List of Russian composers

Inside of Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow

An alphabetical list of significant composers who were born in Russia or worked there for a significant time.

The Five

The Five, also known as "The Mighty Handful", a circle of influential Russian musical nationalists, during the Romantic period in music:

• Mily Balakirev (1837–1910)
• Alexander Borodin (1833–1887), perhaps best known for Polovtsian Dances
• César Cui (1835–1918)
• Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881), perhaps best known for Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on Bald Mountain
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908), perhaps best known for The Flight of the Bumblebee

Other Russian composers

• Alexander Abramsky (1898-1985), composer, most well known work is his piano concerto which premiered in 1941.
• Joseph Yulyevich Achron (1886–1943), was a composer of Jewish origin. He later settled in USA. His most famous work is the "Hebrew Melody" for violin and orchestra.
• Anton Arensky (1861–1906), Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32, is his most famous work.
• Alexander Arkhangelsky (1846–1924), composer of church music and conductor.
• Sasha Argov (1914–95), Russian-born Israeli composer
• Lera Auerbach (born 1973) 21st century composer of opera, ballet, symphonic works and chamber music.
• Revol Samoilovich Bunin (1924-1976), was a student of Shostakovich, he went on to compose 9 symphonies and several concertos.
• Georgy Catoire (1861-1926), was a Russian composer of French heritage.
• Yury G. Chernavsky (born 1947), 20th and 21st century composer, works in Russia, West Europe and US (Hollywood), writes music mostly in R&B, Pop and Rock music styles
• Pavel Chesnokov (1877–1944), choral composer and conductor. He composed over five hundred choral works.
• Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813–1869).
• Edison Denisov (1929-1996) was a Russian composer of so called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" works in the Soviet music.
• Leonid Desyatnikov (born 1955), notable composer of opera and film scores.
• Victor Ewald (1860–1935), composer of four famous brass quintets.
• Ossip Gabrilowitsch (1878–1936), Russian composer of Jewish background who lived many years in the United States, famous for piano miniatures such as the "Caprice Burlesque".
• Valery Gavrilin (1939–1999) 20th century composer of chamber, vocal, choral and ballet music.
• Michael L. Geller (1937-2007), 20th and 21st century composer and viola player, lived and worked in Russia, The Netherlands and Israel
• Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936), late Romantic composer influenced by Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, one of the few composers ever to write a saxophone concerto
• Reinhold Glière (1875–1956), composer who wrote pieces in a romantic style well into the 20th century
• Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857), one of the first significant Russian composers
• Alexander Gedike (1877–1957), composer and pianist, won the Rubinstein Prize for Composition at the young age of 23.
• Nicolai Golovanov (1891-1951), also a foremost conductor
• Alexander Gretchaninov (1864–1956), late Romantic, student of Rimsky-Korsakov, member of the "new Russian choral school"
• Sofia Gubaidulina (born 1931), Russian composer of half Tartar ethnicity.
• Alexander Ilyinsky (1859–1919), composer known for the opera The Fountain of Bakhchisaray, orchestral suites, and a symphony
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859–1935), Romantic composer, noted for his orchestral suite Caucasian Sketches
• Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904–1987), 20th century composer
• Vasily Kalinnikov (1866–1901), Romantic composer who lived a short life due to illness. Most famous for his first symphony.
• Nikolai Kapustin (born 1937), 20th century composer and pianist, who uses jazz idioms set amid formal classical structures in his compositions.
• Yakov Kazyansky (born 1948), 20th and 21st century composer, writes mostly theatrical music and jazz
• Yuri Khanon (born 1965), 20th and 21st century composer-ideologist of opera, ballet, symphonic works and chamber music, laureate of the European Film Awards (1988)
• Alexander Kopylov (1854–1911), composer of four quartets, a symphony, also a member of the Belyayev circle
• Yevgeny Kostitsyn (born 1963), 21st century composer, originator of synchronous and Cubist music
• Andrei Krylov (born 1961), 20th and 21st century composer, wrote mostly works for classical guitar, flute and keyboards
• Boris Ledkovsky (1894—1975), Russian-American composer of Church music
• Dmitry Lubensky (born 1979), 21st century composer of film scores and cartoons
• Anatoly Lyadov (1855–1914), known for The Enchanted Lake, Baba Yaga, and the Eight Russian Folksongs.
• Sergei Lyapunov (1859–1924), composer and pianist, member of the Belyayev circle.
• Vladimir Martynov (born 1946), 20th and 21st century composer
• Nikolai Medtner (1880–1951), 20th century composer and pianist
• Alexander Mosolov (1900–1973), avant-garde composer of the early Soviet era, best known for Iron Foundry from the ballet "Steel".
• Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881–1950), 20th century composer and teacher of Polish birth, composer of 27 symphonies, 13 string quartets and other works
• Vyacheslav Nagovitsin (born 1939), 20th century composer and violinist, works in Russia.
• Nikolai Obukhov (1892–1954) known for his religious mysticism and electronic instrument, the croix sonore; worked mainly in France.
• Alla Pavlova (born 1952), 20th and 21st century composer. Recognized mostly for her symphonic compositions.
• Gavriil Popov (1904-1972), was a Soviet Russian composer of modernist bent who ran afoul of Soviet authorities.
• Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953), 20th century neoclassical composer, known for his symphonies (particularly #1 "Classical Symphony and #5), ballets, five piano concertos and six operas
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943), late Romantic virtuoso pianist and composer, known for Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and four popular piano concertos
• Vladimir Rebikov (1866–1920), late Romantic 20th century composer and pianist.
• Nikolai Roslavets (1881–1944), was a convinced modernist and cosmopolitan thinker of Jewish background; his music was officially suppressed from 1930 onwards.
• Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894), pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt. Particularly known for his piano music.
• Adrian Schaposhnikov (1888–1967), 20th century composer.
• Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915), Romantic, known for his harmonically adventurous piano sonatas and theatrical orchestral works
• Julian Scriabin (1908–1919), son of Alexander Scriabin and a composer himself. Drowned at the young age of 11.
• Vladimir Shainsky (born 1925), 20th and 21st century composer, wrote mostly works for children and popular songs.
• Yuri Shaporin
• Rodion Shchedrin (b. December 16, 1932), the chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990, best known for his Concerto for Orchestra No. 1 "Naughty Limericks".
• Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998) composer, wrote 9 symphonies, 6 Concerto Grosso, 4 Violin Concertos, and many other works in various genres.
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), 20th century composer, wrote fifteen symphonies and is especially noted for his fifth symphony.
• Nikolay Sokolov (1859–1922), composer of chamber and choral music, member of the Belyayev circle
• Maximilian Steinberg (1883–1946), 20th century composer and pedagogue, born in what is now Lithuania
• Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), 20th century primitivist, neoclassical and jazz composer, known for his early ballet The Rite of Spring
• Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998), a 20th century neoromantic composer of mostly vocal and choral music, most famous for his orchestral suite 'The Snowstorm'.
• Alexander Taneyev (1850–1918), Romantic era nationalist composer.
• Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915), Romantic composer, oriented towards classical forms and the central European tradition
• Boris Tchaikovsky (1925–1996), part of the second generation of Russian composers, following in the steps of Pyotr Tchaikovsky (to whom he was not related).
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), influential Romantic composer, famous for his ballets (The Nutcracker, Swan Lake), his Romeo and Juliet Overture–Fantasy, 1812 Overture and his later symphonies (#4 – #6)
• Alexander Tcherepnin (1899–1977), composer and pianist, invented his own harmonic languages, including the "Tcherepnin scale".
• Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (1873–1945), father of Alexander Tcherepnin, he wrote in an exotically spiced late Romantic idiom, most famous for his ballets 'Narcissus and Echo' and 'The Pavilion of Armide'.*
• Vladimir Vavilov (1925–1973) guitarist, lutenist and composer of the famous "Ave Maria" which he falsely attributed to Giulio Caccini.
• Mieczysław Weinberg (1919–1996), was an important Soviet composer of Polish-Jewish origin.

See also

Music portal

• Chronological list of Russian classical composers
• Category:Russian composers

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