Sigismund Katz

Sigismund Katz was a Soviet composer. He was born on April 4, 1908, in Vienna. In 1915 his family returned to the Russian Empire and settled in Tver.

From 1924 to 1928 he worked in the Blue Blouse movement and wrote the music for the “Anthem of the Blue Blouse Members.” In 1925 he entered the Gnessin Musical Technical School, where he studied piano with Vladimir Shor and composition with Mikhail Gnesin. Because of his active participation in the Blue Blouse movement, he was temporarily expelled, but later reinstated. After graduating from the school, he continued for two more years in Gnesin’s composition class.

In 1932–1934 Katz served in the musical platoon of the 3rd Rifle Regiment of the Moscow Proletarian Division. After army service, as a Gnessin student, he was admitted directly to the third year of the Moscow Conservatory. He graduated in 1937 from the composition class of Nikolai Zhilyayev.

Katz was the author of the opera “The Captain’s Daughter” (1941) and the operettas “Mutual Love” (1940), “I Write to You” (1944), “Southern Night” (1948, together with Nikita Bogoslovsky), “World Champion” (1950), and “Star Voyage” (1961). He also wrote numerous songs. In addition, he composed music for productions at the Moscow Young Spectator's Theatre, for circus programs, and for feature, documentary, and animated films.

Among his distinctions were the Stalin Prize, third class, in 1950, awarded for the songs “Lilac Is Blooming,” “The Bryansk Forest Roared Sternly...,” “By the Old Oak...,” “Toast Song,” and “The Cliff Stands.” He was named Honored Art Worker of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1968 and People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1980.

He died on June 17, 1984, in Moscow and was buried at Kuntsevo Cemetery.