Boris Fitinhof-Schell

Who was Boris Fitinhof-Schell?

Baron Boris Alexandrovich Fitinhoff-Schell, a.k.a. Baron Boris Vietinghof-Scheel or Baron Schell was a Russian composer.

Fitinhoff-Schell was trained at the Moscow Conservatory under Field and Henselt, and was a classmate of Tchaikovsky's. His most noted work are the ballets The Haarlem Tulip and Cinderella, composed for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg. He also scored four operas for the St. Petersburg Imperial Opera, which were commissioned by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, director of the Imperial Theatres. His Wedding March, scored especially for the wedding of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna is still occasionally heard.

Fitinhoff-Schell is also noted for his Fantastic Overture to his opera Mazeppa, in which whole-tone scales were profusely employed. Franz Liszt greatly appreciated this piece, describing its effect as " ... terrifying to all long and protruding ears." Liszt himself made use of the whole-tone scale in his Divina Commedia, illustrating the Inferno, and he used it systematically in his posthumously published organ and late piano pieces.