704 



RUBINSTEIN, ANTON GREGOR. 



RUBINSTEIN, ANTON GREGOR, the 



most famous of pianists except Liszt, born in 

 Vichvatijnez, Russia, Nov. 16, 1829; died in 

 Peterhof, Nov. 20, 1894. His parents, soon after 

 his birth, removed to Moscow, where his father 

 manufactured pencils and his mother taught in 

 the Imperial Seminary. The mother instructed 

 the son in music from his fourth till his eighth 

 year, when he became a pupil of Alexander Vil- 



ANTON GREGOR RUBINSTEIN. 



loing. On July 11, 1839, young Rubinstein was 

 ready for exhibition as a " wonder child," and 

 he appeared at a concert in Moscow, playing a 

 concerto by Hummel, an andante by Thalberg, 

 and 4 minor pieces by Field, Liszt, and Henselt. 

 In 1840 he began a tour, his mother hoping to 

 realize from it enough to enter him in the Paris 

 Conservatoire. He failed to gain admission, 

 probably because Villoing was loath to part 

 with his prodigy. The boy remained in Paris 

 with Villoing a year and gave some concerts. 

 At one Liszt was present ; and at its conclusion 

 he took the boy in his arms and exclaimed, " This 

 will be the heir of my playing ! " At Liszt's slig- 

 ht ion Villoing took his pupil to Germany, Hol- 

 land, Norway, Sweden, and England. He played 

 in London in 1842, and Moscheles spoke of him 

 as " a Russian boy whose fingers are as light as 

 feathers, yet as strong as a man's." 



In 184:! Rubinstein returned to his home and 

 remained there a year; but in 1844 the father 

 took his family to Berlin for the purpose of de- 

 veloping the son's remarkable gifts. Anton now 

 studied composition, harmony, and counterpoint 

 under the noted theorist Siegfried Wilhelm 

 Dehn. Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer, who were 

 in Berlin, took great interest in the lad and gave 



him much valuable advice. Rubinstein at this 

 time wrote a sonata for piano and violoncello, 

 some songs, and minor piano pieces. In 1846 his 

 father died, and he was thrown on his own re- 

 sources. The other members of the family went 

 to Moscow, but he set out for Vienna, where he 

 endured many hardships till Liszt sought him 

 out and aided him. He made a short tour 

 through Hungary in 1847 with Heindl, the flut- 

 ist, and, returning to Berlin in 1848, abandoned 

 a half-formed plan of coming to America. He 

 devoted himself to teaching and composing, and 

 produced " Six Songs of the People," " Persian 

 Songs," and his first two piano concertos all 

 works which are still liked. The revolutionary 

 troubles of 1848 in Berlin deprived him of his 

 pupils, so he determined to go to Moscow. On 

 arriving at the Russian frontier, he fell into 

 difficulties with the police by reason of his hav- 

 ing no passport. Count Vielgorsky, a friend, 

 secured the attention to his case of the Grand 

 Duchess Helene, an art patron, and she obtained 

 the unfortunate pianist's release from prison. 



The grand duchess was endeavoring to stimu- 

 late national interest in music, and in Rubin- 

 stein she found her needed leader. The musical 

 profession was in an embryonic state, Rubinstein 

 and Glinka being the only Russian composers. 

 Hence, while the pianist was giving lessons and 

 writing operas, with the aid of his noble patron, 

 he founded in 1859 the Russian Music Society, 

 devoted to the production of orchestral works. 

 He was the head of this organization for nine 

 years ; and in 1862, moreover, he founded the 

 St. Petersburg Conservatory, whose first faculty 

 included Leschetitzki, Dreischock, Davidoff, 

 Nissen-Salomon, and Wieniawski. and in whose 

 first class were the great Russian composer Peter 

 Tschaikowsky, Michael Cross, and the pianist 

 Annette Essipoff. 



In 1850 Rubinstein entered upon a series of 

 productions which powerfully stimulated the de- 

 velopment of music in his native land. He wrote 

 a Russian opera, " Dimitri Donskoi," and followed 

 it in the next two years with " The Siberian 

 Hunters," " Toms, the Fool," and " Revenge." 

 To these active years in St. Petersburg belong 

 also the famous " Ocean Symphony," his orato- 

 rio " Paradise Lost," his operas " Children of 

 the Steppes " and " Feramors," his orchestral 

 sketches "Faust" and "Ivan, the Cruel," the 

 sacred music drama " The Tower of Babel," the 

 violin concerto in G, opus 46, and some impor- 

 tant chamber music. In J854 he made a tour 

 through Europe, spreading everywhere the daz- 

 zling luster of his genius as a pianist. In 1867 

 he resigned the directorship of the St. Peters- 

 burg Conservatory. He says in his " Autobio- 

 graphy : "This breach was partly caused, no 

 doubt, by my hasty temper." He now devoted 

 himself wholly to composition and concert per- 

 formances. In 1869 the Czar bestowed upon him 

 the Vladimir order, which ennobled him. In 

 1870 he thought of retiring from public life, but 

 in the following two years he directed the Vien- 

 na Philharmonic and Choral Society concerts. 



The early desire to visit America was now to 

 be gratified. He arrived in New York in the 

 autumn of 1872, and was serenaded by the Phil- 

 harmonic Society at the Clarendon* Hotel on 

 Sept. 12. He made his first appearance on Sept. 



