Zhilin, Aleksey Dmitriyevich

(b Kursk province, c1766; d Moscow, c1848). Russian composer. At the age of six months he lost his sight, but nevertheless he learnt to play the piano, violin, cello and guitar. In 1808 he was appointed Kapellmeister of the Institute for Blind Workers in St Petersburg, where he directed the orchestra and gave concerts. He left the Institute in 1818, and after a brief sojourn in Moscow went to live in his home town of Kursk. He returned to Moscow in 1837, where he remained until his death.

His first known composition is a song written in 1809; the following year in St Petersburg he produced a Journal de musique pour le piano-forte, which was intended solely as a collection of his own compositions. The Journal contains six polonaises, one of which has a part for solo voice, six marches, quadrilles, waltzes and écossaises, together with variations on six Russian folk tunes. Some of these piano pieces were published in the first volume of the keyboard anthology Russkaya fortepiannaya muzïka (ed. N.A. Kopchevsky, Moscow, 1986). In 1814 some of Zhilin’s songs were published in an eight-part collection entitled Erato. These short strophic pieces have a melodic and harmonic vocabulary which, if not adventurous, is attractive in its simplicity; the sentimental texts are chosen from the works of Zhukovsky, Kheraskov and some minor poets such as Neledinsky-Meletsky and Dmitriyev. His song Malyutka shlem nosya (‘The Little Lad in the Helmet’) is composed to a text from A.F. Merzlyakov’s play Velizariy, first produced in 1806. As well as composing a piano concerto (performed 1815), Zhilin also wrote an overture for full orchestra. The scores of both works are lost.

GEOFFREY NORRIS

Zhilyayev, Nikolay Sergeyevich

(b Kursk, 6/18 Oct 1881; d 20 Jan 1938). Russian critic, composer and teacher. A member of the London Geographic Society. Zhilyayev first studied with Taneyev (1896–1900) and was one of his favourite pupils; he later studied with Ippolitov-Ivanov at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1905. His activity as a composer was limited to the period 1905–9, and several of his works were published by Jurgenson. After a round-the-world trip during which he visited Grieg at his house in Troldhaugen (1907), he appeared as a pianist with the singer M. Deysha-Sionitskaya at the Muzïkal'nïye vïstavki (‘Musical Exhibitions’) in Moscow. He was active as a music critic and wrote for the journals Zolotoye runo (‘The Golden Fleece’), Moskovskiy yezhenedel'nik (‘Moscow Weekly’), Muzïka (‘Music’) and for the newspaper Rul' (‘The Rudder’) (in which he used the pseudonym Peer Gynt). One of Skryabin’s close friends, Zhilyayev made editorial corrections to a number of his works during the composer’s final years, including the piano sonatas nos.8, 9 and 10. Not long before World War I Zhilyayev began teaching; among his first pupils were Stanchinsky, Feinberg and Anatoly Aleksandrov; as a member of the editorial board of the Music Sector of Gosizdat during the 1920s and 30s, he edited Skryabin’s complete works (in 1933 he was responsible for the publication of a symphony by Debussy written in his youth). Professor of composition at the Moscow Conservatory (1926–30, 1933–7), his pupils there included Yevgeny Golubev, Aram Khachaturian, L. Knipper, Kirill Kondrashin, A. Spadavecchia and D. Zhitomirsky. Zhilyayev was a victim of the Stalinist purges.

WRITINGS

‘Rimskiy-Korsakov’, Zolotoye runo (1908) nos.7–9, pp.114–16

‘Wanda Landowska i starinnaya muzïka’ [Wanda Landowska and early music], Rul' (1909), no.153

‘A.N. Skryabin i yego tvorchestvo’ [A.N. Skryabin and his work], Rul' (1909), no.159

‘Shopen i Shumann (parallel')’ [Chopin and Schumann (a parallel)], Moskovskiy yezhenedel'nik (1910), no.30

‘Muzïka Griga k dramaticheskoy poėme Ibsena “Pyora Ginta”’ [Grieg’s incidental music to Ibsen’s ‘Peer Gynt’], Muzïka, lxlviii (1912)

‘Deystvitel'no li na Verdi otrazilos' vliyaniye Vagnera? (Po povodu yubileya Verdi)’ [Was the influence of Wagner really reflected in Verdi? (A propos Verdi’s jubilee)], Maski, ii (1913–14)

with K. Kuznetsov: ‘Tsezar' Frank’ [César Franck], Muzïka (1922), 4

‘K voprosu o podlinnom tekste sochineniy Skryabina’ [On the question of Skryabin’s urtexts], Muzïkal'naya nov' (1923), no.1, pp.9–11

‘Kharakternïye chertï tvorchestva Prokof'yeva’ [Characteristic features in the works of Prokofiev], Istoriya russkoy muzïki v issledovaniyakh i materialakh [The history of Russian music in research and materials], i (Moscow, 1924), 125–33

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ye. Golubev: ‘Nikolay Sergeyevich Zhilyayev’, Vïdayushchiyesya deyateli teoretiko-kompozitorskogo fakul'teta Moskovskoy konservatorii [Outstanding figures from the faculty of theory and composition at the Moscow Conservatory] (Moscow, 1966), 58–62

K. Kondrashin: ‘Vospominaniya o N.S. Zhilyayeve’ [Reminisciences about Zhilyayev], O dirizhorskom iskusstve [On the art of conducting] (Leningrad and Moscow, 1970)

G. Frid: ‘Tridtsatïye godï: konservatoriya: N.S. Zhilyayev’ [The thirties: the conservatory: Zhilyayev], SovM (1991), no.3, pp.6–12

V. Blok: ‘Ob Ėdvarde Grige i ne tol'ko o nyom’ [On Grieg and not only about him], MAk (1994), no.4, pp.132–44

MIKHAIL MISHCHENKO

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