Sergei Taneyev
Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (Pronounced: Ta-'ñe-jəv) (also
Taneev or
Taneiev,
Russian:
Сергей Иванович Танеев) (
Vladimir,
November 25,
1856 – Dyudkovo, near
Moscow,
June 19 1915), a pupil of
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was a
Russian composer,
pianist, teacher of
composition, music theorist and author. (Taneyev's first name appears both as Sergei and Sergey.)
Taneyev was born to a cultured and literary family of Russian nobility. His uncle,
Alexander Sergeevich Taneyev, was also a composer, while his first cousin,
Anna Vyrubova, was highly influential at court.
He began playing the piano at the age of 5 and entered the
Moscow Conservatory in
1866, (the year of its foundation). His teachers included Tchaikovsky for
composition and the Conservatory's founder,
Nikolai Rubinstein, for
piano. Taneyev graduated in
1875, the first student in the history of the Conservatory to win the gold medal both for composition and for performing (piano).
In the same year (1875) Taneyev made his debut as a concert pianist in Moscow playing the
first piano concerto in D minor of
Johannes Brahms. Taneyev was also the soloist that year in the Moscow première of Tchaikovsky's
First Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky was clearly impressed by Taneyev's performance because he later asked Taneyev to premiere his Second Piano Concerto. (After Tchaikovsky's death, Taneyev also completed and premiered his Third Piano Concerto.)
Taneyev was quite cosmopolitan. After his graduation from the Conservatory, Taneyev spent five years in
Paris, where he moved in artistic circles and met with
Ivan Turgenev,
Gustave Flaubert,
César Franck and
Camille Saint-Saëns amongst others.
Until
1905 Taneyev taught at the Moscow Conservatory, serving as Director from 1885-1889. He had great influence as a teacher of composition. His pupils included
Alexander Scriabin,
Sergei Rachmaninoff,
Reinhold Glière,
Paul Juon and
Nikolai Medtner.
During the summers of 1895 and 1896, Taneyev stayed at
Yasnaya Polyana, the home of
Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofia. She developed an attachment to the composer which embarrassed her children and made Tolstoy jealous. However this also released her from the distress of the isolation she experienced when Tolstoy grew distant from family concerns and devoted himself to the Christian anarchist-pacifism which shaped his last years. Sofia's infatuation with Taneyev and his music echoes the story of Tolstoy's great and penetrating dissection of marital relations in
The Kreutzer Sonata.
Taneyev's later years were troubled by alcohol problems. He died from pneumonia contracted after attending the funeral of his pupil Scriabin.
A museum dedicated to Taneyev is located in Dyudkovo, where he died. There is also a section dedicated to Taneyev at the Tchaikovsky Museum in
Klin[
1].
Taneyev's style reflects the European, and especially German, orientation of the Moscow Conservatory, rather than the Russian
nationalist outlook of the school of
Balakirev.
His compositions include nine complete
string quartets (plus two partially completed), a
piano quintet, two
string quintets and other chamber works, including a piano prelude and fugue in
G-sharp minor; four
symphonies (only one published during his lifetime, and at least one incomplete), a concert suite with violin and a
piano concerto, and other orchestral works; an organ composition "Chorale with variations";
choral and vocal music. Among the choral works are two cantatas, "St. John of Damascus,"
op. 1 (also known as "A Russian Requiem"), and "At the Reading of a Psalm" (op. 36, sometimes regarded as his
swan song). In the choral works the composer combines the Russian melos with remarkable contrapuntal writing.
Taneyev regarded his
Oresteia, originally conceived in
1882, as his major achievement. This work, which the composer entitled a 'musical trilogy' rather than an opera, and was closely modelled on the original plays by
Aeschylus, was first performed at the
Mariinsky Theatre on
17 October 1895. Taneyev wrote a separate concert overture based on some of the opera's major themes, which was conducted by Tchaikovsky in 1889.
Invertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style, by Sergei Taneyev. 1962 edition, Branden Pub. Co. ISBN 0828314152. Preface written by
Serge Koussevitzky.
* The Russian Piano Quartet: Taneyev's Piano Quartet in E major;
Paul Juon's Rhapsody; and
Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances. Performed by the Ames Piano Quartet (Dorian 93215)
* Taneyev's Concert Suite for Violin & Orchestra; Entr'acte; and Oresteya Overture. Performed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Vladimir Ashkenazy and
Pekka Kuusisto as violin soloist (Ondine 959-2)
* Taneyev's Trio in E-flat major Op. 31; Trio in B minor; and Trio in D major. Performed by the Belcanto Strings (MDG 6341003)
* Taneyev's Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 30; and Piano Trio in D major Op. 22. Performed by
Mikhail Pletnev (piano),
Vadim Repin (violin) and
Lynn Harrell (cello) joined in the quintet by Ilya Gringolts (violin) and Nobuko Imai (viola) (Deutsche Grammophon 4775419)
* Taneyev's Symphony No. 2; and Symphony No. 4. Performed by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valeri Polyansky (Chandos 9998)
* String Quartets 1 and 4. Performed by the Leningrad Taneyev Quartet. Reissue of a Melodiya LP on Northern Flowers NF/PMA 9933 (and the other quartets, in five volumes.)
*
Review of concert performance of 'Oresteia' (
St. Petersburg,
2006).
*
Review of recording of Taneyev's Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 by Michael Carter in
Fanfare Magazine.
*
Sound-bites from String Quartet No.2, Op.5
