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Alexander Gretchaninov

Alexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninov[1] (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ти́хонович Гречани́нов, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɡrʲɪtɕɐˈnʲinəf]; 25 October [O.S. 13 October] 1864 – 3 January 1956) was a Russian Romantic composer.

Music[edit]

Gretchaninov wrote five symphonies, the first premiered by Rimsky-Korsakov; four string quartets, the first two of which won important prizes, two piano trios, sonatas for violin, cello, clarinet, piano and balalaika, several operas, song cycle Les Fleurs du Mal, op. 48 (setting lyrics by Baudelaire) and much other music.


Like Vladimir Rebikov's, his position in the history of Russian music was mainly transitional, his earlier music belonging firmly in that earlier Romantic tradition while his later work is influenced by some of the streams that also affected Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev.


Sketches for an unfinished sixth symphony from the 1940s exist.


He also composed a number of small scale piano pieces.


Most of Gretchaninov's manuscripts reside in the Music Division of New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Symphony No. 1 in B minor, Op. 6 (1894); premiered by in Saint Petersburg on 26 January 1895

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Symphony No. 2 in A major, Pastoral, Op. 27 (1908); premiered by Gretchaninov in 1909 in Kiev

Symphony No. 3 in E major, Op. 100 (1923); premiered by Gretchaninov in 1923(4?) in Moscow

Symphony No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 (1927); premiered by & the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on 9 April 1942

John Barbirolli

Symphony No. 5 in G minor, Op. 153 (1936); premiered by and the Philadelphia Orchestra on 5 April 1939

Leopold Stokowski

Symphony No. 6 (sketches, c. 1940s)

Blazhen Muzh

References[edit]

Some of the information on this page appears on the Alexander Gretchaninov page of the Edition Silvertrust website. Permission has been granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Gretchaninov, Alexander; Slonimsky, Nicolas (1952). . New York: Coleman-Ross Co. (contains a catalog of the composer's works, pp. 175–204)

My Life

in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Gretchaninov manuscripts

at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Free scores by Alexander Gretchaninov

Soundbites & short biography.

Alexander Gretchaninov String Quartet Nos. 1 & 2, Opp. 2 & 70

in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

Free scores by Alexander Gretchaninov

. Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.

"Grechaninov, Alexander Tikhonovich"