Russian and Ukrainian composer, music and theater critic.
He graduated from the St. Petersburg School of Law in 1875, but gave up his career as a lawyer to pursue music.
Since 1877 he has worked as a conductor of the Kharkiv Opera House, and later as an entrepreneur of the opera company. He also performed as an accompanist and melodic composer.
He composed the operas Count Nulin and Don Cesar de Bazan, which were staged in Kyiv in 1888.
He composed more than 100 romances (Kolodnyk, Nezmozhno pryvyt') and piano pieces.
He translated 12 opera librettos into Russian, including: "The African", "Carmen", "Tannhäuser".
He also wrote critical articles about music and theater and feuilletons (pseudonym Nivliansky).
