Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He was the elder brother of Nikolai Rubinstein, who founded the Moscow Conservatory.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Anton Rubinstein.

From the period sources

Anton Rubinstein, a pianist and composer, received his initial musical instruction from his mother, and later studied piano with Villoing in Moscow (Biographie universelle des musiciens, 1866). His precocious talent was evident early, giving his first Moscow concert in 1838 at age nine. A year later, Villoing took Rubinstein to Paris, where he met Liszt, who encouraged his serious study and advised a tour of Germany (Biographie universelle des musiciens, 1866). Rubinstein subsequently toured Holland, England, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, inspiring “the most lively interest” everywhere (Biographie universelle des musiciens, 1866).

He later studied composition with Professor Dehn in Berlin, who was noted as a profound and successful theory teacher (A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1900). Rubinstein’s early operas included Demitri du Don (1852) and Die Sibirischen Jäger (1852), while his sacred opera Moses saw its first production in Riga in 1894, brought about by Wilhelm Bergner (A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1900). His opera Feramors, based on Thomas Moore’s “Lalla Rookh,” was given in Dresden in 1863 and Vienna in 1872 (Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Vol. 2, 1889). The firm Breitkopf and Härtel published his works, indicating his prominence among continental musicians (Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1886). Rubinstein himself believed that “one must have heard Chopin, Liszt, Thalberg, and Henselt to know what genuine piano playing means,” suggesting his connection to this lineage of pianists (A Description and History of the Pianoforte, 1896).