May and June in History

Russian composer, director and pedagogue Anatoly Lyadov was born on May 11, 1855 (April 29, old style), in Novgorod region. Lyadov came from a musicians’ family – his father was the conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre and his mother was a pianist. Lyadov was a student of the famous composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1878, he himself started teaching in the St. Petersburg Conservatory and educated such famous composers as Sergei Prokofiev and Mikhail Gnesin. In the middle of the 1870s, Lyadov was a member of the Moguchaya Kuchka (“The Mighty Five”). Lyadov was not one of Russia’s more prolific composers, but his work has a very distinctive style. The composer often drew on folklore and fairytales (“Baba-Yaga” (1905), “Eight Russian Folk Tales”(1906), “The Magic Lake”(1909), “Kikimora” (1910). He died in 1914.

May 1, 1800