Alexander Taneyev

Alexander Sergeyevich Taneyev (Russian Александр Сергеевич Танеев; * 5.jul / 17 January 1850greg in Saint Petersburg, .. .. † 25 Januarjul / 7 February 1918greg in Petrograd ) was a Russian composer.

Life

Taneyev came from a musical family. His father, full-time director of the Imperial Chancellery and Privy Councillor, was a passionate amateur composer, his mother played the piano excellently. The famous composer Sergei Taneyev was distantly related to him, with the widespread adoption, Alexander was the uncle of Sergei, however, is wrong. Taneyev entered professionally in his father's footsteps: after his studies he began a civil service career, which made him eventually succeeded his father as director of the Imperial Chancellery. However, he occupied himself intensively with the way music: he studied in Dresden and St. Petersburg, where Nikolai Rimsky -Korsakov was one of his teachers. Throughout his life he cultivated contacts with famous musicians of his time, notably the members of the Mighty Handful. Taneyev acted as a collector of folk songs, which meant that he was appointed in 1900 as Chairman of the Folk Music Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. As a composer he was alive after all, so considered that the majority of his works came to the performance. Today Taneyev is largely forgotten.

Style

Taneyev was a typical representative of the Russian nationalist movement. He worked intensively with the folklore of his country and had this massively into his compositions. This interest is accompanied by a sound mastery of the craft of composition, which he differs from the original concept of the Mighty Handful, but quite representative of his generation of composers. His works are characterized by clear lines, skillful instrumentation and thoughtful thematic work. His style shows parallels to Alexander Borodin and Pyotr Tchaikovsky, however, has little peculiarities on why it epigonism has been criticized for.

Works

• Orchestral works Symphony No.1 (1890)
• Symphony No.2 in B flat minor op.21 ( 1902/ 03)
• Symphony No.3 in E major op.36 (1908 )
• Suite No.1 in A major, opus 9 (before 1900 )
• Suite No.2 in F major op.14 ( 1900)
• " Alyosha Popovich ," Symphonic Ballade op.11 (before 1900 )
• " Festival March " op.12 ( 1900)
• " Hamlet," Overture op.31 ( 1905)
• " Reverie " for violin and orchestra op.23

• " Cupid's Revenge ", opera in one act op.13 (UA 1899)
• " The blizzard ", opera in two acts (UA 1916)
• Choral works
• About 30 songs
• Folksong Arrangements

• String Quartet No.1 in G major op.25
• String Quartet No.2 in C major op.28
• String Quartet No.3 in A major op.30
• Small genre pieces for solo instrument and piano
• Piano Pieces