Nicolaï Ferdinand van Gilse van der Pals was a conductor and musicologist who wrote biographies of both Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski and Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow.
Background
His father Hendrik van Gilse van der Pals, from a merchant family of Rotterdam, was a rubbermanufacturer and honorary consul for the Netherlands in Street St. Petersburg until he (temporarily) settled on his estates in Finland because of the Russian revolution.
Career
At their "palace" they organised concerts with composer Anton Arensky and pianist and conductor Willem Mengelberg. At an early age Van der Pals met people like Gustav Mahler und Alexander Glazunov.