Yevgeny Ottovich Gunst (; May 26 ( Julian) / June 7 ( Gregorian), 1877–January 30, 1950) was a Russian

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 ...

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, ...

, music essayist, and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. He was the brother of architect Anatoly Gunst.

Biography

Gunst was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to Otto Karlovich Gunst, a member of the

State Council of Imperial Russia The State Council ( rus, Госуда́рственный сове́т, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj sɐˈvʲet) was the supreme state advisory body to the tsar in the Russian Empire. From 1906, it was the upper house of the parliament under t ...

, who had German ancestors. He studied law as well as composition,

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

, and piano at the State Conservatory, as well as having private lessons with renowned composers like

Reinhold Glière Reinhold Moritzevich Glière (23 June 1956), born Reinhold Ernest Glier, was a Russian and Soviet composer of German and Polish descent. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of RSFSR (1935) and People's Artist of USSR (1938). Biography ...

and Alexander Goldenweiser. In 1909, he co-founded the Moscow Chamber Music Theatre with

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

, among others. In 1920, Gunst had to emigrate to

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

(

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

) before later settling down in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. There, he co-founded the

Conservatoire Rachmaninoff The Conservatoire Serge Rachmaninoff de Paris ( English translation: Sergei Rachmaninoff Conservatory of Paris) is a professional music school in Paris, which conducts its courses in both French and Russian. The Conservatoire offers individual ...

in 1924 but had to leave in 1931 due to political differences. He founded his own conservatory but soon had to close it as the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

was still ongoing. He worked as an arranger (banking) and

copyist A copyist is a person who makes duplications of the same thing. The modern use of the term is mainly confined to music copyists, who are employed by the music industry to produce neat copies from a composer or arranger's manuscript. However, the ...

in Paris and became a close friend of

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...

. In 1949, Gunst was about to migrate to the United States, but he died in 1950 in Paris at the age of 72. His estate was found in 2009 in the basement of the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

Musicological Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

Institute. Apparently, it was left undiscovered for many decades, as Gunst's widow had bestowed her husband's estate on the institute's director, at that time Jacques Handschin, in the 1950s.

Notes

Free scores

* 1877 births 1950 deaths Composers from the Russian Empire Moscow Conservatory alumni Russian Romantic composers Pianists from the Russian Empire Russian male classical pianists Russian male classical composers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Naturalized citizens of France Russian pianists Composers for piano Russian people of German descent Conductors (music) from the Russian Empire Russian male conductors (music) 20th-century Russian male musicians 19th-century male musicians from the Russian Empire {{Russia-musician-stub