Samuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg (russian: Самуи́л Евге́ньевич Фе́йнберг, also Samuel; 26 May 1890,

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrat ...

– 22 October 1962,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) was a Russian and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

composer and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

Biography

Born in Odessa, Feinberg lived in Moscow from 1894 and studied with Alexander Goldenweiser at the

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 ...

. He also studied composition privately under Nikolai Zhilyayev. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1911, after which he embarked upon a career as a solo pianist, while composing on the side. However, he was soon sent to fight in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

for Russia until he became ill and was discharged. In 1922, he joined the faculty at the Moscow Conservatory, relaunching his pianistic career. By 1930, due to the political repressions in

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's Russia, Feinberg's concert activities became limited. He made only two foreign trips in the 1930s:

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1936 and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 1938; hence he is generally not well known outside Russia. In 1946, he was awarded the Stalin Prize. Feinberg was the first pianist to perform the complete ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of ins ...

'' by

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

in concert in the USSR. He is most remembered today for his complete recording of it, and many other works from the classical and romantic eras. He also composed three piano concertos, a dozen piano sonatas (private recordings exist of him playing his piano Sonatas 1, 2, 9 and 12), as well as fantasias and other works for the instrument. Pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva said that each of his sonatas was a "poem of life". Feinberg has been called "A musical heir to Scriabin", who heard the young pianist play his fourth sonata and praised it highly.Feinberg Sonata 4 published in 1918, Scriabin dead in 1915. He was a life-long bachelor. He lived with his brother Leonid, who was a poet and painter. He died in 1962, aged 72.

Honours and awards

* Stalin Prize – 1946 *

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 ...

* Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1937)

Works

Compositions for solo piano

* Op. 1: Piano Sonata No. 1 (1915) * Op. 2: Piano Sonata No. 2 (1915) * Op. 3: Piano Sonata No. 3 (1917) * Op. 5: Fantasia No. 1 (1917) * Op. 6: Piano Sonata No. 4 (1918) * Op. 8: Four Preludes (1920) *# Allegretto *# Misterioso *# Tumoltuoso *# Con moto * Op. 9: Fantasia No. 2 (1921) * Op. 10: Piano Sonata No. 5 (1921) * Op. 11: Suite No. 1 (1922) * Op. 13: Piano Sonata No. 6 (1923) * Op. 15: Three Preludes (1922) *# Allegro affanato e molto rubato *# Andante con tenerezza *# Presto * Op. 17: Two Cadenzas to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 (1930-1935) * Op. 19: Humoresque * Op. 19a: Berceuse * Op. 21: Piano Sonata No. 7 (1925) * Op. 21a: Piano Sonata No. 8 (1928) * Op. 24a: Two Chuvash Melodies * Op. 25: Suite No. 2 (1936) * Op. 27a: Three Melodies (1938) *# Georgian Song *# Tartar Song *# Armenian Song * Op. 29: Piano Sonata No. 9 (1939) * Op. 30: Piano Sonata No. 10 (1940–44) * Op. 31: 3 Transcriptions of symphonies of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...

(1942) *# 'Andante marziale' from Symphony No. 2, Op. 17 *# 'Waltz' from Symphony No. 5, Op. 64 *# 'Allegro molto vivace' from Symphony No. 6, Op. 74 * Op. 33: Two Pieces (1947) *# Tale *# Procession * Op. 35: Transcriptions of works of J.S. Bach (1925-1934) * Op. 37: Transcription of Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548 by J.S. Bach (1937-1948?) * Op. 38: Transcription of Largo from Organ Sonata No.5 in C Major, BWV 529 by J.S. Bach (1935-1938?) * Op. 40: Piano Sonata No. 11 (1952) * Op. 41: 4 Cadenzas to Mozart's Piano Concerto, K.467 (1952?) * Op. 42: Transcription of Nocturne from String Quartet No.2, by A. Borodin (1942-1943?) * Op. 43: 3 Transcriptions of Tchaikovsky's Songs, Op.54 (1942-1943?) * Op. 45: Rhapsody on Kabardino-Balkarian Themes (1961) * Op. 48: Piano Sonata No. 12 (1962)

Concertante

* Op. 20: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major (1931) * Op. 36: Piano Concerto No. 2 in D major (1944) * Op. 44: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (1947)

For piano and voice

* Op. 4: Two Romances after

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

and

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasu ...

*# Заклинание (Incantation) *# Из-под таинственной, холодной полумаски (Behind the Mysterious Cold Half-Mask) * Op. 7: Three Romances after

Alexander Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...

*# Голоса (снежная ночь) – Voices (Snowy Night) *# И я опять затих у ног (снежная ночь) – Once more I'm silent at your feet (Snowy Night) *# В бездействии младом (стихи о прекрасной даме) – In Youthful indolence * Op. 14: Four Romances after

Valery Bryusov Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov ( rus, Вале́рий Я́ковлевич Брю́сов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈjakəvlʲɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbrʲusəf, a=Valyeriy Yakovlyevich Bryusov.ru.vorb.oga; – 9 October 1924) was a Russian poet, prose writer, drama ...

, and Andrei Bely (1917, unpublished) * Op. 16: Three Romances after

(1923) *# Анчар – Anchar *# Друг мой милый – My Beloved *# Напрасно я бегу к Сионским высотам – In vain I hasten onto the heights of Sion * Op. 18 – 5 National Songs (1932) *# Лох-Ломонд (Шотландская) *# Хоровод (Английская) *# Деревенская девушка (Английская) *# Похищение из Тюэри (Ирландская) *# Ночная песнь рыбаков (Валлийская) * Op. 22: Two Songs after Aleksandr Zharov (1932) * Op. 23: Three Songs (1938) * Op. 23a: Song after Dmitry Dolgonemov (1934) * Op. 24: 25 Chuvash Songs after Yuri Stremin (1935-1936) * Op. 26: Eight Romances after

(1936) *# Не пой, красавица, при мне... – Do not sing, my beauty, to me *# Зимний вечер – Winter Evening *# Под небом голубым страны своей родной – Under the blue skies of her native land *# Туча – Cloud *# Три ключа – Three Springs *# Я помню чудное мгновенье – I Remember a Wonderful Moment *# Сожженное письмо – The Burned Letter *# Няне — Подруга дней моих суровых... – To Nanny – My friend through my travails, woes hardest.. * Op. 27: 12 Songs (1935-1937) * Op. 28: Seven Romances after

(1940) *# Дубовый листок – Oak Leaf *# Пленный рыцарь – The Imprisoned Knight *# Сон – The Dream *# Еврейская мелодия – Hebrew Melody *# Русалка – The River Sprite *# Нет, не тебя так пылко я люблю – No, it's not you I love so hotly *# Выхожу одни я но дорогу – Onto the Highway, on my own, I walk * Op. 32: 3 Songs after Sergei Severtsev and Sergei Gorodetsky * Op. 34: 6 Kabardian Songs (1941) * Op. 39: 4 Songs after Yuri Stremin (1939) * Op. 47: Maritsa, after Yugoslavian Folk Poetry (1958) *# Марица – Maritsa *# Первая любовь – The First Love *# Девушка и конь – The Horse and The Girl *# Разговор со смертью – Conversation with Death *# Македонская девушка – Macedonian Girl *# Уж как выпал снег... – Ah, How Fell The Snow *# Колыбельная – Lullaby *# Ожидание – Waiting

Violin sonatas

* Op. 12: Violin Sonata No. 1 (1912, incomplete) * Op. 46: Violin Sonata No. 2 (1955–56)

References

External links

Skalkottas Feinberg Society
* * *

at Stanford School of Mathematics {{DEFAULTSORT:Feinberg, Samuil 1890 births 1962 deaths Musicians from Odesa Russian classical pianists Male classical pianists Russian classical composers Russian male classical composers Soviet classical pianists 20th-century classical pianists Soviet composers Soviet male composers Jewish classical composers Moscow Conservatory alumni Musicians from Moscow Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Honored Artists of the RSFSR 20th-century classical composers Jewish classical pianists Ukrainian classical pianists Jewish Ukrainian musicians Odesa Jews 20th-century Russian male musicians