Matinsky, Mikhail Alekseyevich
(1750–1820)
Matinsky [Matéensky], Mikhail Alekseyevich (1750, Pokrovsk, M. distr.; 1820 [c.1825], P.). Playwright and pedagogue. A serf and illegitimate son of Count Yaguzhinsky, he studied in M. and Italy, then taught geometry, geography, and history at the Smolny Institute in P. (1779–1802). Wrote the librettos for Pashkevich's The Pasha of Tunis (1783) and The St. Petersburg Bazaar (1782/92; [female choruses] D2977), an early attempt to introduce Russian elements (such as folk songs and local settings)…