Samuil Feinberg

For the American composer born Samuel Feinberg, see Sammy Fain.
Samuil Feinberg

Samuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg (Russian: Самуи́л Евге́ньевич Фе́йнберг, also Samuel; 26 May 1890, Odessa 22 October 1962, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist.

Biography

Raised in Moscow, he entered the Moscow Conservatory and studied under Alexander Goldenweiser.[1] He also studied composition privately under Nikolai Zhilyayev.[2] He graduated from the Conservatory in 1911, after which he embarked upon a career as a solo pianist whilst composing on the side. Memorably, he was the first pianist to perform the complete The Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach in concert in the USSR.[3] However, he was soon sent to fight in the First World War for Russia until he abruptly became ill and was discharged. In 1922 he joined the faculty at the Conservatory, relaunching his pianistic career.[4] By 1930, due to the political unrest in Stalin Russia, Feinberg was forbidden to leave the country, in part due to the fact that he was Jewish, except for two trips, to Vienna in 1936 and to Brussels in 1938. For this reason he is generally not well known outside of Russia. Feinberg was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946.[5]

Feinberg never married, but lived with his brother, a painter.

He is most remembered today for his complete recording of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and many transcriptions. He also composed 3 Piano Concertos, a dozen piano sonatas as well as fantasias and other works for the instrument. Pianist Tatiana Nikolaeva said that each of his sonatas was a 'poem of life.' Feinberg has been called "A musical heir to Scriabin,"[6] who heard the young pianist play his fourth sonata and praised it highly.

Honours and awards

Works

In addition to the following pieces, Feinberg also arranged and transcribed numerous pieces by Bach, Tchaikovsky, and others. Many of his pieces have been lost.

Compositions for solo piano

  • Op. 1: Piano Sonata No. 1 (1915)
  • Op. 2: Piano Sonata No. 2 (1915)
  • Op. 3: Piano Sonata No. 3 (1917)
  • Op. 5: Fantasia No. 1 (1917)
  • Op. 6: Piano Sonata No. 4 (1918)
  • Op. 8: Four Preludes (1920)
  1. Allegretto
  2. Misterioso
  3. Tumoltuoso
  4. Con Moto
  • Op. 9: Fantasia No. 2 (1921)
  • Op. 10: Piano Sonata No. 5 (1921)

  • Op. 11: Suite No. 1 (1922)
  • Op. 13: Piano Sonata No. 6 (1923)
  • Op. 15: Three Preludes (1922)
  1. Allegro affanato e molto rubato
  2. Andante con tenerezza
  3. Presto
  • Op. 19: Humoresque
  • Op. 19a: Berceuse
  • Op. 21: Piano Sonata No. 7 (1925)
  • Op. 21a: Piano Sonata No. 8 (1928)
  • Op. 24a: Two Chuvash Melodies
  • Op. 25: Suite No. 2 (1936)

  • Op. 27a: Three Melodies (1938)
  1. Georgian Song
  2. Tartar Song
  3. Armenian Song
  • Op. 29: Piano Sonata No. 9 (1939)
  • Op. 30: Piano Sonata No. 10 (1940-44)
  • Op. 33: Two Pieces (1947)
  1. Tale
  2. Procession
  • Op. 40: Piano Sonata No. 11 (1952)
  • Op. 45: Rhapsody on Kabardino-Balkarian Themes (1961)
  • Op. 48: Piano Sonata No. 12 (1962)

Concertante

For Piano and Voice

  1. Заклинание (Incantation)
  2. Из-под таинственной, холодной полумаски (Behind the Mysterious Cold Half-Mask)
  1. Голоса (снежная ночь) - Voices (Snowy Night)
  2. И я опять затих у ног (снежная ночь) - Once more I'm silent at your feet (Snowy Night)
  3. В бездействии младом (стихи о прекрасной Даме) - In Youthful indolence
  1. Анчар - Anchar
  2. Друг Мой Милый - My Beloved
  3. Напрасно я бегу к Сионским высотам - In vain I hasten onto the heights of Sion
  • Op.18 - 5 National Songs (1932)
  1. Лох-Ломонд (Шотландская)
  2. Хоровод (Английская)
  3. Деревенская девушка (Английская)
  4. Похищение из Тюэри (Ирландская)
  5. Ночная песнь рыбаков (Валлийская)
  • Op. 22: Two Songs after Aleksandr Zharov (1932)
  • Op. 23: Three Songs (1938)

  1. Не пой, красавица, при мне... - Do not sing, my beauty, to me
  2. Зимний вечер - Winter Evening
  3. Под небом голубым страны своей родной - Under the blue skies of her native land
  4. Туча - Cloud
  5. Три ключа - Three Springs
  6. Я помню чудное мгновенье - I Remember a Wonderful Moment
  7. Сожженное письмо - The Burned Letter
  8. Няне - Подруга дней моих суровых... - To Nanny - My friend through my travails, woes hardest..
  1. Дубовый листок - Oak Leaf
  2. Пленный рыцарь - The Imprisoned Knight
  3. Сон - The Dream
  4. Еврейская мелодия - Hebrew Melody
  5. Русалка - The River Sprite
  6. Нет, не тебя так пылко я люблю - No, it's not you I love so hotly
  7. Выхожу одни я но дорогу - Onto the Highway, on my own, I walk
  • Op. 47: Maritsa, after Yugoslavian Folk Poetry (1958)
  1. Марица - Maritsa
  2. Первая любовь - The First Love
  3. Девушка и конь - The Horse and The Girl
  4. Разговор со смертью - Conversation with Death
  5. Македонская девушка - Macedonian Girl
  6. Уж как выпал снег... - Ah, How Fell The Snow
  7. Колыбельная - Lullaby
  8. Ожидание - Waiting

Violin Sonatas

References

  1. Sokolov, M. G., editor (1990). Pianists in Conversation (First ed.). Moscow.
  2. Sitsky, Larry (1994). Music of the Repressed Russian Avant-garde, 1900-1929. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 183. ISBN 9780313267093.
  3. Sirodeau, Christopher. "Samuil Feinberg". International Feinberg-Skalkottas Society. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  4. Cummings, Robert. "Samuel Feinberg". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  5. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia 1970-1979 (Third ed.). Samuil Feinberg.
  6. Bogat, Leni. "Samuil Feinberg (1890-1962): Russian Pianist and Composer". Forte-Piano-Pianissimo.Com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.