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Felix Blumenfeld




He studied composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and piano under Alexander Stein between 1881 and 1885 . He then taught piano there himself from 1885 until 1918 , whilst also serving as conductor of the Marinski Theatre until 1911 .

This theatre saw the premieres of the operas composed by his teacher and Mentor Rimsky-Korsakov, and he was also the conductor at the premier of Wagner 's Opera Tristan And Isolde .

From 1918 to 1922 , he was the director of the Conservatory of Kiev , where, amongst others, Vladimir Horowitz was a pupil in his masterclasses. He returned to the Moscow Conservatory in 1922, teaching there until his death.

As a pianist, he played many of the compositions of his Russian contemporaries. His compositions, which showed the influence of Frédéric Chopin and Peter Tchaikovsky , include a Symphony , pieces for piano and Lieder . His virtuous pieces for piano in particular are enjoying something of a renaissance in recent years.