Steinberg, Maximilian (Osseievich)

Steinberg, Maximilian (Osseievich), significant Russian composer and pedagogue; b. Vilnius, July 4, 1883; d. Leningrad, Dec. 6, 1946. He was a student at the Univ. of St. Petersburg (graduated, 1907) and of Rimsky-Korsakov (composition), Liadov (harmony), and Glazunov (instrumentation) at the St. Petersburg Cons. (graduated, 1908). In 1908 he married Rimsky- Korsakov’s daughter and became a teacher of theory and composition at the St. Petersburg Cons. From 1917 to 1931 he was dean of its faculty of composition, and later was its acting rector from 1934 to 1939. Many composers who became prominent in the Soviet era were his pupils. His early compositions reflected the influence of his teachers, but he gradually evolved a personal style distinguished by rhapsodic eloquence with some touches of French Impressionism.

Works

DRAMATIC : Ballet : Metamorphoses (second part perf. in Paris, June 2, 1914). ORCH .: 4 syms.: No. 1 (1907), No. 2 (St. Petersburg, Nov. 27, 1909), No. 3 (Leningrad, March 3, 1929, composer conducting), and No. 4, Turksib (Leningrad, Dec. 2, 1933); In Armenia (Leningrad, Dec. 24, 1940); Violin Concerto (1946). CHAMBER : 2 string quartets; piano pieces. VOCAL : La Princesse Maleine for Women’s Chorus and Orch. (1916); Heaven and Earth for 6 Soloists and Orch. (1918); songs. OTHER : Arrangements of works by other composers.

Bibliography

A. Rimsky-Korsakov, M. S. (Moscow, 1928); V. Bogdanov-Berezovsky, M. S. (Moscow, 1947).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire