Alexander Ossovsky
Encyclopedia
Alexander Vyacheslavovich Ossovsky , 1871 –July 31, 1957) was a renowned Russian musical writer
, critic
and musicologist, professor at Saint Petersburg Conservatory
, pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
, and friend of Sergei Rachmaninoff
, Alexander Siloti
and Nikolai Tcherepnin
.
, Bessarabia
, Russian Empire
into the family of Vyacheslav Stepanovich Ossovsky, who was a Department Chair in the Odessa
Court; his mother was Yevgenia Cherkunova. The composer Mykola Vilinsky
was his cousin. Ossovsky graduated from the Law School at Moscow University (1893).
After graduation he worked at the Ministry of Justice in Saint Petersburg. From 1896-1898 studied at Saint Petersburg Conservatory
. From 1900-02 he studied composition with the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
. In 1894 Ossovsky started his career as a talented and prolific musical writer
, musical critic
and musicologist. In 1915-18 and 1921-52 Ossovsky was a professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory (then Leningrad Conservatory), and in 1937 he became a Deputy Director there.
He was one of the founders of “Muzykal’nyi Sovremennik” (“Musical Contemporary”) magazine in Saint Petersburg
(1915–17). From 1923 to 1925 Ossovsky was the Director, and from 1933-1936 the Art Chair, at the Leningrad Philharmonic. From 1943 to 1952 he was Director at the Leningrad Music and Theater Research Institute. In 1931-33 he worked at the State Hermitage Museum
in Leningrad.
Ossovsky maintained close ties with the composers of Belyayev's Circle
and had become friend and colleague with a number of the members of Russian musical elite, including Sergei Rachmaninoff
, Alexander Siloti
and Alexander Glazunov
. He contributed extensively to Siloti's concert programs as a writer, editor and critic.
In 1911 he helped Sergei Prokofiev
to publish his first works by writing a special letter in strong support of the composer to the Russian publisher Jurgenson. The same year, in Kiev
, Rachmaninoff at the request of Ossovsky auditioned Ossovsky's cousin, Ksenia Derzhinskaia (1889–1951), and helped to launch her opera career; she became an eminent Russian singer and prima donna at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Ossovsky was a friend of the composer Nikolai Tcherepnin
and mentored his son – also a famous composer, Alexander Tcherepnin
- during the early years of his career.
Ossovsky died in 1957, in Leningrad, Soviet Union
(now Saint Petersburg, Russia). He had written a series of papers and monographs dedicated to research and analysis of the works of such outstanding Russian composers as Mikhail Glinka
, Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov and others. He was one of the first musicologists who introduced music of Bach
, Rameau
, Corelli
, Vivaldi
and Wagner
to the Russian public. His memoir of Rachmaninoff is of special interest and value, because he gives first-hand accounts of, and insights into, many important events in the biographies of Rachmaninoff and other musicians. Ossovsky’s works are frequently cited in many Western publications about Russian composers and their music.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
and musicologist, professor at Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
, pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, and friend of Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, Alexander Siloti
Alexander Siloti
Alexander Ilyich Siloti was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič Ziloti) (9 October 1863, near Kharkiv - 8 December 1945, New York) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič...
and Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born in Saint Petersburg and studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory...
.
Biography
Alexander Ossovsky was born on March 31, 1871 in KishinevChisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
into the family of Vyacheslav Stepanovich Ossovsky, who was a Department Chair in the Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
Court; his mother was Yevgenia Cherkunova. The composer Mykola Vilinsky
Mykola Vilinsky
Mykola Vilinsky was a Ukrainian composer and a professor at the Odessa and Kiev Conservatories.He was descended from a Ukrainian family of hereditary nobles...
was his cousin. Ossovsky graduated from the Law School at Moscow University (1893).
After graduation he worked at the Ministry of Justice in Saint Petersburg. From 1896-1898 studied at Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
. From 1900-02 he studied composition with the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
. In 1894 Ossovsky started his career as a talented and prolific musical writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, musical critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
and musicologist. In 1915-18 and 1921-52 Ossovsky was a professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory (then Leningrad Conservatory), and in 1937 he became a Deputy Director there.
He was one of the founders of “Muzykal’nyi Sovremennik” (“Musical Contemporary”) magazine in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
(1915–17). From 1923 to 1925 Ossovsky was the Director, and from 1933-1936 the Art Chair, at the Leningrad Philharmonic. From 1943 to 1952 he was Director at the Leningrad Music and Theater Research Institute. In 1931-33 he worked at the State Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
in Leningrad.
Ossovsky maintained close ties with the composers of Belyayev's Circle
Mitrofan Belyayev
Mitrofan Petrovich Belyayev was a Russian music publisher, outstanding philanthropist, and the owner of a large wood dealership enterprise in Russia. He was also the founder of the Belyayev circle, a society of musicians in Russia whose members included Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov...
and had become friend and colleague with a number of the members of Russian musical elite, including Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, Alexander Siloti
Alexander Siloti
Alexander Ilyich Siloti was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič Ziloti) (9 October 1863, near Kharkiv - 8 December 1945, New York) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič...
and Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
. He contributed extensively to Siloti's concert programs as a writer, editor and critic.
In 1911 he helped Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
to publish his first works by writing a special letter in strong support of the composer to the Russian publisher Jurgenson. The same year, in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Rachmaninoff at the request of Ossovsky auditioned Ossovsky's cousin, Ksenia Derzhinskaia (1889–1951), and helped to launch her opera career; she became an eminent Russian singer and prima donna at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Ossovsky was a friend of the composer Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born in Saint Petersburg and studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory...
and mentored his son – also a famous composer, Alexander Tcherepnin
Alexander Tcherepnin
Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin and his son, Ivan Tcherepnin were also composers, as are two of his grandsons, Sergei and Stefan. His son Serge was involved in the roots of electronic music and instruments...
- during the early years of his career.
Ossovsky died in 1957, in Leningrad, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(now Saint Petersburg, Russia). He had written a series of papers and monographs dedicated to research and analysis of the works of such outstanding Russian composers as Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
, Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov and others. He was one of the first musicologists who introduced music of Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François...
, Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...
, Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
and Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
to the Russian public. His memoir of Rachmaninoff is of special interest and value, because he gives first-hand accounts of, and insights into, many important events in the biographies of Rachmaninoff and other musicians. Ossovsky’s works are frequently cited in many Western publications about Russian composers and their music.
Selected works (in Russian)
- Aleksandr Konstantinovich Glazunov: His life and creative work, Alexander SilotiAlexander SilotiAlexander Ilyich Siloti was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič Ziloti) (9 October 1863, near Kharkiv - 8 December 1945, New York) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, , Aleksandr Iljič...
Concerts Publishing House, Sanct-Petersburg, 1907. - Mirovoe znachenie russkoi muzyki, (Worldwide significance of Russian classical music), Leningrad,. 1948.
- N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, in “Soviet Music” coll. of papers, book 3, Moscow. 1944.
- Selected papers and memoirs. Leningrad, 1961
- Muzikal’no-kriticheskie stat’ji (Musical and critic papers), Leningrad, 1971
- Vospominaniia. Issledovaniia (Memoirs. Research). Leningrad, 1968.
External links
- Works by Alexander Ossovsky http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AAleksandr+Vjac%CC%8Ceslavovic%CC%8C+Ossovskij&qt=hot_author
- Alexander Ossovsky http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804032406
- Rimsky-Korsakov Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory. See History, Department of history of Foreign music http://eng.conservatory.ru/historytheoryeng.htm