Rubinstein, Anton

Rubinstein, Anton (Grigoryevich)

Anton Rubinstein

(credit: Courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London)

(born Nov. 28, 1829, Vykhvatinets, Podolia province, Russia—died Nov. 20, 1894, Peterhof) Russian composer and pianist. Touring as a piano virtuoso, he met Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt in Paris and Giacomo Meyerbeer in Berlin. After several years of study, in 1848 he settled in St. Petersburg, where in 1862 he founded the St. Petersburg Conservatory and thereafter devoted much energy to improving the quality of Russian musical education. His once popular compositions, including six symphonies, five piano concertos, and many chamber works and piano pieces (including “Melody in F”) have largely disappeared from the repertoire. His brother Nicolay (1835–81), also a famous pianist and teacher, founded the Moscow Conservatory in the 1860s.