Gretchaninov, Alexander Tikhonovich (1864–1956)

Russian composer. Although the son of semi-literate small shopkeepers, he managed to study the piano at the Moscow Conservatory under Safonov, but in 1890 he went to St Petersburg as a composition pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. He settled in Paris c. 1925, and later in the USA.

Works operas Dobrinya Nikitich and Sister Beatrice (after Maeterlinck's play, 1910), incidental music for plays; much music for the Russian Church, including 44 complete liturgies; Catholic Church music, including Masses and motets; choral works; five symphonies (1894–1936), elegy for orchestra; concertos for cello, violin, and flute; four string quartets; Music Pictures for bass solo, chorus, and orchestra.