Alexander Glazunov

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov

1865 (St. Petersburg) – 1936 (Paris)

Rimsky-Korsakov taught him, becoming more a colleague than teacher: Balakirev introduced them. He dedicated a piece to Siloti, recommended the adolescent Prokofiev study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and helped set Rachmaninoff’s career back by several years when he conducted his first symphony (drunk). Liszt played Beethoven for him in Weimar, Fokine collaborated with him, and Shostakovich (whose welfare as a student concerned Glazunov) provided him with illegal alcohol. He turned Diaghilev’s offer down, to Stravinsky’s great advantage: Stravinsky admired him, but disliked him as a person.

Alexander Glazunov knew…