Boris Vladimirovich Asafyev was a Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 and Soviet composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, 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....

, musicologist, musical critic and one of founders of Soviet musicology

Musicology

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...

.

Asafyev had a strong influence on Soviet music. His compositions include ballets

Ballet (music)

Ballet as a music form progressed from simply a complement to dance, to a concrete compositional form that often had as much value as the dance that went along with it. The dance form, originating in France during the 17th century, began as a theatrical dance. It was not until the 19th century that...

, operas, symphonies, concertos and chamber music. His ballets include Flames of Paris

Flames of Paris

Flames of Paris is a classical ballet with music by musicologist and composer Boris Asafiev based on songs of the French Revolution, and originally choreographed by Vasily Vainonen, with design by Vladimir Dmitriev. The four-act ballet is based on a book by Felix Gras...

, based on the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, and The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, which was first performed in 1934, and was performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. 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...

 in 2006.

His writings, under the name Igor Glebov, include The Book about Stravinsky and Glinka (for which he was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1948).

Selected works

Opera

• The Cashier's Wife
• Minin and Pozharsky
• The Girl without a Dowry

Ballets

• The Fairy Gift (1910)
• White Lily (1911)
• The Flames of Paris (1931)
• The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (1936)
• The Prisoner of the Caucasus (1938)
• The Rustic Lady
• The Stone Guest (1946)

Orchestra

• 5 Symphonies
• Concerto for clarinet and orchestra (1939)
• Concerto for guitar and chamber orchestra (1939)
• Concerto for piano and orchestra (1939)

Chamber music

• String Quartet (1940)
• Sonata for viola solo (1938)
• Sonata for cello and piano (1935)
• Sonata for trumpet and piano (1939)
• Sonatina for oboe and piano (1939)
• Variations for horn and piano (1940)

See also

• :Category:Ballets by Boris Asafiev