Victor Trambitsky was a Soviet composer, conductor, music teacher, and librettist. He was born in Brest and died in Leningrad. He became a professor in 1939 and was named an Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1946.
Born into the family of an office worker, Trambitsky graduated from the Russian Musical Society’s music school in Vilnius. From 1915 he studied composition with Vladimir Kalafati, then studied with him at the Petrograd Conservatory from 1917 to 1919 while also attending the university’s law faculty. During his studies, Trambitsky worked in Vsevolod Meyerhold’s studio and wrote music for public celebrations in Petrograd. From 1919, he conducted and served as music director for traveling theater companies.
Trambitsky worked in Sverdlovsk from 1925. From 1930 to 1933 he organized and edited music broadcasts. He chaired the Sverdlovsk branch of the Composers’ Union from 1944 to 1948 and served as secretary of the board of the Composers’ Union of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1960 to 1968. From 1936 to 1961 he taught at the Sverdlovsk Conservatory, where he headed the theory and composition department. He moved to Leningrad in 1961.
He wrote seven operas, including Carnival of Life (1921), The Gadfly (1929), Wrath of the Desert (1930), The Great Path (1932), Orlena (1934), The Thunderstorm (1943), and Nastya the Lacemaker (1963); he wrote the librettos for The Gadfly, Wrath of the Desert, and The Great Path. His other works include a symphony (1945), the symphonic poems Spring (1927) and Captain Gastello (1943), Northern Tales for voice and piano (1941), and the suite Sleep, Beloved Brothers (1970), with words by Sergei Yesenin. He also arranged folk songs, wrote romances and music for drama, and published studies on the harmony of Russian folk song.