Valery Viktorovich Zhelobinsky (
Russian: Bалерий Bикторович Желобинский; November 9, 1913,
Tambov – August 13, 1946,
Leningrad) was a Soviet and Russian composer, pianist and pedagogue.
Life and works
Zhelobinsky studied music firstly at Tambov and then from 1928 to 1932 at the
Leningrad Conservatory with
Vladimir Shcherbachov. He performed across the Soviet Union as a soloist. He returned to Tambov in 1942 where he taught at the College of Music and was Chairman of the Composers' Union.
For his short career, Zhelobinsky's output was large. His four operas, which include The Peasant of Komarino (Комаринский мужик), produced in Leningrad in 1933, and Mother (Мать, 1939, based on the novel by
Maxim Gorky), were well received. He also wrote orchestral music including six
symphonies, and three
piano concertos. His Romantic Poem for
violin and orchestra was premiered in Leningrad together with the first performance of
Dmitri Shostakovich's
Sixth Symphony in November 1939.[1]
From his numerous piano works, the 'Six short études' were introduced to the
United States by
Vladimir Horowitz and were published there in 1946. Two of these
études were recorded by
Oscar Levant.[2] In addition, a selection from his opera Mother ("Hobo Song" ) was also recorded in 1946 for the Victor Records label (# 26-5037, 1946) in the United States featuring the vocalist
Sidor Belarsky, the orchestral accordionist
John Serry and the Mischa Borr Orchestra conducted by Mischa Borr.[3]
Shostakovich thought highly of Zhelobinsky, and argued in a 1951 letter to
Mikhail Chulaki, secretary of the
Union of Soviet Composers, that he should be included in a proposed list of 100 Russian composers, pointing out that 'dying at a very young stage of [his] development, [he] never reached the peak of [his] composing talents'.[4]
Selected Compositions (Incomplete)
Symphonic Music
Symphony No. 1 in B Minor, Op. 17 "Dramatic" (1932–36) [5][6]