Taneyev, Sergei (Ivanovich)
Taneyev, Sergei (Ivanovich)
Taneyev, Sergei (Ivanovich), greatly significant Russian composer and pedagogue; b. Vladimir district, Nov. 25, 1856; d. Dyudkovo, Zvenigorodsk district, June 19, 1915. He began taking piano lessons at the age of 5, and when he was only 9 when he entered the Moscow Cons.; after academic training for a year, he re-entered the Cons, in 1869 as a piano pupil of Eduard Langer; also received instruction in theory from Nikolai Hubert and in composition from Tchaikovsky, who became his lifelong friend; in 1871 Nikolai Rubinstein became his piano mentor. On Jan. 29, 1875, he made his formal debut as a pianist as soloist in the Brahms D-minor Concerto in Moscow; on Dec. 3, 1875, he was soloist in the Moscow premiere of the Tchaikovsky 1stConcerto, and subsequently was soloist in all of Tchaikovsky’s works for piano and orch. He graduated from the Cons, in 1875 as the first student to win the gold medal in both performance and composition. In 1876 he toured his homeland with Leopold Auer. In 1878 he succeeded Tchaikovsky as prof, of harmony and orchestration at the Moscow Cons.; after the death of N.
Rubinstein in 1881, he took over the latter’s piano classes there; in 1883 he succeeded Hubert as prof, of composition; after serving as its director (1885-89), he taught counterpoint (1889-1905). Taneyev was a first-class pianist, and Tchaikovsky regarded him as one of the finest interpreters of his music. His position as a composer is anomalous: he is one of the most respected figures of Russian music history, and there is a growing literature about him; his correspondence and all documents, however trivial, concerning his life are treasured as part of the Russian cultural heritage; yet outside Russia his works are rarely heard. He wrote a treatise on counterpoint, Podvizhnoi kontrapunkt strogavo pisma (1909; Eng. tr, Boston, 1962, as Convertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style). The style of his compositions presents a compromise between Russian melos and Germanic contrapuntal writing; the mastery revealed in his 4 syms. (1873-1897) and 5 string quartets (1890-1903) is unquestionable. His most ambitious work was the trilogy Oresteia, after Aeschylus, in 3 divisions: Agamemnon, Choëphorai, and Eumenides, first performed in St. Petersburg on Oct. 29, 1895. After his death, an almost-completed treatise Ucheniye o kanone (The Study of Canon) was found and was ed. for publ, by V. Velaiev (Moscow, 1929).
Works
dramatic: Musical Trilogy: Or-esteya (The Oresteia; 1887-94; St. Petersburg, Oct. 29, 1895). ORCH.: Quadrille for Small Orch. (1972-73); 4 syms.: No. 1 (1873-74), No. 2 (1877-78), No. 3 (1884; Moscow, Jan. 1885), and No. 4 (1896-97; St. Petersburg, April 2, 1898); Piano Concerto (1876); Sym. for Children’s Instruments (c. 1897); Suite de concert for Violin and Orch. (1909). CHAMBER: 5 unnumbered string quartets (1874-76; 1880; 1882-83; 1883; 1911); 5 numbered string quartets (1890; 1895; 1886, rev. 1896; 1899; 1903); March for 10 Instruments (1877); 2 string trios (1879-80; n.d.); 2 string quintets (1901, rev. 1903; 1904); Piano Quartet (1906); Trio for Violin, Viola, and Tenor Viola (1910); Piano Quintet (1911); Violin Sonata (1911); other chamber works; various piano pieces. VOCAL: Choral WORKS; songs.
Bibliography
K. Kuznetzov, ed., S.I.T.(Moscow and Leningrad, 1925); V. Yakovlev, S.I.T: Evo muzikalnaya zhizn (S.I.T.: His Musical Life; Moscow, 1927); V. Protopopov, ed., Pamyati S.I.T.a 1856-1946: Sbornik statey i materialov k 90-letiyu so dnya rozh-deniya (In Memory of S.I.T.: A Collection of Articles and Materials for the 90th Anniversary of His Birth; Moscow and Leningrad, 1947); G. Bernandt, S.I.T.(Moscow and Leningrad, 1950); V. Kiselyov et al, eds., S.I.T.: Materiali i dokumenti (Moscow, 1952); T. Khoprova, S.I.T (Leningrad, 1968); N. Bazhanov, T. (Moscow, 1971); L. Korabelnikova, Si. T. v Mosk-ovskoy konservatorri (S.I.T. at the Moscow Cons.; Moscow, 1974)
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire