German Germanovich Galynin (Russian: Герман Германович Галынин, German Germanovich Galynin) (March 30, 1922, Tula, Russia – June 18, 1966, Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet (Russian) composer, student, and continuer of the Shostakovich and Myaskovsky line in Soviet classic music.
Raised in an orphanage, he taught himself playing several folk instruments and piano. In 1941, after the Great Patriotic War began and already a student of Moscow Conservatory, he joined the army as a volunteer, directing there various grass-roots performances, writing songs and music to dramas. In 1945-1950 he renewed his studies at Moscow Conservatory under Dmitri Shostakovich and Nikolai Myaskovsky in composition and Igor Sposobin in music theory. Being seriously ill since 1951, he still wrote music actively. Galynin’s work is a bright phenomenon in Soviet classical music, unfortunately, still underestimated in his homeland and largely overlooked in the West. Within the well-developed system of public Children's Music Schools in Russia and the former Soviet republics Galynin is virtually most gratefully remembered due to his short and easy pieces of music composed for beginners, some of them being variations of popular folk melodies. “The composer’s bright and original talent was a union of melodic generosity, picturesque harmonies, sense of modern colouring, and elegance of classical form”, the Encyclopedia of Music (Moscow, 1973) wrote of him. He won the The State Stalin Prize (1951, for his Epic Poem).
[edit] Selected Works
- 1939-41 Sonata Triad for piano (revised 1963)
- 1939 Spanish Fantasy for piano
- 1945 Suite for piano
- 1946 First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
- 1947 String Quartet
- 1949 Piano Trio
- 1949 Suite for String Orchestra
- 1950 Epic Poem (Russian: Эпическая поэма for Symphonic Orchestra (The State Stalin Prize), 1951)
- 1950 Girl and Death, (Девушка и смерть, Oratorium (inspired by Maxim Gorky’s poem)
- 1951 Youth Festive Ouverture (Молодёжная праздничная увертюра) for Symphonic Orchestra
- 1959 Aria for Violin and String Orchestra
- 1965 Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
[edit] Bibliography
- (Russian) Мнацаканова Е. Герман Галынин. – Москва, 1965.
- (Russian) И.П.Кулясов. Галынин, Герман Германович // Музыкальная энциклопедия. – Т.1. – Москва: Сов. Энциклопедия, 1973. – С.891.
Recording * GALYNIN. CONCERTO [No. 1] FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA; KHACHATURIAN RHAPSODY CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA. Dmitri Bashkirov (piano), Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov, conductor; Natalia Shakhovskaya, Cello, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Aram Khachaturian, conductor. Orion LP, PGM 6902. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 70-750038 (Khachaturian) and 74-750039 (Galynin).
[edit] External links