Sergei Taneyev holds a very specific place in the Russian music at the turn of the 19^th – 20^th centuries. He was the prominent public figure, teacher, pianist and the first major musicologist in Russia.

He strove to rethink the European musical tradition in his native Russian ground. In general, as the young composer believed, Russian music lacked historical originality; he believed that it should assimilate the experience of the classical European forms, especially polyphonic ones. A student and follower of Tchaikovsky, Taneyev found his own path, combining romantic lyricism and classicist severity of expression. As a composer, he left abundant artistic legacy to descendants. The recordings of Taneyev performances, made at the end of the 19^th century on wax cylinders, have been preserved.

For the 165th birth anniversary of S. Taneyev, we have digitized gramophone record produced at the Aprelevka record plant that is stored in the museum Collection musical Library, with the romance "Not the wind blowing from height"  to the music of S.I. Taneyev, lyrics by A.K. Tolstoy¹⁾.

As a pianist, Sergei Taneyev was not only famous for his unique aureole of virtuosity, but could convey the author’s conception to the smallest detail. As a musicologist, he wrote scientific works that have not lost their relevance nowadays. As a teacher, he was a bright, singular person and it was considered among students a great success to be enlisted in his class. Taneyev was considered a reference in everything that he done. In the memoirs of his associates and contemporaries, he is called "the musical conscience of Moscow."

One of the most extensive sections of Taneyev creative work were his compositions for the choir. He wrote thirty-seven unaccompanied choirs and about ten vocal ensembles. In his writings, Taneyev gravitated towards moral and philosophical problems. Such, for example, is his only opera, Oresteia (1894) based on the tragedy of the same name by Aeschylus, an example of the embodiment of an antique plot in Russian music. His chamber instrumental works (trios, quartets, quintets) are among the best examples of this genre in Russian music. In addition, he became one of the founders of the genre of lyric-philosophical cantata in Russian music; revived the genre a cappella, popular in Russian music of the 17th-18th centuries (the author of more than 40 choirs). In instrumental music, he attached particular importance to the intonational unity of the cycle, monothematism (4th symphony, chamber instrumental ensembles). He also composed romances.

More details about creative work of Sergei Taneyev - Russian composer, pianist, teacher, music theorist, music and public figure in the section "Authors / Producers".

¹⁾ The record was digitized when played on His Master's Voice Monarch gramophone