EMPRESS ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA
In childhood, Alexander, like all girls in her circle, received a solid musical education. Her music teacher, director of the Darmstadt Opera, praised the young princess’s musical talents. The Empress’s main instrument was the piano. Her taste in music was expressed in her love for Wagner.
Having become empress, Alexandra Feodorovna did not abandon her music studies. Moreover, after 1905, the Empress invited professional teachers to the Alexander Palace. She played duets with the pianist Professor Küninger, who came to her every week for several hours. She took singing lessons from Professor N.A. Iretskaya from the Conservatory. Apparently, these classes were associated with the desire of the empress to sing duets with her grown-up daughters. Nicholas II came to half of his wife to listen to how she and Vyrubova in four hands played Tchaikovsky’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. Those who heard the Empress’s performance argued that «Her Majesty was an excellent pianist and played with amazing enthusiasm.»
Alexandra Feodorovna, according to A.A. Vyrubova, possessed a «wonderful contralto». Naturally, there were also home concerts. Baroness Maria Shtakelberg (nee Kaulbars), the Taneyev sisters, Countess Emma Fredericks, as well as «Mrs. X and Mrs. Z — two famous opera singers» sang a duet with the Empress. However, these home concerts soon ceased. The official pretext was heart problems; Alexandra Feodorovna developed them around 1908.
