Born in St Petersburg, 29 April/May 11, 1855
Died in Polïnovka, Novgorod district, 16/Aug 28, 1914
- Lyadov was a composer and conductor who studied under Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Prokofiev was one of his students.
- As a composer, Lyadov developed a reputation for being lazy and failing to produce a respectable number of compositions. In reality, Lyadov was extraordinarily detail oriented and self-critical, to the detriment of his own productivity. He spent years, and even decades in some cases, working out the details of a work that lasted less than five minutes.1
- Fun Fact: Lyadov was infamous for procrastination, so much so that he was expelled from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1876 for not attending classes (he managed to get back in). Diaghilev invited him to compose the score for The Firebird, but he procrastinated and finally turned down the commission. Diaghilev then invited Stravinsky to write the score instead, and The Firebird helped jumpstart Stravinsky’s career.2
Learn More
Biography from Hyperion Records
Biography from Interlude
Sources
- Daniel Jaffé, “Composer of the Month: Anatoly Lyadov,” BBC Music Magazine Vol. 29, No. 6 (2021), 60.
- Jennifer Spencer and Edward Garden, “Lyadov [Liadov], Anatoly [Anatol] Konstantinovich,” Grove Music Online (2001); accessed November 12, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000017240.