Zhitomirsky, Aleksandr Matveyevich

(b Kherson, Ukraine, 11/23 May 1881; d Leningrad, 16 Dec 1937). Russian composer and teacher. He studied the violin under Ye. Mlïnarsky in Odessa (1892–97) and under K. Prill in Vienna (1898–1900) where he also attended a course in composition and the piano. In the 1900s he entered the St Petersburg Conservatory, studying under Rimsky-Korsakov (orchestration and composition) and Lyadov, graduating in 1910. He later taught there (1915–37) and in 1919 he became a professor. Many outstanding musicians graduated from his class including Andrey Balanchivadze, Mikhail Chulaki, Aleksandr Gauk, Khristofor Kushnaryov, Aleksandr Melik-Pashayev and Mikhail Yudin.

WORKS

Orch: Simfonicheskaya poėma, op.10, 1915; Suite, 1929; Geroicheskaya poėma [Heroic Poem], 1933; ‘Vesenneye’, poėma pamyati N. Rimskogo-Korsakova [‘Vernal’, a Poem in Memory of Rimsky-Korsakov], 1933; Traurnoye shestviye pamyati S. Kirova [Funeral Procession in Memory of S. Kirov], 1935; Vn Conc., 1937

Chbr: Str Qt, c1923; pieces for violin, cello and piano

7 russkikh narodnïkh pesen [7 Russian Folk Songs] 1v, str qt; Obrabotka yevreyskikh pesen [Arrangement of Jewish Songs] 1 solo v, chorus, pf; romances (1v, pf)

MIKHAIL MISHCHENKO

Zhitomirsky, Daniil' Vladimirovich

(b Pavlodar, Yekaterinoslav province, 9/22 Dec 1906; d Moscow, 27 June 1992). Russian musicologist and critic. He studied the theory of music at Kharkiv Conservatory under S.S. Bogatïryov and later studied the theory and history of music with Ivanov-Boretsky and composition with Zhilyayev at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1931. He took the Kandidat degree in 1942 with a dissertation on Tchaikovsky and the doctorate in 1968 with a dissertation on Schumann. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he was a member of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) and, as music critic, was on the editorial staff for the journals Proletarskiy muzïkant (‘The Proletarian Musician’) and Za proletarskuyu muzïku (‘For Proletarian Music’). He began teaching the history of music at the Moscow Conservatory in 1931. He was forced to leave his post in 1937 and despite being quickly reinstated was once again dismissed in 1948, in connection this time with the campaign against cosmopolitanism. He continued his teaching career at the conservatories of Azerbaijan in Baku (1949–53) and Gor'kiy (1955–70) and in 1965 became a senior scientific officer at the Moscow Institute for the History of Art.

Schumann and the aesthetics of German romanticism form the central themes of Zhitomirsky's research work. For his monograph on Schumann, as well as his work on Schumann's letters and articles, he was awarded the International Schumann Prize in 1966. He also studied Russian musical culture focussing on the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Remarkable in this respect was his study of Skryabin, a composer whose creative work he examined for the first time in all its diverse associations with the spiritual strivings of the age. He also wrote on Soviet composers of the 1920s such as Davidenko, Kastal'sky and in particular Shostakovich. In his articles, reviews and reminiscenes on Shostakovich, Zhitomirsky displayed his nonconformist attitude that was also evident in his presentation at the Leningrad conference of 1968, which shed new light on the history of Soviet music. His study of contemporary Western music is also notable with his article ‘K izucheniyu zapadno-yevropeyskoy muzïki XX veka’ (‘Towards a Study of Western European Music of the 20th Century’) being a landmark for Soviet musicology in overcoming the old dogmas and prohibitions. During the last years of his life, however, his attitude towards contemporary music and especially the composers of the avant garde took on a more censorial note. His book on the Western musical avant garde (1989) contains evidence of this new line of thought.

WRITINGS

‘“Nos”, opera D. Shostakovicha’ [The Nose, the opera by Shostakovich], Proletarskiy muzïkant, nos.7–8 (1929)

‘Tvorchestvo A. Davidenko’ [The creative work of Davidenko], Proletarskiy muzïkant, no.3 (1929)

Simfonicheskoye tvorchestvo Chaykovskogo [Tchaikovsky's symphonic works] (Moscow, 1936)

‘K izucheniyu stilya N.Ya. Myaskovskogo’ [Towards a study of the style of Myaskovsky], SovM (1941), no.4, pp.32–46

Kompozitori kontsa XIX – nachala XX veka [Composers at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th] (Moscow, 1945, 2/1960)

Dmitriy Shostakovich (Moscow, 1947)

ed.: Pesnennoye i khorovoye tvorchestvo sovetskikh kompozitorov [The songs and choral works of Soviet composers], i (Moscow, 1949)

Baletï P. Chaykovskogo [Tchaikovsky's ballets] (Moscow, 1950, 2/1957)

ed.: Robert Shuman (Moscow, 1955, 2/1960)

ed.: R. Shuman: izbrannïye stat'i o muzïke [Schumann: collected articles on music] (Moscow, 1956) ‘[incl. ‘Muzïkal'no-kriticheskoye naslediye Roberta Shumana’ [The musical legacy and critical articles of Schumann]]

‘Lunacharskiy – muzïkal'nïy kritik’ [Lunacharsky as a music critic], SovM (1959), no.7, pp.42–8

ed.: A.D. Kastal'skiy: Stat'i, vospominaniya, materialï [Kastal'sky: articles, reminiscences and material] (Moscow, 1960) [incl. ‘Idei i iskaniya A.D. Kastal'skogo’ [The ideas and quests of Kastal'sky]]

Robert i Klara Shuman v Rossii (Moscow, 1962)

Iz proshlogo russkoy revolyutsionnoy pesni [Russian revolutionary song in the past] (Moscow, 1963)

Robert Shuman: ocherk zhizni i tvorchestva [Schumann: a study of his life and works] (Moscow, 1964)

‘Voyennïy rekviyem Brittena’ [Britten's War Requiem], SovM (1965), no.5, pp.111–19

ed.: R. Shuman: pis'ma [Schumann's letters] (Moscow, 1970–82)

‘K izucheniyu zapadnoyevropeyskoy muzïki XX veka’ [A study of west European music of the 20th century], Sovremennoye zapadnoye iskusstvo, ed. G.A. Nedoshivin (Moscow, 1971)

‘Ideal'noye i real'noye v muzïkal'noy ėstetike Ė.T.A. Gofmana’ [Ideology and reality in Hoffmann's musical aesthetic], SovM (1973), no.8, pp.97–107

‘O garmonii Skryabina’ [On the harmony of Skryabin], A.N. Skryabin: k stoletiyu so dnya rozhdeniya (Moscow, 1973)

ed.: Robert Shuman: O muzïke i muzïkantakh [Schumann: on music and musicians] (Moscow, 1975–9)

‘Iz razmïshleniy o stile Shostakovicha’ [Reflections on the style of Shostakovich], SovM (1976), no.9, pp.55–62

‘A.N. Skryabin’, Muzïka XX veka, i–ii (Moscow, 1977)

‘O tekhnike Rompozitsii XX veke’ [On compositional technique in the 20th century], SovM (1978), no.11, pp.111–22

ed., with B.I. Zingerman and G.A. Nedoshivin: Zapadnoye iskusstvo: XX vek (Moscow, 1978) [incl. ‘K istorii muzïkal'nogo “klassitsizma” XX veka: idei F. Buzoni’ [On the history of musical ‘classicism’ of the 20th century: the ideas of Busoni]]

ed.: Iskusstvo i massï v sovremennom burzhuaznom obshchestve (Moscow, 1979, 2/1989) [incl. ‘Bunt i slepaya stikhiya (v mire pop-muzïki)’ [Revolt and the blind element (in the world of pop music)]]

Izbrannïye stat'i [Selected articles] (Moscow, 1981)

with O. Leont'yeva: ‘Uroki ukhodyashchego veka (iz razmïshleniy o krakhe avangardistskikh illyusiy)’ [Lessons from the passing century (reflections on the collapse of the illusions of the avant garde)], SovM (1981), no.3, pp.37–46; no.4, pp.53–62

‘Gofman i muzïkal'nïy teatr’ [Hoffman and the musical theatre], Khudozhestvennïy mir Ė.T.A. Gofmana, ed. I.F. Bėlza and others (Moscow, 1982)

Materialï k moyey biografii [Material for my biography] (MS, c1985–90); extracts in MAk (1993), no.2, pp.144–54; no.3, pp.15–30; (1994), no.3, pp.62–8; see also Muzïkal'naya zhizn' (1993), no.6, pp.11–12; partial Ger. trans., ed. E. Kuhn, as Blindheit als Schutz vor der Wahrheit (Berlin, 1996) [incl. list of writings]

‘O proshlom bez prikras: vospominaniya i razmïshleniya’ [The past unadorned: reminiscences and reflections], SovM (1988), no.2

‘Na puti k istoricheskoy pravde: iz vospominaniy o postanovleniyakh ob iskusstve v 1946–48 g.g.’ [On the road towards historical truth: reminiscences about the resolutions on art adopted in the period 1946–8], Muzïkal'naya zhizn' (1988), no.13

‘V trudnïye godï: G.G. Neygauz i A.G. Gabrichevskiy’ [In years of hardship: Neugauz and Gabrichevsky], Muzïkal'naya zhizn' (1988), no.12

with O. Leont'yeva and K. Myalo: Zapadnïy muzïkal'nïy avangard posle vtoroy mirovoy voynï [The Western avant garde after the Second World War] (Moscow, 1989)

‘Shostakovich ofitsial'nïy i podlinnïy’ [The official Shostakovich and the real one], Daugava (1990), no.3, pp.88–100; no.4, pp.97–108

BIBLIOGRAPHY

G.B. Bernandt and I.M. Yampol'sky: Kto pisal o muzïke [Writers on music], i (Moscow, 1971)

TAMARA NIKOLAYEVNA LEVAYA

⇐ Предыдущая14151617181920212223Следующая ⇒

Поделиться: