Alexander Alekseyevich Olenin (13 June 1861 – 15 February 1944) was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist. He was named an Honored Art Worker of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1927.
Olenin was born at the Istomino Estate in Ryazan Governorate. He studied piano in Riga with Louis Pabst, then continued his training in Moscow with P. Fichtman-Erdmansdörfer, studying piano, and M. Edmansdörfer, studying music theory. From 1884 to 1889 he lived in St. Petersburg, where he took composition lessons from Anatoly Lyadov.
In St. Petersburg, Olenin became close to Mily Balakirev, with whom he remained friends throughout his life, and associated with the composers of The Mighty Handful. These contacts fostered his interest in folk music; he collected and notated folk songs. In 1889 he was appointed a district administrative official in the village of Istomino.
He made concert tours with his sister, the singer Maria Olenina-d'Alheim, appearing as accompanist and as the composer of works performed in their programmes. He also took an active part in the Song House founded by his sister and received its prize for his harmonizations of folk songs. From 1917 he performed with a choir and worked at musical institutions. In 1922 he joined the Musical-Ethnographic Commission of GIMN in Moscow.
Olenin's works include the opera Kudeyar (1915), staged only at Zimin's Opera Theatre, and the unfinished opera Almanzor. His orchestral music includes the symphonic poems The Warriors' Camp (1920), Evil Spirits (1928), and The Last Farewell (1928), as well as The Battlefield, a symphonic picture (1920).
His chamber and instrumental works include two sonatas and suites for violin and piano, piano trios of 1921, 1926, and 1930, string quartets of 1928 and 1932, Meadow Tunes for two oboes, violin and piano, a Russian Piano Quintet (1933), and a piano concerto with orchestra (1930). He left 96 manuscript music items, along with diaries, reflections on art and music, autobiographical notes written through 1942, memoirs of Balakirev, and correspondence with composers and performers.
Olenin died in Moscow on 15 February 1944 and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery.