Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva (; May 4, 1924November 22, 1993) was a Soviet and Russian

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and teacher.

Life

Nikolayeva was born in Bezhitsa, in the Bryansk district, on May 4, 1924. Her mother was a professional pianist and studied at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

under the renowned pedagogue Alexander Goldenweiser, and her father was an amateur violinist and cellist. Nikolayeva won first prize in the

International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition The International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition () is a music competition in Leipzig, Germany, held by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. It was founded in 1950 and was held every four years from 1964 to 1996 with five subjects and is now held every two ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, which was founded to mark the bicentenary of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

's death in 1750.

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

, who was a member of the jury, composed and dedicated the 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, to her: it remained an important part of her piano repertoire. She sat as a jury member on international competitions such as the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition, the

International Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

and the Leeds Piano Competition. She recorded her own

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, often th ...

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

's ''

Peter and the Wolf ''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и волк, Pétya i volk, p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk) Op. 67, a "symphonic tale for children", is a Program music , programmatic musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a ...

''. Nikolayeva was the teacher of

Nikolai Lugansky Nikolai Lvovich Lugansky (; born 26 April 1972) is a Russian pianist. Early life and education Nikolai Lugansky was born on 26 April 1972 in Moscow, Russia, to research scientist parents. At the age of five, before he had learned to read music ...

. Among her other students were

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor. He has received numerous awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Music Bac ...

, whom she taught in summer courses at the

Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar The University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (in German: Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar) is an institution of music in Weimar, Germany. The Hochschule Franz Liszt, who spent a great deal of his life in Weimar, encouraged the founding o ...

, and Michael Korstick, whom she taught during her master classes at Musikhochschule Cologne, Germany. She died on November 22, 1993, in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, nine days after succumbing to a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

during a performance of one of the Op. 87 fugues at the

Herbst Theatre The Herbst Theatre is an auditorium in the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in the Civic Center, San Francisco. The 928-seat hall hosts programs as diverse as '' City Arts & Lectures'', ''SFJAZZ Center'', and San Francisco Performances. ...

. As James Campbell-Methuen commented in her obituary, "Aside from the Shostakovich, though, Tatiana Nikolayeva will be remembered as a Bach player who flung stylistic considerations to the winds and played the music with an irrepressible musical intelligence and knowledge of the resources of her chosen instrument."

Partial repertoire

* Preludes, Op. 34 (Shostakovich) * 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (Shostakovich) *

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky) The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B minor, Op. 23, was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875.Maes, 75. It was revised in 1879 and in 1888. It was first performed on October 25, 1875, in Boston by Hans von Bülow ...

* Piano Concerto No. 2 (Shostakovich)

Compositions

* Violin Concerto (1972) * Symphony (1955; rev. 1958) * 24 Concert Études, Op. 13, in all major and minor keys (1951–53) * Piano Quintet (1947)

References

External links

website in memoriam of Tatiana Nikolayeva

Short biography
and photograph from Hyperion Records

by Bruce Duffie, October 16, 1992 1924 births 1993 deaths People from Bryansk People's Artists of the USSR Recipients of the Stalin Prize Russian women pianists Women classical pianists 20th-century Russian classical composers Soviet women classical composers Russian women classical composers Soviet classical composers Russian music educators Russian women music educators Piano educators Moscow Conservatory alumni 20th-century Russian classical pianists 20th-century women composers Soviet women pianists {{Russia-classical-musician-stub