A. G. Rubinstein. Portrait by N. K. Bodarevsky
Anton Grigor’yevich Rubinstein was a Russian pianist, composer, conductor, teacher, musical critic and public figure, active in the sphere of music. He was the brother of Nikolay Rubinstein. He studied piano with Alexandre Villoing and performed publicly in concerts and recitals from 1839. In 1841-1846 he lived in Berlin, where he studied with Siegfried Dehn; during that time he carried out a tour throughout all the Western European countries. He became celebrated was one of the greatest pianists of the world. Upon his initiative and with the patronage of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1813-1899), with whom Anton Rubinstein became acquainted in Nice during the 1856/1857 season, and with the active support of Vasily Alexeyevich Kologrivov (1827-1874), the Russian Musical Society (RMS; from 1873 – the Imperial RMS) was established in 1859 in St. Petersburg. The RMS played a decisive role in all the subsequent development of Russian musical culture, and soon after its establishment, branches of it appeared in all the major Russian cities. Already in 1860, with the patronage of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, Nikolay Rubinstein established the RMS in Moscow (subsequently – the Moscow Branch of the RMS).
In 1862 the first conservatory in Russia was founded – the St. Petersburg Conservatory, of which Anton Rubinstein was the director (in 1862-67 and in 1887-1891) and a professor. One of his most prominent pupils was Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who dedicated two piano works and one choral composition to his teacher.
In 1885-1886 Rubinstein organized a cycle of Historical Concerts in Russia and a number of other European countries, demonstrating the evolution of piano music from its earliest sources up to the works by the contemporary Russian composers of his time. He developed projects of organizing concerts and opera performances in Russia that would be accessible to everybody, as well as projects of organizing state-supported conservatories and music schools. In 1890 he founded the International Competition of Pianists and Composers.
Rubinstein has left an extensive musical legacy. He wrote 14 operas, the most famous of which is “The Demon” (1871), ballets, 4 oratorios (sacred operas), 6 symphonies, overtures, 5 concertos for piano and orchestra, a concerto for violin and orchestra, 10 string quartets, over 200 piano compositions, choral works and over 160 art songs.
