Anatoly Lyadov Totally Explained

Everything about Anatoly Lyadov totally explained

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov or Liadov (Russian: Анатолий Константинович Лядов), (May 11 (old style April 29) 1855 St Petersburg - August 28 (old style August 15) 1914, Polynovka, Borovichevsky uezd, Novgorod district) was a Russian composer, teacher and conductor.

Biography

Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg into a family of eminent Russian musicians. He was taught informally by his conductor father from 1860 to 1868, and then in 1870 entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study piano and violin. He soon gave up instrumental study to concentrate on counterpoint and fugue, although he remained a fine pianist. His natural musical talent was highly thought of by, among others, Modest Mussorgsky, and during the 1870s he became associated with the group of composers known as The Mighty Handful. He entered the composition classes of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, but was expelled for absenteeism in 1876. In 1878 he was readmitted to these classes to help him complete his graduation composition.

Teacher

He taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1878, his pupils including Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Mikhail Gnesin and Boris Asafiev. Consistent with his character, he was a variable, but at times brilliant instructor. Conductor Nikolai Malko, who studied harmony with him at the conservatory, wrote, "Lyadov's critical comments were always precise, clear, understandable, constructive, and brief.... And it was done indolently, without haste, sometimes seemingly disdainfully. He could suddenly stop in midword, take out a small scissors from his pocket and start doing something with his fingernail, while we all waited." Stravinsky remarked that Lyadov was as strict with himself as he was with his pupils, writing with great precision and demanding fine attention to details. Prokofiev recalled that even the most innocent musical innovations drove the conservative Lyadov crazy. "Shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking in his soft woolen shoes without heels, he'd say, 'I don't understand why you're studying with me. Go to Richard Strauss. go to Debussy.' This was said in a tone that meant 'Go to the devil!'" Still, Lyadov told his acquaintances about Prokofiev. "I am obliged to teach him. He must form his technique, his style—first in piano music." In 1905 he resigned briefly over the dismissal of Rimsky-Korsakov only to return when Rimsky-Korsakov was reinstated.

Glazunov, Belayev and Tchaikovsky

Lyadov introduced timber millionaire Mitrofan Belyayev (M. P. Belaieff) to the music of the teenage Alexander Glazunov. Interest in Glazunov's music quickly grew to Belayev's patronage of an entire group of Russian nationalist composers. In 1884 he instituted the Russian Symphony Concerts and established an annual Glinka prize. The following year he started his own publisheing house in Leipzig. He published music by Glazunov, Lyadov, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin at his own expense. In addition, young composers appealed for Belayev's help. Belayev asked Lyadov to serve with Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov on an advisory council to help select from these applicants. The group of composers that formed eventually became known at the Belayev Circle.
Richard Beattie Davis, a resident of Kent, England has been for many years a keen collector of first and early editions of Western and Russian music. He has written articles on Henselt, Hummel, Balakirev and Lyapunov and has mounted exhibitions and given talks in London, Germany and South Florida. He has contributed works listings of a number of other Russian composers, together with sleeve notes for recorded works of Lyapunov, Balakirev, Henselt, Rakhmaninov and Scriabin . He was, for many years, on the Governing Board of the 'Purcell School of Music' (London) and is currently a 'fellow'. In the 1960s he was a founding member of the 'Haydn Opera Society' (London) He has contributed articles for the 2nd.Edition of 'The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians', and a forthcoming Encyclopaedia of Russian music, currently in preparation. He has now written the definitive work on the Russian music publisher, Mitrofan Petrovich Belaieff many of whose publications he's lodged with the 'Special Collections' of the S.E.Wimberly Library, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida. (Richard Davis is the honorary president of the 'Internationale Adolph-Henselt-Gesellschaft' (Schwabach, Germany) where he's presented papers, made listings and mounted music exhibitions. He has now had his work 'The Beauty of Belaieff' published by http://www.gclefpublishing.com
In November 1887, Lyadov met Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Nearly seven years earlier Tchaikovsky had given a negative openion to the publisher Besel about a piano Arabesque Lyadov had written. Even before this visit, though, Tchaikovsky's opinion of Lyadov may have been changing. He had honored Lyadov with a copy of the score of his Manfred Symphony. Now that he'd actually met the man face-to-face, the younger composer became "dear Lyadov." He became a frequent visitor to Lyadov and the rest of the Belayev Circle, beginning in the winter of 1890.

Later years

He married in 1884, acquiring through his marriage a country property in Polïnovka, Novgorod district, where he spent his summers composing unhurriedly, and where he died in 1914.

Music

While Lyadov's technical facility was highly regarded by his contemporaries, his unreliability stood in the way of his advancement. His published compositions are relatively few in number through his natural indolence and a certain self-critical lack of confidence. Many of his works are variations on, or arrangements of pre-existing material (for example his Russian Folksongs, Op. 58). He did compose a large number of piano miniatures, of which his Musical Snuffbox of 1893 is perhaps most famous.
Like many of his contemporaries, Lyadov was drawn to intensely Russian subjects. Much of his music is programmatic; for example his tone poems Baba Yaga Op. 56, Kikimora Op. 63, The Enchanted Lake Op. 62. These short tone poems, probably his most popular works, exhibit an exceptional flair for orchestral tone color. In his later compositions he experimented with extended tonality, like his younger contemporary Alexander Scriabin.
It has been argued that Lyadov never completed a large-scale work. However, many of his miniatures have their place in the repertory. In 1905 Lyadov began work on a new ballet score, but when the work failed to progress, he shifted gears to work on an opera instead. Lyadov never finished the opera, but sections of the work found realization in the short tone poems Kikimora and The Enchanted Lake. Sergei Diaghilev asked the composer for a new ballet score for his Ballets Russes for their 1910 season. Lyadov's penchant for procrastination resulted in his never fulfilling the commission. Instead, famously, Diaghilev turned to the then unknown Igor Stravinsky who provided his ballet The Firebird.

Selected works

Biryulki, 14 pieces for piano, Op. 2
Six pieces for piano, Op. 3
Prelude in D major
Gigue in F major
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Mazurka
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Piano pieces, Op. 4
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Arabesque in E major
Etude in A-flat major, Op. 5
Impromptu for piano, Op. 6
Two intermezzi for piano, Op. 7
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F major
Two intermezzi for piano, Op. 8
B-flat major
B-flat major
Two pieces for piano, Op. 9
Valse in F-sharp minor
Mazurka in A-flat major
Three Pieces for piano, Op. 10:
Prelude in D-flat major
Mazurka
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Three Pieces for piano Op. 11:
Prelude In B minor
Mazurka in the Dorian Mode
Mazurka In F-sharp minor
Etude in E major, Op. 12
Preludes for piano, Op. 13:
Prelude for piano in G major
Prelude in B-flat
Prelude in A major
Prelude in F-sharp minor
Two Pieces for piano, Op. 15:
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Mazurka in D minor
Scherzo in D major for orchestra, Op. 16: Allegretto - Vivace - Trio. Allegretto - Vivace - Poco Mosso
Village Scene by the Inn, mazurka for orchestra, Op. 19
Of Olden Times, for piano, Op. 21a
Ballade, Op. 21b
Two Pieces for piano Op. 24:
Prelude In E major
Berceuse In G-flat major
Idylle, Op. 25
Little Waltz in G major Op. 26
Preludes for piano, Op. 27:
Prelude in E-flat major
Prelude in B major
Prelude in G-flat major
Final scene from Schiller's Die Braut von Messina for solo voices, chorus and orchestra, Op. 28 (1878, published 1891). This was his graduation piece.
Kukolki (Marionettes) for piano in E-flat major, Op. 29
Bagatelle in D-flat major, Op. 30
Two Pieces for piano, Op. 31:
'Rustic' Mazurka in G major
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Muzikalnaya tabakerka (A musical snuffbox), Op. 32 for piano (1893)
Pieces for piano, Op. 33:
Prelude for piano in A-flat major on a Russian theme
Variations for piano on a theme by Glinka Op. 35
Three Preludes for piano Op. 36:
In F-sharp major
In B-flat major
In G Major
Etude for Piano in F major, Op. 37
Four Preludes for piano, Op. 39:
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Prelude in F-sharp minor, Allegro impetuoso
Etude and 3 Preludes for Piano, Op. 40:
Etude in C-sharp minor
Prelude in C major, Allegretto
Prelude in D minor
Prelude in D-flat major, Allegro
Mazurka for piano in A major ("On Polish Themes"), Op. 42
Barcarolle for piano In F-sharp major Op. 44
Four Preludes for piano, Op. 46:
Prelude in B-flat major
Prelude in E minor
Prelude in G major
Prelude in G minor
Polonaise for orchestra in C major ("In Memory of Pushkin"), Op. 49
Variations on a Polish Folk Theme for piano in A-flat major, Op. 51
Three Bagatelles for piano, Op. 53
G-sharp minor
G major
A-flat major
Polonaise for orchestra in D major, Op. 55
Baba Yaga for orchestra, Op. 56 (1905)
Three Pieces for piano, Op. 57:
Prelude In D-flat major, Moderato
Waltz In E major
Mazurka In F minor
Eight Russian Folksongs for orchestra, Op. 58 (1906):
Religious Chant. Moderato
Christmas Carol 'Kolyada'. Allegretto
Plaintive Song. Andante
Humorous Song 'I Danced With The Gnat'./Allegretto
Legend Of The Birds. Allegretto
Cradle Song. Moderato
Round Dance. Allegro
Village Dance Song. Vivo
Ten arrangements from Obikhod, Op. 61
Stichira for the Nativity of Christ
Tropar - Rozdestvo tvoe, Christe bozhe nash
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Khvalite Gospoda s nebes
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Volshebnoye ozero (The Enchanted Lake), Op. 62 (1909)
Kikimora for orchestra, Op. 63 (1909)
Four Pieces for piano Op. 64:
Grimace
Gloom
Temptation
Reminiscences
Dance of the Amazon, Op. 65
From the Apocalypse, symphonic picture for orchestra, Op. 66 (1910-1912)
Nénie for orchestra, Op. 67

Bibliography

Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Final Years, 1885-1893, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1991). ISBN 0-393-03099-7.

Maes, Francis, tr. Arnold J. Pomerans and Erica Pomerans, A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of Ca.ilfornia Press, 2002). ISBN 0-520-21815-9.

Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai, Letoppis Moyey Muzykalnoy Zhizni (St. Petersburg, 1909), published in English as My Musical Life (New York: Knopf, 1925, 3rd ed. 1942). ISBN n/a.

Volkov, Solomon, tr. Antonina W. Bouis, St. Petersburg: A Cultural History (New York: The Free Press, 1995). ISBN 0-02-874052-1.

[http://www.gclefpublishing.com Gclef Publishing

Davis, Richard Beattie: The Beauty of Belaieff. GClef Publishing, London, 2008. ISBN 978-1-905912-14-8.Further Information

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