Anatoly Drozdov

Anatoly Drozdov was a Russian and Soviet pianist, teacher, music critic, and composer. He was born in Saratov on 4 November 1883 and died in Moscow on 10 September 1950.

Little is known about Drozdov's early life, and even his birth date has been questioned. From 1902 to 1904 he studied law in Paris and then in St. Petersburg, while at the same time studying piano at the conservatory with Nikolai Dubasov. After graduating from the conservatory in 1909, he turned to teaching.

Drozdov worked at the music school of the Yekaterinodar branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society from 1911 to 1916. He then taught at the conservatories of Petrograd from 1916 to 1917, where he taught music theory, Saratov from 1918 to 1920, and Moscow from 1920 to 1924. He also worked at the Scriabin Music Technical School, now part of the Academic Music College of the Moscow Conservatory, and later served as a lecturer for the Moscow Philharmonic from 1932 to 1944.

Drozdov's creative work has been little studied. His compositions include a number of orchestral, piano, and chamber works, as well as arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs. His style was influenced by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Lyapunov.

Drozdov also wrote many critical articles published in the journal Music and Revolution. In addition, he authored monographs devoted to Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Mikhail Gnesin, and other musicians.