Alexander Siloti
Alexander Ilyich Siloti (Russian Александр Ильич Зилоти, scientific transliteration Aleksandr Il'ič Ziloti; * 27 Septemberjul / October 9 1863greg in Kharkov, .. † December 8, 1945 in New York) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor.
He is a cousin of the Russian pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Life
Siloti's ancestors were coming from Italy immigrated in the 18th century in Russia.
Siloti, who received piano lessons at the beginning of Anton Rubinstein, 1875-1881 studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Nikolai Rubinstein, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Taneyev. Early as 1880, he made his successful debut in a concert of the Russian Musical Society (RMO) in Moscow. 1883-1886 student of Franz Liszt in Weimar, he has performed successfully in several German cities, such as 1883 on the Musicians' meeting in Leipzig. The excitation establishing the Liszt Society in 1885 in Leipzig goes back to Siloti. His pianistic talent helped him to a professor for piano at the Moscow Conservatory, 1886-1890. Between 1891 and 1900 Siloti lived for a time in Frankfurt, Antwerp and Leipzig as a celebrated pianist. From 1903, after two years conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony concerts, Siloti shifted its focus on conducting and directed until 1917, launched by him symphony and chamber music concerts in St Petersburg.
His role as a leader of the Russian musical life ended with the October Revolution, during which he became known to the authorities. In 1919 there was a temporary arrest, due to advocate but he was set free again. He fled with his family to Finland, concerts in Germany and England, and emigrated from there permanently in the United States. There he worked until 1936 as a concert pianist and taught from 1924 to 1942 at the Juilliard School in New York.
Importance
Siloti has made mainly as a pianist a name. As one of the most brilliant representatives of the Liszt School, owe his pedagogical skills many Russian musicians her pianistic skills, including his younger cousin Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Gold Weiser and Konstantin Igumnov.
In grateful memory of his great teacher Siloti 1911 published his memories of Franz Liszt.
Although Siloti through his work as a conductor in the musical life of Russia in the early 20th century continued fruitful artistic impulses and in his concerts especially young Russian composer and the French Impressionists promoted, his fame is almost faded now.
He edited Bach's D major Concerto for piano, violin and flute ( with string orchestra), the Prelude in E minor from the Well- Tempered Clavier I, and Vivaldi's D minor Concerto for small orchestra. However, his most significant edits to date are those of the Piano Concerto No. 1, Op 23 in B flat minor and No. 2 in G major, Op 44 by Tchaikovsky. Since Siloti has partially shortened and changed the tempo markings, these concerts will be played today often faster than Tchaikovsky had actually provided.