Felix Mykhailovych Blumenfeld (Blumenfeld, 7 (19) April 1863-1931) was a composer, teacher, conductor, and brother of Stanislav Blumenfeld.
Felix Mykhailovych Blumenfeld was born in the village of Kovalivka (Kherson province; now a district of Kropyvnytskyi) on 7 (19) April 1863 in a Jewish family of a music and French teacher. Until the age of 12, he studied with H. V. Neuhaus (father of H. H. Neuhaus), who was the husband of Blumenfeld's older sister Marcelina ("Olga Mikhailovna"). In 1881-1885 he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with F. F. Stein (piano) and M. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (composition). From the age of 17, he was a regular participant in the meetings of the Mighty Handful composers' association, and later became a member of the Belyaev Circle (a group of composers led by Rimsky-Korsakov that gathered for musical evenings in the house of the philanthropist M. P. Belyaev).
As a pianist, Blumenfeld was shaped by the art of A. Rubinstein and M. Balakirev. Having made his debut in 1887, he actively performed in Russian cities, was the first performer of a number of works by Glazunov, Lyadov, Balakirev, Tchaikovsky, and performed in ensembles with Auer, Verzhbilovich, Sarasate, and Chaliapin. In 1895-1911, he worked at the Mariinsky Theater, was a concertmaster, and from 1898 - a conductor, led the premieres of the operas Servilia and The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh by Rimsky-Korsakov. He performed at the Russian Symphony Concerts in St. Petersburg (in 1906 with the first performance of Scriabin's Third Symphony in Russia). Blumenfeld's participation in the Historical Russian Concerts (1907) and the Russian Seasons (1908) of Diaghilev in Paris brought him European fame.
In 1884, he married the daughter of the famous merchant Anastasiev Maria. [2] In 1885-1905 and 1911-1918, Blumenfeld taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (from 1897 as a professor). In 1918-1920, he headed the Mykola Lysenko State Music and Drama Institute in Kyiv. In 1920-1922 he was the rector of the Kyiv Conservatory. Since 1922, he taught piano and chamber ensemble classes at the Moscow Conservatory.
Blumenfeld's students included pianists S. Barer, V. Horowitz, M. Greenberg, conductor O. Gauk, and composer Dmytro Tiomkin.
In 1927 he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
Blumenfeld died in Moscow on January 21, 1931. He was buried at the New Don Cemetery.
Works.
Blumenfeld's legacy as a composer includes the symphony In Memory of the Dearly Departed, Concert Allegro for piano and orchestra, the suite Spring for voice and orchestra, and a quartet (Belyaev Prize, 1898); a special place is occupied by piano works (about 100 in total, including etudes, preludes, and a ballad) and romances (about 50), created in the mainstream of romantic traditions.
