(b Novgorod, 12 July 1861; d Terioki, 25 Feb 1906). Russian composer, pianist and conductor. He studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory with Rimsky-Korsakov, then taught at the Moscow Conservatory (1882-95); in Moscow he directed Russian Choral Society concerts and wrote a successful opera, A Dream on the Volga (1888). He succeeded Balakirev as director of the imperial chapel in St Petersburg (1895-1901). An eclectic composer with a gift for melody, he wrote attractive songs and keyboard works as well as chamber music including a Piano Trio in D minor (1894).
The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.