Zhitomirsky, Alexander

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Zhitomirsky, Alexander

Zhitomirsky, Alexander, Russian composer and pedagogue; b. Kherson, May 23,1881; d. Leningrad, Dec. 16, 1937. He took violin lessons in Odessa and in Vienna, and also studied piano. Returning to Russia, he entered the St. Petersburg Cons, as a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, Liadov, and Glazunov, graduating in 1910; from 1915 to 1937 he was on its faculty as an instructor in composition and orchestration. In his compositions, he followed the style and manner of the Russian national school; he wrote a Violin Concerto (1937), String Quartet (1923), and a number of songs and choruses.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire