Belaiev (Belaieff), Mitrofan (Petrovich)
Belaiev (Belaieff), Mitrofan (Petrovich)
Belaiev (Belaieff), Mitrofan (Petrovich), renowned Russian music publisher; b. St. Petersburg, Feb. 22, 1836; d. there, Jan. 10, 1904. His father, a rich lumber dealer, gave him an excellent education. After his father’s death in 1885, Belaiev decided to use part of the income from the business for a music publishing enterprise devoted exclusively to the publication of works by Russian composers (the printing was done in Leipzig); he also established concerts of Russian music in St. Petersburg (ten sym. concerts and four concerts of chamber music each season) and provided funds for prizes awarded for the best compositions. He placed Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and Liadov on the jury for these multifarious activities. The “Belaiev Editions” became a vital factor in the development of Russian national music. Although a conservative, Belaiev was generous toward representatives of the modern school, such as Scriabin; early in Scriabin’s career, Belaiev provided the financial means for him to travel in Europe. The catalogue of Belaiev’s publications includes the greatest names in Russian music: Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Balakirev, Cui, Scriabin, Glière, Glazunov, Gretchaninov, Liadov, Liapunov, Taneyev, and Nicolas Tcherepnin, as well as many lesser and even obscure composers, such as Akimenko, Alfer-aky, Amani, Antipov, Artzibushev, Blumenfeld, Kalafati, Kopylov, Sokolov, Steinberg, Wihtol, Zolotarev, and others. The complete list of Belaiev’s eds. is available in the Verzeichnis der in Deutschland seit 1868 erschienenen Werke russischer Komponisten (Leipzig, 1950).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire