Alexander Glazunov Biography
Russian Composer, Teacher and Conductor of the Late Romantic Period
Alexander Glazunov, a major Russian composer and influential music teacher, is known for his ballets "The Seasons" and "Raymonda," and for completing act 3 of Borodin's famous opera Prince Igor.
Like some of his contemporaries, Glazunov also suffered hardships during the Russian Revolution and settled in other places. He died in Paris.
Early Life of Alexander Glazunov
Alexander (Konstantinovich) Glazunov, (1865-1936), was a major Russian symphonic composer of the late Russian Romantic period. For almost three years, he studied privately with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at Balakirev's suggestion. A son of a successful publisher, Russian composer Alexander Glazunov was born in St. Petersburg in 1865. He mother was a good amateur pianist who had studied with Mily Balakirev, a leader of a group of Russian composers known as "The Mighty Handful" or "The Five."
The youthful Musician: Composer and Conductor
When he was 16 years old, Glazunov showed his talent when he wrote his first symphony which was conducted by Mily Balakirev. He became a protege of the latter. At the opening of his performance, Glazunov was befriended by a wealthy patron, a timber merchant Mitrofan Belayev, who started a publishing house to support young Russian hopefuls. From the 1880s, he travelled widely in Paris and London, conducting his own works. In Weimar, he also met with Franz Liszt, who had some influence in his music.
The Influential Teacher
In 1899, he was appointed professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and after six years, he was appointed as director there until leaving the Soviet Union in 1928, when he went to live in Paris but before he did, he first went to Vienna, then toured Europe and the US. Dmitry Shostakovich was one of his prominent students in St Petersburg.
Trivia
It has been written that Glazunov ruined the premiere of Rachmaninoff's First Symphony by conducting while drunk.
List of Major works by Glazunov
- Symphony No.1, 1881
- String Quarter in D major, 1882
- Serenader No.1, 1883
- Serenade No.2, 1884
- Stenka Razin, tone poem, 1885
- Symphony No.2, 1886
- Opus 17: "Elegy" in D-flat major for cello and piano (1888)
- The Forest, fantasia, 1889
- Opus 24: "Rêverie" in D-flat major for horn and piano (1890)
- Opus 32A: "Meditation" in D major for violin and piano (1891)
- Oriental Rhapsody, 1891
- Symphony No.3, 1892
- Opus 44: Elegy in G minor for viola and piano (1893)
- Symphony No.4, 1893
- Symphony No.5, 1895
- Symphony No.6, 1896
- Raymonda, ballet, 1897
- The Seasons, ballet, 1901
- Symphony No.7, 1902
- Violin Concerto, 1904
- Symphony No.8, 1905
- Symphony No.9 (left unfinished, first performed 1948), 1909
- Piano concerto, 1911
- Epic Poem, 1933
- Saxophone Concerto, 1936
Glazunov has a significant place in the history of Russian music. He reconciled Russianism and Europeanism by absorbing Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral virtuosity, Balakirev’s nationalism, Tchaikovsky’s lyricism, Borodin’s epic grandeur, and Taneyev’s contrapuntal skill. His music has a distinctive Russian national school of composition, at the same time, influences of western Europe. He completed the act three of Borodin's famous Prince Igor after Borodin's death, collaborated in other works, and made more arrangements.
Sources:
Dictionary of Composers and their Music by Eric Gilder (1987)
The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie (1994)
Alexander Glazunov
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