Isaak Dunayevsky
Internet Edition compiled by Onno van Rijen
Updated 15 February 2003
Born
18/30 January 1900 in Lokhvitsi near Poltava. Died: 25 July 1955 in Moscow.
Education
Dunayevsky entered the Kharkov Musical SChool in 1910 where he studied violin under Joseph Akhron.
During this period he started to study theory of music under Simon Bogatyrev.
He graduated in 1919 from the Kharkov Conservatory.
Style
Dunayevsky was one of the first composers in the Soviet Union to start using jazz.
However he is not an innovator in music.
He is mainly concerned with making his music comprehensible and accessible to the masses.
The source of his success lies in the lyrical melodiousness of songs on familiar themes.
Works
"The Tranquillity of Faun", ballet (1924)
"Murzilka", ballet for children (1924)
"For Us and You, operetta (1924)
"Bridegrooms", operetta (1926)
"The Knives", operetta (1928)
"Polar Passions", operetta (1928)
"Million Langours", operetta (1932)
"The Golden Valley", operetta (1937)
"The Road to Happiness", operetta (1939)
"Moscow", suite for solovoices, chorus and orchestra (1941)
"Glory of the Railwaymen, cantata (1966)
"Our Homeland May Flourish!", cantata (1972)
Ballet Suite for orchestra
Suite on Chinese themes for orchestra
Rhapsody on Songs of the people of the Soviet Union for jazzorchestra
"The Musicstore" for jazzorchestra
String Quartet
Music to the Film "The Merry Boys"
Music to the Film "Circus"
Music to the Film "Song of the Fatherland"
Requiem for narrator and quintet
Song of Stalin for chorus and orchestra
And furthermore:
- Songs for the masses
- Music to Films
- Pieces for chamberorchestra
- Incidental nusic
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