Rector of the Imperial Tomsk University N.A. Gezekhus and music (by one letter)

On September 6, 1888, classes began in the first Siberian University of the entire vast Asian territory of the Russian Empire. Young educators came to Tomsk for teaching, including the most senior physicist at the time, N.A. Gezekhus (he was 43). Here he was appointed Rector. Nikolai Gezekhus (1845-1918) graduated from St. Petersburg University in 1869. In 1871-1872 he had an internship in Berlin with G. Gelmgolts, then worked in his alma-mater, received a Master's Degree and a Ph.D. In the summer of 1888 he went to Siberia. Before coming here, on the banks of the Neva in his spare time on Fridays, Gezekhus regularly visited the home of patron Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev (1836-1903), where in a circle of friends played music in an amateur string quartet. The whole year, being far from his native land, Professor Gezekhus greatly missed St. Petersburg circle and regularly corresponded with M.P. Belyaev reporting on his life in Siberia. One of the three authentic letters found in the archives of Glinka Museum of Musical Culture is published the first time ever in this paper. In this letter, dated November 7, 1888, Gezekhus tells his colleague in the quartet about the musical life in the remote town of Tomsk, where for almost 10 years there was a branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society (IRMS). The analysis of the text of the letter makes it possible to determine the role of the Tomsk branch of IRMS in the occurrence and development of various forms of education of citizens through classical music and its role in the organization of the orchestra and choir, teaching students to read and write music and play the instruments. Organization of an orchestra in all provincial offices IRMS was always the weak link and a burning issue solved by all means possible. The letter mentions the names of local enthusiasts, music lovers, and first professional musicians, who did a lot of work in the field of musical enlightenment (e.g., spouses K.I. and G.S. Tomashinsky, pianist Yadviga Zaleskaya), and the names of touring musicians (cellist A. Verbov and conductor A. Tershak) instilling a taste for the latest models of foreign and Russian musical literature and leaving an imprint on the whole culture of the West Siberian province by their concert programs. The details of the letter give a picture of the formation of a specific socio-cultural environment of the Siberian city where there was a process specific to the provincial towns in Russia in the post-reform period in its history.

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