Konstantin Nikolayevich Igumnov (russian: Константи́н Никола́евич Игу́мнов; , 1873 – March 24, 1948) was a Soviet and Russian pianist and pedagogue.

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significa ...

(1946).

Biography

Igumnov studied under

Nikolai Zverev Nikolai Sergeyevich Zverev (russian: Николай Серге́евич Зве́рев, sometimes transliterated Nikolai Zveref; ) was a Russian pianist and teacher known for his pupils Alexander Siloti, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin ...

, and at

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

under

Alexander Siloti Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti, russian: Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Зило́ти, ''Aleksandr Iljič Ziloti'', uk, Олександр Ілліч Зілоті; 9 October 1863 – 8 December 1945) was a Russian virtuoso pianist, ...

and

Pavel Pabst Paul Pabst (Russian: Pavel Pabst) (15 May 1854 – 9 June 1897) was a pianist, composer, and Professor of Piano at Moscow Conservatory. Life and career Pabst was born Christian Georg Paul Pabst in 1854, into a family of musicians in the ca ...

. He took theory and composition courses from

Sergei Taneyev Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Тане́ев, ; – ) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author. Life Taneyev was born in Vladimir, Vladimir Governorate, Russi ...

Anton Arensky Anton Stepanovich Arensky (russian: Анто́н Степа́нович Аре́нский; – ) was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music. Biography Arensky was born into an affluent, music-loving ...

and

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Ипполи́тов-Ива́нов; 28 January 1935) was a Russian and Soviet composer, conductor and teacher. His music ranged from the late-Romantic era ...

. In 1898-9 he was pianoforte teacher at the

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

music-school of the

Russian Musical Society The Russian Musical Society (RMS) (russian: Русское музыкальное общество) was the first music school in Russia open to the general public. It was launched in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and Anton Rubinstein ...

. From 1899 he was Professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where his life's work was carried out. He recorded 6 pieces on piano roll for the

Welte-Mignon M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte (1807–1880) in 1832. Overview From 1832 until 1932, the firm produced mechanical mus ...

reproducing piano A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...

in 1910. Among his many students were

Arno Babajanian Arno Harutyunovich Babajanian ( hy, Առնո Բաբաջանյան; russian: Арно Арутюнович Бабаджанян; January 22, 1921 – November 11, 1983) was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist. He was made a People's Artist ...

Bolesław Kon Bolesław Kon (9 December 190610 June 1936) was a Polish concert pianist who won international acclaim in his brief career. Kon was born into a poor Jewish family in Warsaw. He began his piano training aged about 10, at the Moscow Conservatory u ...

Naum Shtarkman Naum Lvovich Shtarkman (russian: Наум Львович Штаркман; 28 September 1927, Zhitomir - 19 July 2006, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian classical pianist. He was a student of Konstantin Igumnov at the Moscow Conservatory. Shtarkman ...

Elena Beckman-Shcherbina Elena Aleksandrovna Bekman-Shcherbina (; née Kamentseva; 12 January 1882 – 30 September 1951) was a Soviet and Russian pianist, composer and teacher. Origins Born Elena Aleksandrovna Kamentseva, she was adopted by her mother's sister after the ...

Yakov Flier Yakov Vladimirovich Flier (russian: Я́ков Влади́мирович Флие́р; , 1912 – December 18, 1977; last name also spelled Fliere or Fliyer) was a Jewish Russian concert pianist and teacher. Flier was born in Orekhovo-Z ...

, Boris Berlin,

Lev Oborin Lev Nikolayevich Oborin (russian: Лев Николаевич Оборин, ''Lev Nikolaevič Oborin''; Moscow, Moscow, 5 January 1974) was a Soviet and Russian pianist, composer and pedagogue. He was the winner of the first International Chopin ...

Maria Grinberg Maria Grinberg ( Russian: Mария Израилевна Гринберг, Marija Israilevna Grinberg; September 6, 1908 – July 14, 1978) was a Russian pianist. She was born in Odessa, Russian Empire. Her father was a Hebrew scholar and her mot ...

Andrzej Wasowski Andrzej Wasowski (January 24, 1919 – May 27, 1993) was a Polish classical pianist. Life Andrzej Wasowski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. His father's family owned estates in Podolia and sugar refineries and mining interests in Silesia. His ...

Elena Laumenskienė Elena Laumenskienė (16 July 1880 – 24 March 1960) was a Lithuanian composer, music educator, and pianist who published some music under the name Elena Stanekaite-Laumyanskene. Laumyanskene was born in Radviliškis. She graduated from the Mos ...

Ryszard Bakst Ryszard Bakst (4 April 1926 – 25 March 1999) was a Polish pianist and distinguished piano teacher. Background Bakst was a descendant of the Russian artist Léon Bakst. His teachers were initially his mother and pianist Józef Turczyńs ...

Tengiz Amirejibi Tengiz (Gizi) Amirejibi ( ka, თენგიზ (გიზი) ამირეჯიბი) (30 September 1927, Tbilisi – 9 March 2013) was a Georgian pianist best known for his interpretations of Chopin. Life He was a professor emeritus at t ...

, Anatoly Alexandrov,

Bella Davidovich Bella Mikhaylovna Davidovich (Бэлла Миха́йловна Давидо́вич; born July 16, 1928) is a Soviet-born American pianist. Biography Davidovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, into a Jewish family of musicians and began stu ...

Rosa Tamarkina Rosa Vladimirovna Tamarkina ( rus, Ро́за Влади́мировна Тама́ркина) (23 March 19205 August 1950) was a Soviet pianist who won second prize in the III International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1937). Tamarkina, ...

Issay Dobrowen Issay Alexandrovich Dobrowen (russian: Исай Александрович Добровейн; in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire9 December 1953, Oslo, Norway), born Itschok Zorachovitch Barabeitchik, was a Russian/Soviet- Norwegian pianist, c ...

, and

Mariya Gambaryan Mariya Stepanovna Gambaryan (Yerevan, 1 October 1925) is an Armenian pianist. She studied until 1948 in the Moscow Conservatoire under Konstantin Igumnov, who took pride in shaping her artistic personality, followed by postgraduate studies in the ...

. Igumnov was evacuated to

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

during the first half of 1940s. During those years he was teaching at the local Conservatory, where his 70th anniversary was widely celebrated. A four-record (LP) set of Igumnov's recordings was issued by

Melodiya Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...

on 33C 10-05519-26.Methuen-Campbell 1981, 136, n.

Honours and awards

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the ...

(1937) *

People's Artist of the RSFSR People's Artist of the RSFSR (russian: Народный артист РСФСР, ''Narodnyj artist RSFSR'') was an honorary title granted to Soviet Union artists, including theatre and film directors, choreographers, music performers, and orches ...

(1941) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

(1945) *

(1946) *

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize * The Stalin Peace Prize, awarded 1949 to 1955, later known as the Lenin Peace Prize The Int ...

(1946) *

Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" The Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (russian: медаль «За доблестный труд в Великой Отечественной войне 1941–1945 гг.») was a World War II civilian labour awar ...

Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow" The Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow" (russian: Медаль «В память 800-летия Москвы») was a state commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Sov ...

Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls

*Catalog no. 2061: Rachmaninoff - Prelude, Op. 23, No. 1, f# *Catalog no. 2062: Rachmaninoff - Prelude, Op. 23, No. 6, Eb *Catalog no. 2063: Scriabin - Sonata-Fantasie, Op. 19, No. 2, g# *Catalog no. 2064: Brahms - Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 6, eb *Catalog no. 2065: Rachmaninoff - "Fantasy Pieces", Op. 3, No. 2, c#: Prelude *Catalog no. 2066: Arensky - By the Seashore, Op. 52, No. 4, Gb

Sources

*A. Eaglefield-Hull, ''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'' (Dent, London 1924). *J. Methuen-Campbell, ''Chopin Playing from the Composer to the Present Day'' (Gollancz, London 1981).

References

1873 births 1948 deaths 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century male pianists People from Lebedyansky Uyezd People from Lipetsk Oblast Moscow Conservatory academic personnel Moscow Conservatory alumni People's Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the USSR Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Classical pianists from the Russian Empire Male classical pianists Pupils of Nikolai Zverev Pupils of Pavel Pabst Russian classical pianists Soviet classical pianists Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery {{Russia-classical-pianist-stub