Anatoly Lyadov

Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg into a family of eminent Russian musicians. He was taught informally by his conductor step-father Konstantin Lyadov from 1860 to 1868, and then in 1870 entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study piano and violin.

He soon gave up instrumental study to concentrate on counterpoint and fugue, although he remained a fine pianist. His natural musical talent was highly thought of by, among others, Modest Mussorgsky, and during the 1870s he became associated with the group of composers known as The Mighty Handful. He entered the composition classes of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, but was expelled for absenteeism in 1876. In 1878 he was readmitted to these classes to help him complete his graduation composition.

Family

• grandfather on his father's side – Nikolai G. Lyadov (ru: Николай Григорьевич Лядов) was a conductor of Petersburg Philharmonic Society
• father Konstantin Lyadov (Russian: Константин Николаевич Лядов) – chief conductor of the Imperial Opera Company
• mother V Antipova – pianist
• sister Valentina K. Lyadova (Russian: Валентина Лядова) – dramatic actress
• the first sister's husband Mikhail Sariotti (ru: Михаил Сариотти) – the famous Russian opera singer; the second: Ivan Pomazanskiy (ru: Иван Помазанский) - the Russian musician
• uncle (father's brother) Alexander Lyadov (1818–1871; ru: Александр Николаевич Лядов) – the conductor of the orchestra of the Imperial Ballroom
• cousin (uncle's daughter) Vera Lyadova – a famous Russian actress and singer who became famous in operettas
• husband's cousin (divorce) Lev Ivanov – the famous Russian ballet dancer and choreographer

Teacher

He taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1878, his pupils including Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Mikhail Gnesin, Lazare Saminsky and Boris Asafyev. See: List of music students by teacher: K to M#Anatoly Lyadov. Consistent with his character, he was a variable but at times brilliant instructor. Conductor Nikolai Malko, who studied harmony with him at the conservatory, wrote, "Lyadov's critical comments were always precise, clear, understandable, constructive, and brief.... And it was done indolently, without haste, sometimes seemingly disdainfully. He could suddenly stop in midword, take out a small scissors from his pocket and start doing something with his fingernail, while we all waited."

Igor Stravinsky remarked that Lyadov was as strict with himself as he was with his pupils, writing with great precision and demanding fine attention to detail. Prokofiev recalled that even the most innocent musical innovations drove the conservative Lyadov crazy. "Shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking in his soft woollen shoes without heels, he would say, 'I don't understand why you are studying with me. Go to Richard Strauss. Go to Debussy.' This was said in a tone that meant 'Go to the devil!'" Still, Lyadov told his acquaintances about Prokofiev. "I am obliged to teach him. He must form his technique, his style—first in piano music." In 1905 he resigned briefly over the dismissal of Rimsky-Korsakov, only to return when Rimsky-Korsakov was reinstated.

Glazunov, Belyayev and Tchaikovsky

Portrait of M. P. Belyayev by Ilya Repin (1886)

Lyadov introduced timber millionaire and philanthropist Mitrofan Belyayev to the music of the teenage Alexander Glazunov. Interest in Glazunov's music quickly grew to Belyayev's patronage of an entire group of Russian nationalist composers. In 1884 he instituted the Russian Symphony Concerts and established an annual Glinka Prize. The following year he started his own publishing house in Leipzig. He published music by Glazunov, Lyadov, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin at his own expense. In addition, young composers appealed for Belyayev's help. Belyayev asked Lyadov to serve with Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov on an advisory council to help select from these applicants. The group of composers that formed eventually became known as the Belyayev Circle.

In November 1887, Lyadov met Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Nearly seven years earlier Tchaikovsky had given a negative opinion to the publisher Besel about a piano arabesque Lyadov had written. Even before this visit, though, Tchaikovsky's opinion of Lyadov may have been changing. He had honored Lyadov with a copy of the score of his Manfred Symphony. Now that he had actually met the man face-to-face, the younger composer became "dear Lyadov." He became a frequent visitor to Lyadov and the rest of the Belyayev Circle, beginning in the winter of 1890.

Later years

He married in 1884, acquiring through his marriage a country property in Polynovka estate, Borovichevsky uezd, Novgorod Governorate, where he spent his summers composing unhurriedly, and where he died in 1914.

U.S.S.R. postage stamp commemorating Lyadov's centennial

While Lyadov's technical facility was highly regarded by his contemporaries, his unreliability stood in the way of his advancement. His published compositions are relatively few through his natural indolence and a certain self-critical lack of confidence. Many of his works are variations on or arrangements of pre-existing material (for example his Russian Folksongs, Op. 58). He did compose a large number of piano miniatures, of which his Musical Snuffbox of 1893 is perhaps most famous.

Like many of his contemporaries, Lyadov was drawn to intensely Russian subjects. Much of his music is programmatic; for example his tone poems Baba Yaga Op. 56, Kikimora Op. 63, The Enchanted Lake Op. 62. These short tone poems, probably his most popular works, exhibit an exceptional flair for orchestral tone color. In his later compositions he experimented with extended tonality, like his younger contemporary Alexander Scriabin.

It has been argued that Lyadov never completed a large-scale work. However, many of his miniatures have their place in the repertory. In 1905 Lyadov began work on a new ballet score, but when the work failed to progress, he shifted gears to work on an opera instead. Lyadov never finished the opera, but sections of the work found realization in the short tone poems Kikimora and The Enchanted Lake.

In 1909 Sergei Diaghilev commissioned Lyadov to orchestrate a number for the Chopin-based ballet Les Sylphides, and on 4 September that year wrote to the composer asking for a new ballet score for the 1910 season of his Ballets Russes; however, despite the much-repeated story that Lyadov was slow to start composing the work which eventually became The Firebird (famously fulfilled by the then relatively inexperienced Igor Stravinsky), there is no evidence that Lyadov ever accepted the commission.

• Biryulki, 14 pieces for piano, Op. 2 (1876)
• Six Pieces for piano, Op. 3 (1876–1877)

1. Prelude in D major
2. Gigue in F major
3. Fugue in G minor
4. Mazurka in G major
5. Mazurka in B major
6. Mazurka in C major

• Four Arabesques for piano, Op. 4 (1878)

1. Arabesque in C-sharp minor
2. Arabesque in A major
3. Arabesque in B-flat major
4. Arabesque in E major

• Etude in A-flat major for piano, Op. 5 (1881)
• Impromptu in D major for piano, Op. 6 (1881)
• Two Intermezzi for piano, Op. 7 (1881)

1. Intermezzo in D major
2. Intermezzo in F major

• Two Intermezzi for piano, Op. 8 (1883)

1. Intermezzo in B-flat major
2. Intermezzo in B-flat major

• Two Pieces for piano, Op. 9 (1883)

1. Valse in F-sharp minor
2. Mazurka in A-flat major

• Three Pieces for piano, Op. 10 (1884)

1. Prelude in D-flat major
2. Mazurka in C major
3. Mazurka in D major

• Three Pieces for piano, Op. 11 (1885)

1. Prelude in B minor
2. Mazurka in the Dorian Mode
3. Mazurka in F-sharp minor

• Etude in E major for piano, Op. 12 (1886)
• Four Preludes for piano, Op. 13 (1887)

1. Prelude in G major
2. Prelude in B-flat major
3. Prelude in A major
4. Prelude in F-sharp minor

• Two Mazurkas for piano, Op. 15 (1887)

1. Mazurka in A major
2. Mazurka in A minor

• Scherzo in D major for orchestra, Op. 16 (1879–1886)
• Two Bagatelles for piano, Op. 17 (1887)

1. Bagatelle in B-flat minor (La Douleur)
2. Bagatelle in B major (Pastoral)

• Village Scene by the Inn, Mazurka for orchestra, Op. 19 (1887)
• Novellette in A minor for piano, Op. 20 (1882–1889)
• About Olden Times, Ballade in D major for piano, Op. 21a (1889)
• About Olden Times, Ballade in D major for orchestra, Op. 21b (1889)
• In the Clearing, Esquisse in F major for piano, Op. 23 (1890)
• Two Pieces for piano, Op. 24 (1890)

1. Prelude in E major
2. Berceuse in G-flat major

• Idylle in D-flat major for piano, Op. 25 (1891)
• Little Waltz in G major for piano, Op. 26 (1891)
• Three Preludes for piano, Op. 27 (1891)

1. Prelude in E-flat major
2. Prelude in B major
3. Prelude in G-flat major

• Final scene from Schiller's Die Braut von Messina for solo voices, chorus and orchestra, Op. 28 (1878, published 1891). This was his graduation piece.
• Kukolki (Marionettes) in E-flat major for piano, Op. 29 (1892)
• Bagatelle in D-flat major for piano, Op. 30 (1889)
• Two Pieces for piano, Op. 31 (1893)

1. 'Rustic' Mazurka in G major
2. Prelude in B-flat minor

• Muzikalnaya tabakerka (A musical snuffbox) in A major for piano, Op. 32 (1893)
• Three Pieces for piano, Op. 33 (1889)

1. Prelude on a Russian theme in A-flat major
2. Grotesque in C major
3. Pastoral in F major

• Three Canons for piano, Op. 34 (1894)

1. Canon in G major
2. Canon in C minor
3. Canon in F major

• Variations on a Theme by Glinka in B-flat major for piano, Op. 35 (1894)
• Three Preludes for piano, Op. 36 (1895)

1. Prelude in F-sharp major
2. Prelude in B-flat minor
3. Prelude in G major

• Etude in F major for piano, Op. 37 (1895)
• Mazurka in F major for piano, Op. 38 (1895)
• Four Preludes for piano, Op. 39 (1895)

1. Prelude in A-flat major
2. Prelude in C minor
3. Prelude in B major
4. Prelude in F-sharp minor

• Etude and Three Preludes for piano, Op. 40 (1897)

1. Etude in C-sharp minor
2. Prelude in C major
3. Prelude in D minor
4. Prelude in D-flat major

• Two Fugues for piano, Op. 41 (1896)

1. Fugue in F-sharp minor
2. Fugue in D minor

• Two Preludes and Mazurka for piano, Op. 42 (1898)

1. Prelude in B-flat major
2. Prelude in B major
3. Mazurka on Polish Themes in A major

• Barcarolle in F-sharp major for piano, Op. 44 (1898)
• Four Preludes for piano, Op. 46 (1899)

1. Prelude in B-flat major
2. Prelude in G minor
3. Prelude in G major
4. Prelude in E minor

• Two Pieces for piano, Op. 48 (1899)

1. Etude in A major
2. Canzonetta in B-flat major

• Polonaise in C major ("In Memory of Pushkin") for orchestra, Op. 49 (1899)
• Variations on a Polish Folk Theme in A-flat major for piano, Op. 51 (1901)
• Three Ballet Pieces for piano, Op. 52 (1901)

1. in E-flat major
2. in C major
3. in A major

• Three Bagatelles for piano, Op. 53 (1903)

1. Bagatelle in B major
2. Bagatelle in G major
3. Bagatelle in A-flat major

• Polonaise in D major for orchestra, Op. 55 (1902)
• Baba Yaga for orchestra, Op. 56 (1891–1904)
• Three Pieces for piano, Op. 57 (1900–1905)

1. Prelude in D-flat major
2. Waltz in E major
3. Mazurka in F minor

• Eight Russian Folksongs for orchestra, Op. 58 (1906)

1. Religious Chant. Moderato
2. Christmas Carol 'Kolyada'. Allegretto
3. Plaintive Song. Andante
4. Humorous Song 'I Danced With The Gnat'./Allegretto
5. Legend Of The Birds. Allegretto
6. Cradle Song. Moderato
7. Round Dance. Allegro
8. Village Dance Song. Vivo

• Ten Arrangements from Obikhod (a collection of old Russian Orthodox liturgical chants), Op. 61 (1909)

1. Stichira for the Nativity of Christ
2. Tropar – Rozdestvo tvoe, Christe bozhe nash
3. –
4. –
5. –
6. –
7. –
8. –
9. Khvalite Gospoda s nebes
10. –

• Volshebnoye ozero (The Enchanted Lake) for orchestra, Op. 62 (1909)
• Kikimora for orchestra, Op. 63 (1909)
• Four Pieces for piano Op. 64 (1909–1910)

1. Grimace
2. Gloom
3. Temptation
4. Reminiscences

• Dance of the Amazon for orchestra, Op. 65 (1910)
• From the Apocalypse, symphonic picture for orchestra, Op. 66 (1910–1912)
• Nénie for orchestra, Op. 67 (1914)