Anton Arensky - Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 32 in D minor
Anton Stepanovich Arensky (Russian: Анто́н Степа́нович Аре́нский; 12 July [O.S. 30 June] 1861 – 25 February [O.S. 12 February] 1906), was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music.
Arensky was born in a music-loving, affluent family in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine. With his mother and father, he moved to Saint Petersburg in 1879, after which he studied composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
In 1895 Arensky returned to Saint Petersburg as the director of the Imperial Choir, a post for which he had been recommended by Mily Balakirev. He retired from this position in 1901, living off a comfortable pension and spending his remaining time as a pianist, conductor, and composer.
Arensky died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Perkjärvi, Finland at the age of 44. While very little is known about his private life, Rimsky-Korsakov alleges that drinking and gambling undermined his health.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the greatest influence on Arensky's musical compositions. Indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov said, "In his youth Arensky did not escape some influence from me; later the influence came from Tchaikovsky. He will quickly be forgotten." The perception that he lacked a distinctive personal style contributed to long-term neglect of his music, though in recent years a large number of his compositions have been recorded. Especially popular are the Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky for string orchestra, Op. 35a - arranged from the slow movement of Arensky's 2nd string quartet, and based on one of Tchaikovsky's Songs for Children, Op. 54.
Сон на Волге (Son na Volge / Dream on the Volga), Op. 16 (1888), libretto by Anton Arensky after Alexander Ostrovsky's play Voyevoda, premiere: January 2, 1891 [OS December 21, 1890], Moscow, Bolshoy Theatre
Рафаэль (Rafael / Raphael), Op. 37 (1894), libretto by A. Kryukov, premiere: May 6 [OS April 24], 1894, Moscow, Conservatory
Наль и Дамаянти (Nal' i Damayanti / Nal and Damayanti), Op. 47 (1903), after Indian epos "Mahabharata", libretto by Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky after the novel by Vasily Zhukovsky, premiere: January 22, [OS January 9], 1904, Moscow, Bolshoy Theatre)
Ballet
Egyptian Nights (Russian: «Египетские ночи») a.k.a. Une Nuit d'Égypte or Nuits égyptiennes (1900). Divertissement-Ballet in one act. Originally composed for the Imperial Ballet, St. Petersburg. Choreography by Lev Ivanov. Production was never given due to the death of the choreographer before completion.
revival by Mikhail Fokine for the Imperial Ballet. Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 8 March [O.S. 24 February] 1908.