Tobias, Rudolf

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Tobias, Rudolf

Tobias, Rudolf, Estonian organist and composer; b. Kaina, May 29, 1873; d. Berlin, Oct. 29, 1918. He studied organ with L. Homilius and composition with Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Cons., graduating in 1897. He was an organist in St. Petersburg (1898-1904) and Tartu (1905-8); in 1910, settled in Berlin. In several of his compositions, he made use of national Estonian subjects.

Works

Des Jonah Sendung, oratorio (1909); Black Raven, Harbinger of War for Voices and Orch. (1909); The Virgin of Light, after an Estonian epic, for Soprano and Orch. (1911); 2 melodramas for Narrator and Orch.: Kalevipoeg’s Dream (1906) and Kalevipoeg at the Gate of the Kingdom of Death (1912); choruses; chamber music; songs.

Bibliography

R. T (Tallinn, 1973).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire