MAYKAPAR, SAMUIL MOYSEYEVICH

MAYKAPAR, SAMUIL MOYSEYEVICH (1867–1938), pianist, composer, teacher, and writer. Born in Kherson, Ukraine, Maykapar graduated from the Law School of St. Petersburg University (1890) and from the St. Petersburg Conservatory as a pianist in 1893. From 1894 to 1896 he continued his studies with Leshetitzky in Vienna. The period 1898–1910 was divided between Moscow (1898–1901), Tver (where he founded a music school, 1901–03), and Germany (1903–10). From 1910 to 1930 he taught in the St. Petersburg Conservatory (from 1917 as a professor). Maykapar often worked as a concert pianist, in ensembles with Auer and Grzhimali. His short piano pieces for children remain popular, especially Biryulki ("Spillikins"), Bagatelles, and The Marionette Theater. He also composed chamber music and a sonatina for violin and piano. His writings include Muzykal'nyi slukh: ego znachenie, priroda, osobennosti i metod pravil'nogo razvitia ("The Musical Ear: Its Significance, Nature, Peculiarities and a Method of Proper Development," 1890, 19152); a study on Beethoven (1927), an autobiography, The Years of Study (1938), and other works. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Volman, Samuil Moiseevich Maikapar: Ocherk zhizni i tvorchestva (1963); K. Petrova, "Komzitor, posvyativshiy svoe tvorchestvo detyam," in: Muzykal'naya zhizn', 14 (1961). (Marina Rizarev (2nd ed.)