Tatiana Nikolayeva
Encyclopedia
Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva was a Russia
n Soviet
pianist
, composer
and teacher.
) in the Bryansk district
on May 4, 1924. Her mother was a professional pianist and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under the renowned pedagogue Alexander Goldenweiser (whose other students included Grigori Ginzburg, Samuil Feinberg
, Dimitri Bashkirov and Lazar Berman
), and her father was an amateur violinist and cellist. She studied piano from the age of three and was composing by age twelve. At thirteen, she entered the Moscow Conservatory
, studying with Goldenweiser and Evgeny Golubev
. Goldenweiser, who had been friends with Alexander Scriabin
, Sergei Rachmaninoff
and Nikolai Medtner
, stressed the need to develop the highest proficiency in contrapuntal
playing. Nilkolayeva graduated in 1948.
After graduation, she studied composition with Golubev. During this time, she wrote a cantata, Pesn o schastye (Song about Happiness), and two piano concerto
s. The first concerto, in B major, was recorded with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under the conductor
Kirill Kondrashin.
, part of the bicentennial marking Bach
's death. More importantly, she met Dmitri Shostakovich
at the competition, leading to a lifelong friendship, and was chosen as a first performer of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues
. Nikolayeva made three complete recordings of the cycle.
In 1959 Nikolayeva became a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory, later becoming professor in 1965. She made over 50 recordings during her career, notably keyboard works by Bach, including his Art of Fugue
, and by Beethoven
, but only became widely known in the West late in life. With the fall of Communism, she found herself in demand internationally, making several concert tours to Europe and the United States. She also sat as a jury member on many international competitions, including the Leeds International Piano Competition
in 1984 and 1987. One of her best known recordings is a transcription
of Sergei Prokofiev
's Peter and the Wolf
, which was released by RCA Victor in Japan. She was known to have had an immense repertoire
, and many enthusiasts await the reissue of much of her Melodiya
back-catalog.
, who went on to great international acclaim.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and teacher.
Early life
Nikolayeva was born in Bezhitsa (now part of BryanskBryansk
Bryansk is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, located southwest of Moscow. Population: -History:The first written mention of Bryansk was in 1146, in the Hypatian Codex, as Debryansk...
) in the Bryansk district
Bryansk Oblast
Bryansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. Population: 1,278,087 .-History:...
on May 4, 1924. Her mother was a professional pianist and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under the renowned pedagogue Alexander Goldenweiser (whose other students included Grigori Ginzburg, Samuil Feinberg
Samuil Feinberg
Samuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist. Raised in Moscow, he entered the Moscow Conservatory and studied under Alexander Goldenweiser. He is most remembered today for his complete recording of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and many transcriptions. Feinberg...
, Dimitri Bashkirov and Lazar Berman
Lazar Berman
Lazar Naumovich Berman was a Soviet Russian classical pianist. As a technician, Berman was extraordinary in terms of sheer evenness, control, and rhythmic panache, yet he always channeled his considerable craft toward musical ends....
), and her father was an amateur violinist and cellist. She studied piano from the age of three and was composing by age twelve. At thirteen, she entered the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
, studying with Goldenweiser and Evgeny Golubev
Evgeny Golubev
Evgeny Kirillovich Golubev was a Russian Soviet composer.He was taught by Nikolai Myaskovsky, and his students included Alfred Schnittke, who studied with him from 1953 until 1958 and Michael L. Geller...
. Goldenweiser, who had been friends with Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
, Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
and Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and pianist.A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano...
, stressed the need to develop the highest proficiency in contrapuntal
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
playing. Nilkolayeva graduated in 1948.
After graduation, she studied composition with Golubev. During this time, she wrote a cantata, Pesn o schastye (Song about Happiness), and two piano concerto
Piano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
s. The first concerto, in B major, was recorded with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under the conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Kirill Kondrashin.
Career
In 1950 Nikolayeva gained prominence by winning the International Johann Sebastian Bach CompetitionInternational 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 years with three changing subjects...
, part of the bicentennial marking Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's death. More importantly, she met Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
at the competition, leading to a lifelong friendship, and was chosen as a first performer of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues
24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)
The 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich is a set of 24 piano pieces, one in each of the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. While the musical style and ideas are Shostakovich's own, it follows the form of Frederic Chopin's Op. 28 preludes.Each piece is in two parts: a...
. Nikolayeva made three complete recordings of the cycle.
In 1959 Nikolayeva became a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory, later becoming professor in 1965. She made over 50 recordings during her career, notably keyboard works by Bach, including his Art of Fugue
The Art of Fugue
The Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...
, and by Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, but only became widely known in the West late in life. With the fall of Communism, she found herself in demand internationally, making several concert tours to Europe and the United States. She also sat as a jury member on many international competitions, including the Leeds International Piano Competition
Leeds International Pianoforte Competition
The Leeds International Piano Competition informally known as The Leeds takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1961 by Marion, Countess of Harewood and Fanny Waterman, who is today its Chairman and Artistic Director. The competition was first held in 1963...
in 1984 and 1987. One of her best known recordings is a transcription
Transcription (music)
In music, transcription can mean notating a piece or a sound which was previously unnotated, as, for example, an improvised jazz solo. Further examples include ethnomusicological notation of oral traditions of folk music, such as Béla Bartók's and Ralph Vaughan Williams' collections of the national...
of Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf , Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....
, which was released by RCA Victor in Japan. She was known to have had an immense repertoire
Repertoire
Repertoire may mean repertory, a system of theatrical production and performance scheduling, but may also refer to:* Musical repertoire* Repertoire Records, a German record label specialising in 1960s and 1970s pop and rock reissues...
, and many enthusiasts await the reissue of much of her Melodiya
Melodiya
Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...
back-catalog.
Teaching
A teacher for over four decades, Nikolayeva taught many prominent pianists and worked closely with the young Nikolai LuganskyNikolai Lugansky
Nikolai Lugansky is a Russian pianist from Moscow. At the age of five, before he had even started to learn the piano, he astonished his parents when he sat down at the piano and played a Beethoven sonata by ear, which he had just heard a relative play. He studied piano at the Moscow Central Music...
, who went on to great international acclaim.
Awards
Her third recording of the Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues won the 1991 Gramophone award in the instrumental category.- People's Artists of the USSR (1983)
- Stalin Prize, first class (1951) - for a concert and performances and for the composition Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Death
On November 13, 1993, while playing the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues at a concert in San Francisco, Nikolayeva was stricken by a cerebral haemorrhage and was unable to complete the performance. She died nine days later, on November 22. (Some sources say she died on November 13, but this is incorrect.)Partial repertoire
- 24 Preludes and Fugues24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)The 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich is a set of 24 piano pieces, one in each of the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. While the musical style and ideas are Shostakovich's own, it follows the form of Frederic Chopin's Op. 28 preludes.Each piece is in two parts: a...
, Op. 87 (Shostakovich) - The Art of FugueThe Art of FugueThe Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...
, BWV1080 (Bach) - Duet in A minor, BWV805 (Bach)
- Duet in E minor, BWV802 (Bach)
- Duet in F major, BWV803 (Bach)
- Duet in G major, BWV804 (Bach)
- The Musical OfferingThe Musical OfferingThe Musical Offering , BWV 1079, is a collection of canons and fugues and other pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, all based on a single musical theme given to him by Frederick II of Prussia , to whom they are dedicated...
, BWV1079 (Bach) - Three Fantastic Dances, Op. 5 (Shostakovich)
- Goldberg VariationsGoldberg VariationsThe Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
, BWV988 (Bach) - Piano Sonata No. 2Piano Sonata No. 2 (Shostakovich)Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61 was composed in 1943 in Samara, where he had been evacuated due to the Siege of Leningrad, and was premiered by Shostakovich himself on June 6, soon after moving to Moscow...
, Op. 61 (Shostakovich) - Preludes, Op. 34 (Shostakovich)
Compositions
- Cantata Pesn o schastye (Song about Happiness)
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in B majorB majorIn music theory, B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps....
, Op.Opus numberAn Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
10, which was performed and recorded in 1951, with the composer at the piano and Kirill Kondrashin conducting; and published in 1958 - Piano Concerto No. 2 (1966)
- Trio for piano, flute and viola (recorded on BIS RecordsBIS RecordsBIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings....
) - Preludes for piano
- String quartet
External links
- The www.tatiana-nikolayeva.info website by Wim de Haan.
- Short biography and photograph from Hyperion Records.
- Playing Shostakovich on YouTube