Alexander Ilyich Siloti

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Alexander Siloti (left) with P. I. Tchaikovsky

Alexander Ilyich Ziloti ( Russian Александр Ильич Зилоти ., Scientific transliteration Aleksandr Il'ič Ziloti ; born September 27, jul. / 9. October  1863 greg. In Kharkov , † 8. December 1945 in New York ) was a Russian pianist , composer and Conductor .

He is a cousin of the Russian pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninov .

Life

Siloti's ancestors had immigrated to Russia from Italy in the course of the 18th century .

Siloti, who initially received piano lessons from Anton Rubinstein , studied from 1871 with Nikolai Swerew and from 1875 to 1881 at the Moscow Conservatory with Nikolai Rubinstein , Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Taneyev . In 1880 he made his successful debut in a concert of the Russian Music Society ( Russkoe muzykal'noe obščestvo , RMO) in Moscow. 1883–1886 pupil of Franz Liszt in Weimar , he performed successfully in various German cities, such as in 1883 at the Tonkünstlerversammlung in Leipzig . The suggestion for founding the Liszt Society in Leipzig in 1885 also goes back to Siloti. His talent for pianism helped him to a professorship for piano from 1886–1890 at the Moscow Conservatory. Between 1891 and 1900 Siloti lived temporarily in Frankfurt am Main , Antwerp and Leipzig as a celebrated pianist. In 1898 he toured the United States and made guest appearances in New York, Boston, Cincinnati and Chicago. From 1903, after conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Concerts for two years , Siloti shifted his focus to conducting and until 1917 directed the symphony and chamber music concerts he had initiated in Saint Petersburg .

His role as a leading figure in Russian musical life ended with the October Revolution , during which he came under the spotlight of the authorities. He was temporarily arrested in 1919, but was released due to an advocate. He fled to Finland with his family , gave concerts in Germany and England and from there finally emigrated to the USA . There he worked as a concert pianist until 1936 and taught at the Juilliard School in New York from 1924 to 1942 .

meaning

Siloti has made a name for himself primarily as a pianist. As one of the most brilliant representatives of the Liszt School, numerous Russian musicians owe their pianistic skills to his pedagogical skills, including his younger cousin Sergei Rachmaninow , Alexander Goldenweiser and Konstantin Igumnow .

In 1911, in grateful memory of his great teacher, Siloti published his memoirs of Franz Liszt .

Although Siloti set fruitful artistic impulses through his activity as a conductor in the musical life of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and promoted especially young Russian composers and the French impressionists in his concerts , his fame has almost faded today.

He arranged Bach's D major Concerto for piano, violin and flute (with string orchestra), the Prelude in E minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier I and Vivaldi's D minor Concerto for small orchestra. His most important arrangements to date, however, are those of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concertos No. 1, Op. 23 in B flat minor and No. 2, Op. 44 in G major . Since Siloti partially shortened them and changed the tempo markings, these concerts are now often played faster than Tchaikovsky had actually planned.

literature

  • Charles F. Barber: Lost in the Stars. The Forgotten Musical Life of Alexander Siloti. Scarecrow Press, Lanham MD et al. 2002, ISBN 0-8108-4108-8 .
  • Karl Laux : The music in Russia and in the Soviet Union. Henschel, Berlin 1958.
  • Christoph Flamm:  Ziloti, Aleksandr Il'ič. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 17 (Vina - Zykan). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7618-1137-5 , Sp. 1488 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  • Wilibald Gurlitt , Carl Dahlhaus (editor): Riemann Musik-Lexikon. In three volumes and two supplementary volumes. Silot, Alexander Ilyich. 12th completely revised edition. 2. Person part L – ZB Schotts-Söhne, Mainz 1959, p. 685 f . (First edition: 1882).
  • Wilibald Gurlitt , Carl Dahlhaus (editor): Riemann Musik-Lexikon. In three volumes and two supplementary volumes. Silot, Alexander Ilyich. 12th completely revised edition. 5. Supplementary volume, personal section L – ZB Schotts-Söhne, Mainz 1972, p. 652 (first edition: 1882).

Web links

Commons : Alexander Siloti  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Flamm:  Ziloti, Aleksandr Il'ič. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 17 (Vina - Zykan). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7618-1137-5 , Sp. 1488 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ^ Charles Barber:  Ziloti [Siloti], Aleksandr Il′yich. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. Jump up ↑ Jan Brachmann: Philharmonie: The end of the blow from the "warhorse". In: Berliner Zeitung . October 29, 2013, accessed May 8, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Siloti, Alexander Ilyich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Зилоти, Александр Ильич (Russian); Ziloti, Aleksandr Il'ič (scientific transliteration)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian pianist, composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Kharkov
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1945
Place of death new York