Maximilian Steinberg

Maximilian Osseyevich Steinberg

a Russian composer

Born: 4 July (O.S. 22 June) 1883 - Vilnius
Died: 6 December 1946 - Leningrad

Steinberg, born into a Jewish family, spent his youth in Vilnius and only in 1901 left for Saint Petersburg, to study the natural sciences there. At the same time his great interest in music and his study at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory began, as did his contact with such personages as Anatoly Lyadov, Alexander Glazunov, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His considerable talent in composition soon showed, encouraged especially by his mentor Rimsky-Korsakov. So gained Steinberg diplomas both in the natural sciences, in 1907, and in music in 1908.

In this same year 1908 he married Rimsky-Korsakov's daughter Nadezhda, and became, first a lecturer, then in 1915 Professor for Composition and Orchestration at the Conservatory. He held numerous posts at the conservatory; among other things, he was, from 1934 to 1939 a deputy director, before he went into retirement in 1946. Steinberg played an important role in Soviet music life as a teacher of composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich and Yuri Shaporin.