Vasily Ilyich Safonov
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Vasily Ilyich Safonov (Васи́лий Ильи́ч Сафо́нов) (February 6, 1852 - February 27, 1918); Russian composer.
Safonov was born at Itschory, Russian Caucasus as the son of a Russian officer of Cossacks. He was educated at the Lycee Imperial Alexandra, St. Petersburg, and at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. He graduated as Bachelor of Laws, and won the gold medal of the Conservatory, where he studied, 1881-1885. He was also a pupil of Teodor Leszetycki and Zaremba.
Safonov was never a particularly successful composer in his own right, but was a master music educator, becoming Director of the Moscow Conservatory in 1889. He was also the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. He was the teacher of some of the best Russian composers, notably Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner and Josef Lhevinne.
After retiring from teaching, Safonov has become well known as a conductor, and has acted in that capacity with nearly all the principal orchestras in Europe, including the Philharmonic Orchestras of Berlin, Vienna and Prague, the Lamoreaux Orchestra, of Paris, the London Symphony and the Santa Cecilia, of Rome. In this capacity, of course, he is well known in America, on account of his work with the New York Philharmonic Society. He got most excellent results from this organization, though his audiences were somewhat puzzled by the fact that he never used a baton.
This article is based on a text from the Etude magazine, 1909-1922.