Alexander Alexandrov
Alexander Alexandrov was a Russian and Soviet composer, choral conductor, choirmaster, and music teacher. He was born on April 1 (13), 1883, in Plakhino, in a peasant family. He sang in a school choir and later in the choir of Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
From 1897, he studied in the conducting classes of the Imperial Court Chapel, graduating as a choirmaster in 1900. He later enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but illness and financial hardship forced him to leave in 1902. He worked in Bologoye as a choir director and teacher, then moved to Tver in 1906, where he led church and school choirs. During this period he wrote the symphonic poem Death and Life.
Alexandrov resumed his studies at the Moscow Conservatory in 1909, graduating in composition in 1913 and in singing in 1916. In Tver, he staged and conducted performances of The Queen of Spades and excerpts from Eugene Onegin, Faust, A Life for the Tsar, and Rusalka. He also founded a music school there in 1915.
From 1918, he taught at the Moscow Conservatory, where he became a professor in 1922 and held senior roles in its conducting and choral departments. He also taught composition and choral singing at the Scriabin Music College, conducted with the State Choral Chapel, and worked with Moscow’s Chamber Theatre and opera companies. His students included Konstantin Ptitsa, Viktor Sokolov, Dmitri Kabalevsky, and Kirill Kondrashin.
In 1928, Alexandrov helped establish the Red Army Song and Dance Ensemble and became its musical director; from 1937, he served as its head, artistic director, and chief conductor. He toured with the ensemble in the Soviet Union and abroad. At the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris, it received the Grand Prix. He also led the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Central House of Railway Workers and helped establish the ensemble at the Moscow Palace of Pioneers.
Alexandrov wrote music for 81 original songs and arranged Russian folk songs and music from other traditions. His works also include the symphonic poem Death and Life, a three-movement F-sharp minor symphony, a violin sonata, choral works, and the opera Rusalka. He composed the music for the Soviet national anthem, whose melody was later adopted for the Russian national anthem. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1937 and received a doctorate in arts in 1940.
Alexandrov died of a heart attack in Berlin on July 8, 1946, while on a European tour with the ensemble. He was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.