Pyotr Bely
Pyotr Bely (born 16 January 1949) is a Soviet Russian composer, musicologist, and musical figure. He was born in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and received the D. D. Shostakovich Prize of the Union of Composers of Russia.
Bely graduated from the Gnesins State Musical Pedagogical Institute in 1976, where he studied composition with Professor Aram Khachaturian. He joined the Union of Composers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1977 and the Union of Composers of the Soviet Union in 1978.
His works include the cantata Over the Foundation Pit, to words by Andrei Platonov; the symphony Measures of Punishment; Little Chamber Cantata; Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano; Suite for Violin and Piano; House of Reckless Spenders for cello and piano; Three Arias for viola and piano; History of Conscience for two violinists and pianist; the chamber vocal concerto Romances, Elegies, Monologues; and piano pieces. He describes his own compositional style as neoconservatism and introduced the term into the history of 20th-century musical style.
As a critic, publicist, and musicologist, Bely has published studies of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Anton Arensky, Alexander Glazunov, Leoš Janáček, Alexander Buzovkin, Konstantin Volkov, Leonid Desyatnikov, and Vladimir Ryabov. From 1975 to 1984, he was the principal author of the “Conversations About Music” column in the journal Musical Life. He also carried out musical educational work, founding and leading the Sochi Musical Exhibitions from 1993 to 1999.
Between 1987 and 2008, Bely withdrew from public activity as a composer and prohibited performances and broadcasts of his works; he resumed public activity in 2009. Yuri Faertag devoted the book The Silence of Music to Bely’s work and personality, published in Moscow in 2010. In 2017, Bely published the two-volume collection Notes Instead of Words, Words Instead of Notes: Essays and Conversations, Reviews, Interviews, Lectures, comprising volumes on classical and contemporary composers.