Zolotarev, Vasili (Andreievich)

Zolotarev, Vasili (Andreievich), eminent Russian composer and pedagogue; b. Taganrog, March 7, 1872; d. Moscow, May 25, 1964. He studied violin and theory at the Imperial Court Chapel in St. Petersburg, and from 1893 to 1897 took composition lessons with Balakirev. He then entered the St. Petersburg Cons, in the class of Rimsky-Korsakov, graduating in 1900, then received the Rubinstein Prize for his cantata Paradise and Peri. He was instructor of violin at the Court Chapel (1897-1900), and then teacher of composition at the Rostov Music School (1906-08), the Moscow Cons. (1908-18), the Ekaterinodar Cons. (1918-24), the Odessa Cons. (1924-26), the Kiev Musico-Dramatic Inst. (1926-31), the Sverdlovsk Music School (1931-33), and the Minsk Cons. (1933-41). In 1955 he was awarded the Order of Lenin. Several well-known Soviet composers were his pupils, among them Polovinkin, Dankevich, and Vainberg. In his music, Zolotarev continued the line of the Russian national school of composition, based on broad diatonic melos, mellifluous euphonious harmonies, and, in his operas, a resonant flow of choral singing. He publ. a manual on the fugue (Moscow, 1932; 3^rd ed., 1965) and a vol. of reminiscences (Moscow, 1957).

Works

dramatic: Opera The Decembrists (Moscow, Dec. 27, 1925); Ak-Gul (1942). B a l l e t: Lake Prince (1948; Minsk, Jan. 15,1949). ORCH.: 7 syms. (1902,1905,1935, 1936, 1942, 1943, 1962); Moldavian Suite (1926); Uzbek Suite (1931); Tadzhik Suite (1932); Belorussian Suite (1936); Cello Concerto (1943); Rhapsodie hébraïque (n.d.). CHAMBER: 6 string quartets (1899, 1902, 1907, 1912, 1916, 1945); 2 piano sonatas (1903, 1919); Piano Quintet (1904); String Quintet (1904); Piano Trio (1905); Violin Sonata (1922). VOCAL: Many songs.

Bibliography

S. Nisievich, V.A. Z. (Moscow, 1964).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire