Michael Jamieson Bristow 
ALEXANDER KONSTANTINOVICH GLAZUNOV (1865-1936)
Born: St Petersburg (Russia), August 10 1865 - Died: Neuilly-sur-Seine (France), March 21 1936
ALEXANDER KONSTANTINOVICH GLAZUNOV was the son of a well-known publisher and a talented mother who studied under Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (1837-1910). His early teachings came from a Madame Kholodov and, for theory and piano playing - Elenovsky. By his teens, he showed an apitude for composition, and a year later in 1879 attended his first symphony concert and was inspired to write his own First Symphony at the age of 16, dedicated to Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and had it conducted in public by Balakirev in 1882. Its success was immediate both with audience and critics. This came to the notice of Franz Liszt (1811-1886), who, realizing the young composer's gifts, performed it at Weimar in 1884. The previous year, Glazunov had entered university, having benefited from 18 months study under Rimsky-Korsakov as a private pupil, and been encouraged by Balakirev to concentrate on composition. Instrumental, chamber and orchestral works followed. These included the symphonic poem Stenka Razin and a Second Symphony, dedicated in gratitude to Liszt. By the end of the 19th century Glazunov had become a prolific composer. At home and abroad his works were making their mark as a result of which he was appointed Professor of Orchestration at St. Petersburg Conservatoire in 1899, six years later becoming its Director, a post he filled with honour and distinction for more than twenty years. He it was who was charged with the task of re-organising what became the new Leningrad Conservatory.
Pressure of work as an eminent teacher, loved by his many pupils, but labelled a conservative by some, Glazunov's compositional writing was severely restricted. Any national elements in his music had disappeared, but he retained his skill in orchestration, basing his style more on Tchaikovsky than on Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov. A reluse in many ways, during the 1920's he lost much of his ambition and confidence. Leaving his native Russia after the destruction of World War I and the revolution, Glazunov was to tour Spain, America, Poland, Czechoslovakia as a conductor; and in 1928 he settled in Paris. He visited Britain on a number of occasions, in 1929 to conduct a broadcast concert for the BBC and again in 1931 in a concert of his music which he conducted at Eastbourne - and his death five years later, showed a man and musician of diminished powers who had tried to leave behind him some evidence of loyalty to his remaining public, although they remembered him through his services to Russian music as a teacher rather than as a composer. Glazunov's last years were sad ones. Like Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943) he was an unwilling exile but, unlike that great pianist-conductor-composer, he was never able to rekindle that flame of inspiration which had, years previously, brought forth that succession of melodious and professionally made scores. He died tired, ill and depressed in his adopted home, Paris on March 21 1936.
But it is as a composer that Glazunov deserves to be more highly respected. Apart from an amazing photographic memory in which he could reconstruct what remained in his mind with detailed perfection, either in his own music or the reconstruction of other composers' incomplete works, it is as a symphonist that Glazunov must be re-evaluated. Eight complete symphonies plus one unfinished show a musician of considerable diversity in ideas and content. Comparisions have been made with the composer's ballet scores - Scènes de Ballet, Raymonda, Les ruses d'amour, The Seasons - but this is wrong. Each symphony in itself is different. Grace and drama are skilfully contrasted with a gift for melody and orchestration which, although influenced by earlier Romantics, contains a strong stamp of individuality making their neglect hard to understand.. The music flows naturally from one motif to another, denoting a composer confident in his prime. Simple, direct and natural are all terms used to describe Glazunov's music; to these must be added versatility of ideas, melodic and orchestral genius and a professional mastery in the use of material to give it an unpretentious and straightforward quality in which nothing superfluous is included and to which nothing need to be added.
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
Opus 1 String Quartet No.1 in D major (1881-1882)
Opus 2 Suite on the name 'S-A-S-C-H-A' for piano (1883)
Opus 3 Overture No.1 in G minor for orchestra 'On three Greek Themes' (1882)
Opus 4 Five Romances Songs (1882-1885)
Opus 5 Symphony No.1 in E major 'Slavyanskaya' (1881-1882) (rev.1885, 1929) - dedicated to Rimsky-Korsakov
Opus 6 Overture No.2 in D major for orchestra on Greek Themes (1883)
Opus 7 Serenade No.1 in A major for orchestra (1883)
Opus 8 To the Memory of a Hero [Pamyati geroya] in C-sharp minor-D-flat major, elegy for orchestra (1885)
Opus 9 Characteristic Suite in D major for orchestra (1884-1887)
Opus 10 String Quartet No.2 in F major (1884)
Opus 11 Serenade No.2 in F major for small orchestra (1884)
Opus 12 Poème Lyrique in D-flat major for orchestra (1884-1887)
Opus 13 Stenka Razin, symphonic poem in B minor (1885)
Opus 14 Two Pieces for orchestra (1886-1887): Idylle, Rêverie orientale
Opus 15 Five Novelettes for string quartet (1886)
Opus 16 Symphony No.2 in F-sharp minor (1886) - dedicated to Liszt
Opus 17 Elegy in D-flat major for cello and piano (1887)
Opus 18 Mazurka in G major for orchestra (1888)
Opus 19 The Forest [Les], fantasy in C-sharp minor for orchestra (1887)
Opus 20 Two Pieces for cello and orchestra (1887-1888): Mélodie, Sérénade espagnole
Opus 21 Wedding Procession [Svadebnoye shestviye] in E-flat major for orchestra (1889)
Opus 22 Two Pieces for piano (1889): Barcarolle, Novelette
Opus 23 Watzes on the Theme 'S-A-B-E-L-A' for piano (1890)
Opus 24 Rêverie in D-flat major for horn and piano (1890)
Opus 25 Prelude and Two Mazurkas for piano (1888)
Opus 26 String Quartet No.3 in G major 'Quatuor Slave' (1886-1888)
Opus 26A Slav Holiday [Slavyansky prazdnik], symphonic sketches for orchestra (1888)
Opus 27 Two Songs after Pushkin (1888-1890)
Opus 28 The Sea [Morye], fantasy in E major for orchestra (1889)
Opus 29 Oriental Rhapsody in G major for orchestra (1889)
Opus 30 The Kremlin [Kreml], symphonic picture in three parts in C major-E-flat major for orchestra (1890)
Opus 31 Three Études for piano (1891)
Opus 32 Meditation in D major for violin and orchestra (1891)
Opus 32A Meditation in D major for violin and piano (1891)
Opus 33 Symphony No.3 in D major (1890) - dedicated to Tchaikovsky
Opus 34 Spring [Vesna], symphonic picture in D major for orchestra (1891)
Opus 35 Suite in C major for string quartet (1887-1891)
Opus 36 Petite Valse in D major for piano (1892)
Opus 37 Nocturne in D-flat major for piano (1889)
Opus 38 In Modo Religioso, quartet for trumpet, horn and two trombones (1892)
Opus 39 String Quintet in A major for string quartet and cello (1891-1892)
Opus 40 Triumphal March in E-flat major for large orchestra [and chorus ad lib] (1892)
Opus 41 Grande Valse in E-flat major for piano (1893)
Opus 42 Three Miniatures for piano (1893)
Opus 43 Valse de Salon in C major for piano (1893)
Opus 44 Elegy for viola and piano (1893)
Opus 45 Carnaval, overture in F major for large orchestra and organ (1892)
Opus 46 Chopiniana, suite for orchestra after piano pieces by Chopin (1893)
Opus 47 Concert Waltz No.1 in D major for orchestra (1893)
Opus 48 Symphony No.4 in E-flat major (1893) - dedicated to Anton Rubinstein
Opus 49 Three Morceaux for piano (1894)
Opus 50 Cortège Solennel in D major for orchestra (1894)
Opus 51 Concert Waltz No.2 in F major for orchestra (1894)
Opus 52 Scènes de Ballet, suite in A major [not intended as dance pieces] (1894)
Opus 53 From Darkness to Light [Ot mraka ka svetu], fantasy in B minor-C major for orchestra (1894)
Opus 54 Two Impromptus for piano (1895)
Opus 55 Symphony No.5 in B-flat major (1895)
Opus 56 Coronation Cantata for four soloists, chorus and orchestra (1895)
Opus 57 Raymonda, ballet in three acts (1896-1897)
Opus 57A Raymonda, suite for orchestra (1898)
Opus 58 Symphony No.6 in C minor (1896)
Opus 59 Six Songs for middle voice (1898)
Opus 60 Six Songs (romances to poetry of Pushkin and Maikov) for high voice (1898)
Opus 61 Les ruses d'amour [Baryshnia-Sluzhanka], ballet in one act (1898)
Opus 62 Prelude and Fugue in D minor, for piano (1899)
Opus 63 Festive Cantata for the 100th Anniversary of the Pavlovsk Institute for solo-voices, women's chorus and two pianos eight hands (1898)
Opus 64 String Quartet No.4 in A minor (1894)
Opus 65 Cantata in Memory of Pushkin's 100th Birthday for solo voices, chorus and orchestra (1899)
Opus 66 Hymn to Pushkin for women's chorus [and piano ad lib] (1899)
Opus 67 The Seasons [Vremena goda], ballet in one act (1899)
Opus 68 Characteristic Dance [insert for Raymonda] in G major (1899)
Opus 69 Romantic Intermezzo in D major for orchestra (1900)
Opus 70 String Quartet No.5 in D minor (1898)
Opus 71 Chant du Ménéstrel for cello and piano (1900) [a version exisits for cello and orchestra]
Opus 72 Theme and Variations in F-sharp minor for piano (1900)
Opus 73 Ouverture Solennelle for orchestra (1900)
Opus 74 Piano Sonata No.1 in B-flat minor (1901)
Opus 75 Piano Sonata No.2 in E major or E minor (1901)
Opus 76 March on a Russian Theme in E-flat major (1901)
Opus 77 Symphony No.7 in F major 'Pastoral'naya' (1901-1902) - dedicated to Mitrofan Belayev
Opus 78 Ballade in F major for orchestra (1902)
Opus 79 From the Middle Ages [Iz srednikh vekov], suite in E major for orchestra (1902)
Opus 80 Chant Sans Bornes for soprano and alto with piano accompaniment (1900)
Opus 81 Ballet Scene [Fortune-telling and country dancing][Gadaniye i plyaska] in A major for orchestra (1904)
Opus 82 Concerto in A minor for violin and orchestra (1904)
Opus 83 Symphony No.8 in E-flat major (1905-1906)
Opus 84 Song of Destiny [Pesn' sud'bi], dramatic overture in D minor for orchestra (1908)
Opus 85 Two Preludes for orchestra (1906 & 1908): To the Memory of Vladimir Strasov, To the Memory of Rimsky-Korsakov
Opus 86 Russian Fantasy in A major for balalaika and orchestra (1906)
Opus 87 In Memory of Gogol [Pamyati Gogola], symphonic prologue in C major (1909)
Opus 88 Finnish Fantasy in C major for orchestra (1909)
Opus 89 Finnish Sketches in E major for orchestra (1912)
Opus 90 Introduction and Dance of Salomé to the drama of Oscar Wilde (1908)
Opus 91 Cortège Solennel in B-flat major for orchestra (1910)
Opus 92 Concerto No.1 in F minor for piano and orchestra (1910-1911)
Opus 93 Prelude and Fugue No.1 in D major for organ (1906-1907)
Opus 94 Love, (after Shukovsky) for mixed chorus a cappella (1907)
Opus 95 The King of the Jews [Tsar Iudeyskiy], music to the drama after Romanov (1913)
Opus 96 Paraphrase on National Anthems of the Allies for orchestra (1914-1915)
Opus 97 Song of the Volga-skippers for chorus and orchestra (1918)
Opus 98 Prelude and Fugue No.2 in D minor for organ (1914)
Opus 99 Karelian Legend in A minor for orchestra (1916)
Opus 100 Concerto No.2 in B major for piano and orchestra (1917)
Opus 100A Mazurka Oberek for violin and orchestra (1917)
Opus 100B Mazurka Oberek for piano (1917)
Opus 101 Four Preludes and Fugues for piano (1918-1923)
Opus 102 Romance of Nina from the play 'Masquerade' (after Lermontov) (1918)
Opus 103 Idylle in F-sharp major for piano (1926)
Opus 104 Fantasy in F minor for two pianos (1919-1920)
Opus 105 Elegy in D minor for string quartet in memory of Belaieff (1928)
Opus 106 String Quartet No.6 in B-flat major (1920-1921)
Opus 107 String Quartet No.7 in C major 'Hommage au passé' (1930)
Opus 108 Concert Ballade in C major for cello and orchestra (1931)
Opus 109 Saxophone Quartet in B-flat major (1932) (*)
Opus 109 Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra in E-flat major (1934) [(*) same opus number as quartet, but different work]
Opus 110 Fantasy in G minor for organ (1934-1935)
WORKS WITHOUT OPUS NUMBER
Oriental Suite for orchestra (1895)
Allegro vivo in E-flat major for orchestra (1895)
Albumblatt in D-flat major for trumpet and piano (1899)
Valse lente in F major for orchestra (1901)
Symphony No.9 in D minor (1910) [Unfinished - First movement only]
Petite suite de ballet for orchestra (1910)
Prelude-Cantata for the 50th Anniversary of the St Petersburg Conservatory (1912)
Prelude and Fugue in E minor for piano (1926) [arranged for organ 1929]
Fantasy for two pianos (1929-1930)
Poème épique for orchestra (1933-1934)
Fantasy for organ (1934-1935)