Dmitry Mikhailovich Tsyganov was a Soviet Russian violinist and pedagogue, born on 12 March 1903 in Saratov. He was awarded the title People's Artist of the USSR in 1979 and became a laureate of the Stalin Prize, First Class, in 1946. From childhood he studied music, learning both violin and piano under the guidance of his father, who was a violinist.
He studied at the Saratov Conservatory in the class of Jaroslav Kocian? No, the article states he studied with Yaroslav Gaek, and later entered the Moscow Conservatory. In 1919 he volunteered for the Red Army, where he served as concertmaster of the symphony orchestra of the Political Department of the South-Eastern Front, first violinist of a quartet, and violin soloist. In 1922 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, studying violin with A. Y. Mogilevsky and composition with G. L. Catoire, and at the same time began his concert career.
Tsyganov became known above all for his ensemble playing. In 1923 he was one of the founders of the Beethoven Quartet, in which he played first violin for more than fifty years, until 1977. The quartet toured throughout the USSR and abroad and gave first performances of many works by Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Vissarion Shebalin, and other Soviet composers.
He was also notable as a chamber and solo performer. In the USSR he was the first to perform the cycles of ten violin sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven with Lev Oborin, works by Nikolai Medtner with the composer, Prokofiev's Five Melodies with Heinrich Neuhaus and the composer, Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello with Semyon Kozolupov, Max Reger's Sonata in F-sharp minor with Neuhaus, Karol Szymanowski's Myths, and sonatas for two violins by Darius Milhaud and Prokofiev with Vasily Shirinsky. He became especially famous as an interpreter of works by Niccolò Paganini and Dmitri Shostakovich.
One of the most remarkable events of his career was the performance of the complete cycle of Paganini's 24 Caprices for solo violin in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in 1923, described in the article as the first complete performance of the cycle since Paganini himself. Shostakovich, with whom Tsyganov had a long artistic friendship, dedicated his String Quartet No. 12 to him.
Tsyganov also made a number of violin transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, Rodion Shchedrin, and others, and edited cadenzas to violin concertos by various composers. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1930 to 1985, became professor in 1935, and headed one of its violin departments from 1956 to 1985. He also wrote articles on questions of violin performance and served on juries of many international violin competitions, including the International Tchaikovsky Competition from its foundation.
He died in Moscow on 25 March 1992, although other sources mentioned in the article give 27 March 1992. He was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery. Among his distinctions were the title Honored Artist of the RSFSR, People's Artist of the RSFSR, People's Artist of the USSR, the Stalin Prize, the Gold Medal of the Moscow Conservatory, and the Grand Prix of the Charles Cros Academy in Paris for a recording of Shostakovich's Piano Quintet with the composer's participation.