Alexander Glazunov

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Konstantinovich and the family name is Glazunov.
Alexander Glazunov
Portrait of Glazunov by Ilya Repin, 1887
Born(1865-08-10)10 August 1865
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died21 March 1936(1936-03-21) (aged 70)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Occupations
  • Composer
  • Conductor
  • Conservatory director
OrganizationsSaint Petersburg Conservatory
WorksList of compositions

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov[a] (10 August [O.S. 29 July] 1865 – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was instrumental in the reorganization of the institute into the Petrograd Conservatory, then the Leningrad Conservatory, following the Bolshevik Revolution. He continued as head of the Conservatory until 1930, though he had left the Soviet Union in 1928 and did not return.[1] The best-known student under his tenure during the early Soviet years was Dmitri Shostakovich.[2]

Glazunov successfully reconciled nationalism and cosmopolitanism in Russian music. While he was the direct successor to Balakirev's nationalism, he tended more towards Borodin's epic grandeur while absorbing a number of other influences. These included Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral virtuosity, Tchaikovsky's lyricism and Taneyev's contrapuntal skill. Younger composers such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich eventually considered his music old-fashioned, while also admitting he remained a composer with an imposing reputation, and a stabilizing influence in a time of transition and turmoil.[3]


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  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference BS938 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Jaffé, Daniel (15 February 2022). Historical Dictionary of Russian Music. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-5381-3008-7. Glazunov became a teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1900) and later its director (1905)... ...Among his many pupils, one of the last and most famous was Dmitri Shostakovich, on whose behalf Glazunov personally interceded during the parlous postrevolutionary years to ensure adequate paper and food was supplied to his talented pupil.
  3. ^ Schwarz, New Grove, 939–940.