b. 1937 Russian pianist and conductor Ashkenazy studied at the Central School of Music and the Moscow Conservatory. He won second prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955, first prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels in 1956, and joint first prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962. His London debut came in 1963 ...
1904–89 American pianist Horowitz studied in his native Russia and gave concerts in Kiev, Moscow and Leningrad before his debut in Berlin in 1925. His New York and London debuts followed in 1928. He settled in the US in 1940. In later life he restricted his concert appearances, but he continued to make recordings. He performed again in the ...
1903–91 Chilean pianist Arrau studied at Stern’s Conservatory in Berlin – where he taught 1924–40 – giving his first recital in 1914. He toured Europe in 1918, and gave concerts in Argentina and Chile in 1921. He made his London debut in 1922 and US in 1923. After founding a piano school in Santiago, he moved to New York. ...
(Sâr’-ga Va-sil-ya’-vech Rakh-ma’-ne-nof) 1873–1943 Russian composer Rachmaninov studied with Arensky and Taneyev in Moscow, graduating with the Great Gold Medal in 1892. The same year, he composed his famous Prelude in C sharp minor. In 1897, the premiere of his First Symphony had a hostile reception and he ceased composing for three years. However, he was able to ...
Glinka, the ‘father of Russian music’, was the first composer to forge a distinctively Russian style. Previously, during the reigns of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, music at the Imperial court had been directed by leading Italian opera composers such as Baldassare Galuppi (1706–85), Giovanni Paisiello (1740–1816) and Domenico ...
From the 1950s, several composers began to discover the compositional possibilities in the technology of radio stations and specialized studios. Important centres were: Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, New York, founded in 1951 by Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening; Studio für Elektronische Musik, Cologne, established by Herbert Eimert in 1951; Studio di Fonologia, Milan, established ...
The Modern Age was characterized by rapid and radical change and political turmoil. By 1918 the Russian tsar, the Habsburg emperor and the German kaiser had lost their thrones. The two Russian revolutions of 1917 resulted in a Communist government led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was fragmented to allow self-determination to the newly formed countries of Czechoslovakia ...
Boris Godunov, the only project out of nine that Mussorgsky completed himself, has been cited as the great masterpiece of nineteenth-century Russian opera – with its thrilling crowd scenes, historic panorama and the chilling power of its principal character. Boris was unusual in having its chief male role written for a bass voice and for the ‘sung prose’ ...
Eugene Onegin was written after the disaster of Tchaikovsky’s marriage in 1877, and was also influenced by his platonic relationship with his admirer and patron Nadezhda von Meck. Tchaikovsky began Eugene Onegin by writing the famous ‘letter scene’ from Act I, in which the heroine Tat’yana spends the night writing to Onegin, telling him of her love for ...
Khovanshchina (‘The Khovansky Affair’), a dark opera, full of conspiracy, gloom and imminent violence, was based on a historical event. In 1682, the future modernizing tsar Peter the Great (1672–1725) was made co-ruler of Russia with his mentally retarded half-brother Ivan V (1666–96). At this time, introducing Greek and Latin practices into the Russian Church was ...
Composed: 1869–70, completed 1874–87 Premiered: 1890, St Petersburg Libretto by the composer, after Vladimir Vasil’yevich Stasov Prologue Ignoring an eclipse of the sun, Prince Igor prepares to leave Putivl’ for a campaign against the pagan Polovtsï, accompanied by his son Vladimir. Skula and Yeroshka, two musicians, decide to desert. Igor refuses to listen to the ...
Composed: 1907–09 Premiered: 1909, Moscow Libretto by Vladimir Nikolayevich Bel’sky after Alexander Pushkin Prologue An astrologer warns the audience that the story has a moral. Act I King Dodon’s country is surrounded by enemies. He is not satisfied by the advice offered by his sons, Guidon and Afron, or by General Polkan. The astrologer offers a magic golden ...
Based on a series of eight Hogarth paintings, this opera was first performed on 11 September 1951 at Il Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In The Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky’s neo-classical style maintains a clear delineation of musical numbers separated by recitatives (accompanied by harpsichord), and as such it has often been considered a stylistic companion to the works of ...
(Al-yek-san’-der Skre-a’-bin) 1872–1915 Russian composer and pianist Scriabin’s early music, nearly all for piano, is close to Chopin, but his philosophical and religious views (he was influenced by Nietzsche and, more strongly, by theosophy) brought a rhapsodic and visionary quality that continued to intensify throughout his short life. Convinced that music has a religious power and ...
(Al-fred Shnit’-ke) 1934–98 Russian composer The most striking aspect of Schnittke’s music is its combination of a multitude of styles. His Symphony No. 1 (1972) contains quotations from many composers – from Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93). The Concerti grossi parody Baroque styles with a degree of wit. Unlike other exponents of collage style, Schnittke retains a ...
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