Inna Barsova is a Russian musicologist, Doctor of Art Studies, and professor. She was born on September 10, 1927, in Smolensk. She was awarded the title Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 1994 and is a member of the Union of Composers of the Russian Federation.
Barsova was born in Smolensk in the family of piano craftsman A. E. Barsov. From the age of seven she studied piano with L. V. Stanchinskaya, the sister of A. V. Stanchinsky. From 1937 she attended the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory, where she studied piano first with M. L. Gekhtman and then with E. L. Vilyanskaya, while also studying composition with S. Yu. Biryukov.
In 1943, after returning from evacuation, Barsova entered the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. There she studied piano with N. L. Fishman and later with V. A. Natanson, harmony with I. V. Sposobin, and composition with E. O. Messner. In 1951 she graduated from the theory and composition faculty of the Moscow Conservatory, where she also studied theory with Sposobin, and in 1954 she completed postgraduate study under him.
From 1953 Barsova worked at the Moscow Conservatory, where she initially taught in the instrumentation department. From 1969 she led a special class in the instrumentation department of the theory and composition faculty, now the historical and theoretical faculty. She also taught in the departments of history of foreign music and history of Russian music. From 1998 she worked in the department of music theory, in the section of instrumentation and score reading, and from 1981 she was a professor. Between 1979 and 1991 she was also a professor at the Gorky Conservatory named after M. I. Glinka, and from 1995 to 1998 at the Minsk Conservatory.
Her scholarly work is devoted chiefly to Western European music. Many of her studies concern the work of Gustav Mahler, and she is a member of the International Gustav Mahler Society. She also wrote numerous articles for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians in the 1980 and 2001 editions.
Barsova is the author, editor, or commentator of a large body of musicological writing. Among her important publications are works on Scriabin and Russian symphonism, Mahler’s symphonies, orchestration, score reading, Alexander Mosolov, Richard Wagner, Alban Berg, musical Romanticism, notation history, and Dmitry Shostakovich. Her publications include the monograph Symphonies of Gustav Mahler, the book Book about the Orchestra, the study Essays on the History of Score Notation, and many articles published in Soviet, Russian, and international journals and conference volumes.
The article also notes that her husband was S. A. Osherov, a philologist and translator.