Composer
Biography:
Nikolai Andreyevich Roslavets, born on January 5, 1881 in Duschatino, in the former Tschernigov Governorate (Ukraine), studied composition with Sergei Wassilenko, music theory with Alexander Ilyinsky and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov and violin with Ivan Grzhimali at the Moscow Conservatory until 1912; he received the Great Silver Medal for his diploma thesis.
Initially stylistically inspired by Alexander Scriabin and the 'modern French', he soon broke away from their influences and developed his own tonal language. His ›new system of tone organization‹ and the principle of the ›synthetic chord‹ are often compared to Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, but they were worked out completely independently of Schoenberg's ideas.
Even before the revolution, Roslavets worked as a freelance composer and music critic in Moscow and joined the circle of 'Contemporaries', a core of the future Association of Contemporary Music (ASM). After the February Revolution of 1917 he joined the non-Marxist Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SR), in 1918 he became a member of the Narodnik Communists. In 1921 he left the party and from 1920 was one of the ASM leaders.
His activities were attacked and denounced as 'formalistic' and 'anti-class' by the so-called 'proletarian musicians' who were directly connected to the Communist Party; finally he received a professional ban. In 1931 Roslavets left Moscow and moved to Tashkent, where he worked as a conductor, composer and head of the music department of the musical theater. In 1933 he returned to Moscow and worked there as a day laborer. As an 'enemy of the people', he was one of the ostracized composers in Russia for decades. He died in Moscow on August 23, 1944.
Albums:
