Vasily Safonov
Template:Short description Template:More footnotes needed
Vasily Ilyich Safonov (Template:Langx; Template:OldStyleDate – 27 February 1918), also known as Wassily Safonoff, was a Russian pianist, teacher, conductor and composer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Biography
Vasily Safonov, also known as Safonoff in the West during his lifetime, was born in Template:Interlanguage link (also rendered as Itschory, Itsyursk, or Itsiursk) in the Russian Caucasus (present-day Chechnya), the son of Cossack General Ilya Ivanovich Safonov.<ref name="Contemporaries"/>
He studied at the Imperial Alexandra Lyceum in Saint Petersburg and later at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory from 1881 to 1885 under Louis Brassin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and received the conservatory's gold medal in piano performance. He also studied under Theodor Leschetizky and Nikolai Zaremba.<ref name="Contemporaries">Template:Cite web</ref>
Safonov had three daughters who pursued artistic careers. Anna Vasilyevna Timiryova (1893–1975) became a poet and later spent many years in labor camps and exile.<ref name="Omsk">Template:Cite web</ref> Varvara Vasilievna Safonova (1895–1942), a painter, died during the Siege of Leningrad. Yelena Vasilievna Safonova (1902–1980) studied painting, designed theatre costumes, and published children's books; she lived in exile in Kursk from 1932 to 1958.<ref name="Savitsky">Template:Cite book</ref>
Safonov was best known for his work in music education. He became director of the Moscow Conservatory in 1889 and later served as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York from 1906 to 1909.
Among his students were several of Russia's most prominent pianists, including Alexander Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner, Josef Lhévinne and Rosina Bessie (later Lhévinne). He also taught the theorist and pedagogue Maria Levinskaya as well as Marthe Servine, a French-American composer and pianist. See also: List of music students by teacher
After retiring from teaching, Safonov achieved recognition as a conductor. He conducted the first Moscow performance of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony (No. 6) on 4/16 December 1893, seven weeks after its premiere under the composer's direction and six weeks after his death.<ref>Tchaikovsky Research; accessed 18 November 2014.</ref>
Safonov conducted many of Europe's leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonic, the Lamoureux Orchestra of Paris, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the New York Philharmonic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
He is regarded as the first modern conductor known to have dispensed with the use of the baton. According to reports, this practice began when he once forgot to bring his baton to a rehearsal and conducted with his hands; he subsequently considered the baton unnecessary.<ref>Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., 1954, vol. VII, p. 359</ref>
Safonov died in Kislovodsk on 27 February 1918, at the age of 66.
His voice
| Anton Rubinstein: | What a wonderful thing. | Какая прекрасная вещь ....хорошо... Template:In lang | Kakaya prekrasnaya veshch' ....khorosho... |
| Julius Block: | At last. | Наконец-то. | Nakonets-to. |
| Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya: | You're disgusting. How dare you call me crafty? | Противный *** да как вы смеете называть меня коварной? | Protivnyy *** da kak vy smeyete nazyvat' menya kovarnoy? |
| Vasily Safonov: | (sings) | ||
| Pyotr Tchaikovsky: | This trill could be better. | Эта трель могла бы быть и лучше. | Eta trel' mogla by byt' i luchshe. |
| Lavrovskaya: | (sings) | ||
| Tchaikovsky: | Block is a good fellow, but Edison is even better. | Блок молодец, но у Эдисона ещё лучше! | Blok molodets, no u Edisona yeshchyo luchshe! |
| Lavrovskaya: | (sings) A-o, a-o. | А-о, а-о. | A-o, a-o. |
| Safonov: | Peter Jurgenson in Moscow. | Peter Jurgenson in Moskau. Template:In lang | Peter Jurgenson in Moskau. |
| Tchaikovsky: | Who's speaking now? It seems like Safonov's voice. | Кто сейчас говорит? Кажется голос Сафонова. | Kto seychas govorit? Kazhetsya golos Safonova. |
| Safonov: | (whistles) |
References
External links
Template:NYPhil music directors Template:Portal bar Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- 1852 births
- 1918 deaths
- 19th-century classical pianists
- 19th-century male musicians from the Russian Empire
- Composers from the Russian Empire
- Conductors (music) from the Russian Empire
- Music educators from the Russian Empire
- Classical pianists from the Russian Empire
- Piano educators
- Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society
- Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni
- Music directors of the New York Philharmonic
- Pupils of Nikolai Zaremba
- Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory