Towards the biography of Tsar’s singing clerk Vasiliy Titov: new sources

Abstract

The article introduces into scholarly use new historical sources related to the biography of Vasily Titov, an outstanding composer and teacher of the of the time of Peter the Great. In the full-text information retrieval system «Boyar Lists of the 18th Century», the year of the musician's death was revealed – 1709, which allows us critically evaluate the previously expressed hypotheses about Titov's life after 1709, to make adjustments to the dating of singing collections that were previously considered lifetime. In the Act Books of the City of Moscow, was found an indication of Titov's place of residence, his courtyard in Zamoskvorechye, in middle Sadovniki, in the parish of the Church of Sophia the Wisdom of God. This information gives grounds for judging about the Titov's high position in society, reveals Titov's indirect connection with the colonel of the Akhtyrsky Cossack regiment Ivan Perekrestov and his musicians, and the possible social circle of the sovereign's singing clerk (d’yaki). The article contains the first publication of the archival document of 1688 “Questioning speeches of the sovereign singer Maxim Semenov Lipsky about his escape from the courtyard of the singer Vasily Titov”, which is stored in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. The author of the article analyzed the names mentioned in the document, including Ivan Perekrestov and his organist, Princess Sofya Alekseevna and close boyar Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn, other nobles, Archbishop of Chernigov Lazar Baranovich and his deacon, the sovereign's choristers; supplemented information about the biography of Maxim Lipsky. The materials of the interrogation of the runaway singer are an important source of information, to some extent compensating for the lack of personal documents