Anton Arensky

Anton Arensky

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (Russian: Антон Степанович Аренский) (born July 12, 1861 in Novgorod, Russia – died February 25, 1906 in Perkijarvi, Finland), was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music.

Arensky was musically precocious and composed a number of songs and piano pieces by age nine. With his father and mother, he moved to St. Petersburg in 1879, where he studied composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

After graduating from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1882, Arensky became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his students there were Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Gretchaninov.

In 1895 Arensky returned to St. Petersburg as the director of the Imperial Choir, a post for which he had been recommended by Mily Balakirev. Arensky retired from this position in 1901, spending his remaining time as a pianist, conductor, and composer.

Arensky died of tuberculosis in a Finnish sanatorium in 1906. It is alleged that drinking and gambling undermined his health.

His music

Pyotr Tchaikovsky was the greatest influence on Arensky's musical compositions. Indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov said, "In his youth Arensky did not escape some influence from me; later the influence came from Tchaikovsky. He will quickly be forgotten." The perception that he lacked a distinctive personal style contributed to long-term neglect of his music, though in recent years a large number of his compositions have been recorded. Especially popular are the orchestral Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky based on one of Tchaikovsky's Songs for Children, Op. 54.

Arensky was perhaps at his best in chamber music, in which he wrote two string quartets, two piano trios, and a piano quintet.

Selected works

Operas

• Son na Volge (Сон на Волге – A dream on the Volga, libretto by Anton Arensky after Alexander Ostrovsky's play "Voyevoda", 1888, premiere: January 2, 1891 [OS December 21, 1890], Moscow, Bolshoy Theatre)
• Rafael (Рафаэль – Raphael, 'the musical scenes from epoch of Renaissance', libretto by A. Kryukov, 1894 May 6 [OS April 24], 1894, Moscow, Conservatory)
• Nal' i Damayanti (Наль и Дамаянти – Nal and Damayanti, after Indian epos "Mahabharata", libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky after the novel by Vasily Zhukovsky, 1903, premiere: January 22, [OS January 9], 1904 St Petersburg), Moscow, Bolshoy Theatre)

Ballet

• Noch v Egipte or Egipetskiye nochi (Ночь в Египте or Египетские ночи – Egyptian Nights Opus 50 1900

Others

Opus 2: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F minor

Opus 4: Symphony No. 1 in B minor

Opus 11: String Quartet No. 1 in G major

Opus 15: Suite for Two Pianos No. 1 in F major

Opus 22: Symphony No. 2 in A major

Opus 23: Suite for Two Pianos No. 2 "Silhouettes"

Opus 25: Cantata for the 10th anniversary of the Coronation

Opus 25: Impromptu No.1 for piano solo

Opus 32: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor

Opus 33: Suite for Two Pianos No. 3 "Variations"

Opus 35: String Quartet for Violin, Viola, and Two Cellos No. 2 in A minor

Opus 35a: Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky

Opus 41: Four Etudes for piano

Opus 46: Cantata "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai"

Opus 48: Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra on Themes of Ryabinin

Opus 51: Piano Quintet in D major

Opus 54: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A minor

Opus 62: Suite for Two Pianos No. 4

Opus 63: Twelve Preludes for Piano

Opus 61: Cantata "The Diver"

Opus 73: Piano Trio No. 2 in F minor

External links

• Biography on Dr. Estrella's Incredibly Abridged Dictionary of Composers
• Anton Arensky's works on The Lied and Art Song Texts Page
• Find-A-Grave profile for Anton Arensky
• Brief overview of his life and information about Opus 35
• Anton Arensky was listed in the International Music Score Library Project