometimes referred to as Jean Bullant (Жан Бюлан) or Anton Bullandt. However, most current scholarly sources refer to him as Antoine Bullant as all 18th-century printed and manuscript copies of his own works spell the name ‘Bullant’. In Russian his name was also transliterated as Булан, Булант, Буллант and sometimes "trans-transliterated" in other languages (e.g., in German, in lists of operas) as Bulant, Bullanto, Bullault, Bullandt, Bjulan.

For many years scholars debated whether Bullandt was born in France or Bohemia, but recent research has settled this confusion by the discovery of his birth record in the Mělník register. This find confirms Bohumír Jan Dlabač’s prior assertion about his Bohemian origins. The register gives the names of his parents as Josef Bulant from Mělník and his wife Kateřina.

[edit] Biography

There is no record of Bullant’s life prior to his first published works in Paris in 1772. His musical training and exactly when or why he went to France are unknown. Some evidence suggests inconclusively that Bullant may have played in the orchestra at the theatre that Prince August Anton Joseph Lobkowitz maintained on his Mělník estate. It is possible that Bullant’s departure for Paris may have been connected with Prince Lobkowicz’s departure for Madrid (1772–6) as the imperial ambassador at the royal court, where he may have taken some of his musicians.

Regardless, Bullant arrived in Paris in either 1771 or 1772, and there published his first known works, the quartets op.2, in 1772. A Marchese di Brancas became his patron as the title-page of his Quatre sinfonie a grand orchestro op.5 (1773) identified him as "Virtuoso di Musica de S.E. il Sigr. Marchese di Brancas". The opus is dedicated to Count Stroganov, the tsar’s chamberlain and a well-known patron of the arts, who was visiting Paris in 1772. It is possible that Bullant's meeting with Stroganov led to his move to St Petersburg in 1780. Bullandt left Paris in either 1778 or 1779, possibly via Bohemia.

Bullant gave his first concert in St Petersburg as a virtuoso bassoonist in either November or December 1780, playing some of his own works. By January 1783 he had given at least four other concerts and in June of that year he was engaged as a bassoonist at the court of Catherine II. Shortly thereafter he successfully produced the first comic opera that can be definitely attributed to him, Sbitenshchik (The Merchant of Mead). Following this first success, Bullant proceded to compose numerous other Russian-language operas in both St Petersburg and Moscow until 1799.

In 1784, Bullant lost his position as the court bassoonist, and subsequently opened a music shop that sold primarily keyboard instruments imported from England. He later expanded the shop's inventory to include string and wind instruments. In 1785 he was hired again as bassoonist with the first orchestra of the imperial theatre, a post which he may have held only until 1792, or possibly until his death in 1821. He earned an annual salary of 600 rubles for his work as a bassoonist, which was a typical income for foreign musicians in the orchestra. In 1787 he was commissioned by the court to compose a prologue with choruses and ballets for the 25th anniversary of Empress Catherine’s reign. That same year he went to Moscow, possibly accompanied by Catherine, for his first performance in that city. He remained there for a year or two, as four comic operas attributed to him were produced there in 1787–8. In 1802 Bullant founded the St Petersburg Philharmonic Society (1802), where he served as director for almost two decades. In 1821, shortly before his death, he was granted a small pension by the society.

[edit] Works

He wrote a large number of operas with Russian librettos, often within Russian national settings, some of which were written by Yakov Knyazhnin. The most successful of them was Sbitenshchik (Сбитеньщик — Sbiten Vendor), comic opera in 3 acts, written to the libretto by Yakov Knyazhnin. It was a remake of Molière's L'école des femmes. The opera was staged 1783 or 1784 in St Petersburg, at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, and was played until 1853;

He was also credited for several famous comic operas of that time probably by mistake, because some of them, were also atrributed to other composers like Ivan Kerzelli and Vasily Pashkevich):

• Lyubovnik - koldun (Любовник-колдун — The Lover-Magician, one-act opera, libretto by Nikolai Nikolev, 1772 Moscow), that was also attributed to Ivan Kerzelli;
• Gorbatye (Горбатые — The Hunchbacked People, 1779 St Petersburg);
• Torzhestvo dobrodeteli nad krasotoy (Торжество добродетели над красотой — Celebration of Virtues Above the Beauty 1780, St Petersburg);
• Kuznets (Кузнец — The Blacksmith, 1780 St Petersburg);
• Muzhya-zhenikhi svoikh zhon (Мужья-женихи своих жён — The Husbands-bride-grooms of their Wives, 1784 St Petersburg),
• Sbitenshchik (Сбитеньщик — Sbiten Vendor), comic opera in 3 acts, libretto: Yakov Knyazhnin after Molière, 1783 or 1784, St Petersburg, Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, ;
• The Fisherman and Spirit (Рыбак и Дух — The Fisherman and Spirit , 1787);
• Milovzor and Prelesta (Миловзор и Прелеста, 1787);
• Dobrodetelny Volshebnik (Добродетельный волшебник — Virtuous Vizard), dramatic opera in 5 acts, libretto: Yakov Knyazhnin, Moscow, 1787;
• Gipsy (Цыган, 1788);
• Kak pozhivyosh, tak i proslyvyosh (Как поживёшь, так и прослывёшь — As you live you will be judged, libretto by Mikhail Matinsky, 1792 St. Petersburg) — revision of Saint-Petersburg's Trade Stalls that was also attributed to Vasily Pashkevich;
• Vinetta, ili Taras v Ulye (Винетта, или Тарас в улье — Vinetta, or Taras in a Beehive), comic opera in 2 acts, libretto: K. Damsky, 1799, St Petersburg;
• Skupoyr (Скупой — The Miser, libretto by Yakov Knyazhnin after Molière, 1782?, 1811 St Petersburg & Moscow that was also attributed to Vasily Pashkevich;
• Pritvirno sumashedshaya (Притворно сумасшедшая — Hypocritically Mad Woman'), etc.

[edit] References

• Aleksandr Polovtsov, Russian Biographical Dictionary (Русский Биографический Словарь)
• Barry S. Brook, Richard Viano, & Jitka Brabcová: "Antoine Bullant", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 04, 2008), (subscription access)