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History "Little Tragedies" were founded in 1994 by
the graduate of St. Petersburg Conservatory, composer Gennady Ilyin, in
the city of Kursk. The band's first album which was called "Little
tragedies-I" was focused on the genre of instrumental suite,
variations, different combinations of classic, contemporary and rock
music. It was more like improvisations without lyrics and
vocals. The composer was interested in working with pure music. The
XX-th century is characteristic of the continuity in music finding
itself not in the quotations of melodies, harmonies, forms, but only in
allusions. It may be just a polyfunctional chord, a short theme-symbol.
Listening to and analyzing the music became more delicate and precise
and at the same time deeper and more complicated.
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Although
first the band was a quartet, it was "Emerson, Lake and
Palmer"-oriented with a reliance on the soloing keyboards. But it was
not an imitation, it was just a hint at where "Little Tragedies"
originally
come from. In fact, it was quite a heavy art-rock with an improvisation
accent. Analog instruments allowed Ilyin to develop and improve various
ways of playing Moog-synths. Unfortunately, the group's first album was
never recorded, and it exists only on an amateur videotape made from
the group's only concert at that moment.
The
major theme is based on the tunes and allusions to the
Catholic
Easter worship service in the
Notre-Dame Cathedral. It is true that "Little Tragedies" of that period
very much remind of E.L.P.: a battery of keyboards - drums - bass; hard
rhythm section support and soloing keyboards. More than once the group
presented the symphony in music schools and concert halls. Although
this symphony was recorded in a professional studio in
Moscow it remained
unrecognized.
In
1998-1999 G. Ilyin recorded his solo albums "The Sun of
Spirit" and "Porcelain
Pavilion" to the poems of N.Gumilev, and instrumental
albums "Christmas Music" and "Passions For 
Titanic" at the "ART-TECHNOLOGY" studio in
Moscow. "The Sun of the Spirit" and
"Porcelain
Pavilion" were released by the label "Boheme Music" in 2000 with the
name "Little Tragedies" thanks to the great help of Igor Mikhel
(guitar) and Evgeny Shchukin (sound engineer). At that period
"Little Tragedies" were a project of an affinity group rather than
musicians, that is why it was decided to keep the original name, as
there was still a feeling of a band, though studio-like. There is a
video clip left from those times featuring one of the most impressive
songs of "Porcelain Pavilion" - "The Road" (The Way).
In
summer 2000, Alexander Malakhovsky (guitar) and
Aleksey Bildin (saxophone)
joined the trio. With the full line-up the
group worked on the last album of the
trilogy to the poems of N.
Gumilev - "Return" (the first were "The Sun of the Spirit"
and "Porcelain
Pavilion"). The band gave a few concerts with the music in Kursk, and
in spring 2003 presented this project at "SKIF" - the international
music festival in memory of Sergey Kurekhin - in St. Petersburg.
The first
‘draft’ material (5 hours of music) with the themes
of Faust was composed in 1997-98. These
were improvisations sketching the musical language of the future album.
“New Faust” was not intended as an illustration of
Goethe’s Faust. Here Faust is not only the character of a
national drama who is conflicting with the society, he is a man of the
universe seeking ways to cleanse his soul and acquire spirit. 
