Background
Arensky was born in a music-loving, affluent family in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine.
composer conductor musician professor of music
Arensky was born in a music-loving, affluent family in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine.
Anton Stepanovich Arensky studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music under Rimsky-Korsakov.
In 1882 Anton Stepanovich Arensky was appointed professor of harmony and counterpoint at the Moscow Conservatory, where, in later years, his pupils included Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Reinhold Gliere.
Anton Stepanovich's works include three operas, A Dream on the Volga (1892), Raphael (1894), and Nal and Damayanti (1899); two symphonies; two string quartets; a piano concerto; the Intermezzo for String Orchestra; the Piano Trio in D minor; the Fantasia on Russian Folk Songs for piano and orchestra; a piano quintet; and a ballet, The Egyptian Nights, after Alexander Pushkin.
His vocal works include much church music, many songs, and two cantatas: The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, based on Pushkin's poem, and The Diver.
Outside Russia his best-known works are the famous waltz from the Suite No. 1 for two pianos, the Piano Trio in D minor, and the Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky.