Alexander Dubuque was a Russian pianist, composer, and music teacher. He was born in Moscow on 3 March 1812 and died there on 8 January 1898.
He received his general education at his father’s boarding school in Moscow and studied music with John Field, who taught him without charge. After his father’s death, Dubuque took several government jobs before leaving public service. He became known as a music teacher and taught piano at the Moscow Conservatory from 1866 to 1872, then continued giving private lessons. His students included Mily Balakirev, Nikolai Zverev, Hermann Laroche, Nikolai Kashkin, Leonid Malashkin, and Matvey Presman.
As a performer, Dubuque carried elements of Field’s style into Russian piano playing, including balanced phrasing, an even tone, and a delicate “pearl-like” touch. His performances of Field’s music included details not printed in the score. He also wrote the instructional book Piano Technique (1866), which was adopted as a textbook at the Moscow Conservatory, and later published recollections of Field.
Dubuque wrote piano pieces and études, made piano arrangements of songs by Franz Schubert and works by Alexander Alyabyev and Niccolò Paganini, and arranged Russian folk songs and Romani romances for piano and voice with piano. His two-volume collection Collection of Russian Songs with Variations for Piano appeared in 1855. His own songs and romances became part of the repertoire of Romani choirs and soloists, and later performers included Feodor Chaliapin, Nadezhda Obukhova, Elena Obraztsova, Lyudmila Zykina, and Oleg Pogudin. He was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow.