(Moscow, 25 May 1888 – 16 April 1982)
He was a Soviet and Russian composer of works for piano and other instruments and pianist. His early works had a mystical element, but he downplayed it to better fit socialist realism. He led a somewhat retired life but received numerous awards.
As a composer, Alexandrov worked in many genres but distinguished himself in vocal and instrumental chamber music. He is the author of operas, string quartets, piano sonatas, novels, vocal suites, and children's songs. Alexandrov went down in music history as a creator of piano music, in particular as the author of 14 piano sonatas. Many of his novels, based on the words of Alexander Pushkin, Yevgeny Baratynsky, Fyodor Tyutchev, Anna Akhmatova, received wide acclaim and became part of a repertoire of prominent artists.
Anatoly Alexandrov was born into a musical family. His mother, Anna Yakovlevna Alexandrova-Levenson, was a pianist and gave him his first piano lessons, and his father, Nikolai Alexandrovich Alexandrov, was a pharmacist. In the years of Anatoly's childhood, the family moved a lot. From 1906, they began to live in Moscow again. Then Alexandrov's mother decided to find a teacher for her son. First, Alexandrov began to study harmony with Taneyev's student Nikolai Zhilyayev, and then counterpoint with Taneyev (1907-1910).
In 1910, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied piano with Konstantin Igumnov (until 1915) and musical works with Sergei Vasilenko. He was a student of Nikolai Zhilyayev, Sergei Taneyev and Sergei Vasilenko (theory), Alexander Ilyinsky (composition) and Konstantin Igumnov (piano). In 1916, he completed his musical studies. Alexandrov took part in the First World War.
His early music revealed the influence of Nikolai Medtner and Alexander Scriabin. He was appointed professor at the Moscow Conservatory in 1923. Among his students were such future composers as Nikolai Anosov, Nury Halmammedov, Mikhail Iordanskiy, Roman Ledenyov, Yuri Slonov, Elena Tilicheeva, Mikhail Meyerovich, Kirill Molchanov, Mansur Muzafarov, Nikolai Chemberdzhi, Joseph Neymark, Georgiy Mushel and many others. For several years, he was president of the children's music section of the Union of Composers of the USSR.
Until 1974, he performed in concerts as a pianist, and he performed his own musical works. He died on April 16, 1982 in Moscow.
Viktor Belyaev, Alexandrov's first biographer, wrote in 1926: "If Myaskovsky is a thinker, and Feinberg a psychologist, then Alexandrov is, before anything else, a poet." Alexandrov was also a strong supporter of Stanchinsky and edited many of his compositions for publication.
