Liadov, Anatol Konstantinovich (1855-1914)

Russian composer. He wrote especially well for the piano, but also composed orchestral works which made him a distinguished member of the national Russian school.

Liadov was born in St Petersburg, where he studied under his father and later with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the St Petersburg Conservatory. He became a teacher there in 1878, and his pupils included Sergey Prokofiev and Nikolay Myaskovsky. The Imperial Geographical Society commissioned him, with Mily Balakirev and Sergey Liapunov, to collect folk songs in various parts of Russia. His gift was essentially reclusive and small-scale; Igor Stravinsky described Liadov's relief at not getting the commission for The Rite of Spring from Sergei Diaghilev.

Works Orchestral symphonic poems Baba Yaga (1904), The Enchanted Lake (1909), Kikimora (1909), two orchestral scherzos, The Inn-Muzurka, Polonaise in Memory of Pushkin for orchestra.

Choral choral settings from Schiller's Bride of Messina and Maeterlinck's Sœur Béatrice, three choral works for female voices.

Other about 40 Op. nos. of piano pieces, including Birulki/Spillikins, ballads ‘From Days of Old’, ‘Marionettes’, ‘Musical Snuff-Box’, variations on a theme by Glinka and on a Polish song, ‘From the Book of Revelation’, studies, preludes, mazurkas, and other pieces; songs, folk-song settings (1903).