Steinberg, Maximilian

[Sydney Grew]

Maximilian Steinberg was born at Vilnius in 1883. His name is often written "Shteynberg", following the Russian spelling. The expression "Steinberg" has a signification in German- mountain of rock-, so presumably it came first.

He studied natural sciences at the the St. Petersburg University and music at the conservatory there.

He gave us five symphonies, in the years 1906, 1909, 1928, 1933 and 1942, as well as a violin concerto in 1946 and two string quartets, no. 1 in A, opus 5 (1907) and no. 2 in C, opus 16 (1925).

[Serial_Apologist]

Am I right in thinking he also tutored the young Shostakovitch?

[Bryn]

Am I right in thinking he also tutored the young Shostakovitch?

He did indeed, and was not at all happy that young DDS was seen to be influenced more by his fellow Russian IFS and the Ukrainian born SSP.

[Alison]

I only know the first two symphonies via the DG recordings under Neeme Jarvi. Shame that didn’t develop into a full series.

Those recordings are available as Presto CDs and well worth snapping up.

[Bryn]

QOBUZ have the DG 2nd Symphony and Variations Op.2, plus a 'live; Lés métamorphoses Suite, Op. 10 (ASO, Leon Botstein).

[Alison]

Do you know the later symphonies, Nethersage?

[Bryn]

Do you know the later symphonies, Nethersage?

I don't even know the early ones, Alison. I was just interested to see what QOBUZ had to offer, which was not much.

[Alison]

The first symphony is a delightful tuneful affair, reminding me a little of Glazunov 4 and especially the early Stravinsky symphony.

The second is much more substantial so I’m really intrigued to discover what happens in 3-5!

[edashtav]

The first symphony is a delightful tuneful affair, reminding me a little of Glazunov 4 and especially the early Stravinsky symphony.

The second is much more substantial so I’m really intrigued to discover what happens in 3-5!

I’m reliant Handbook of Soviet Composers (1943) compiled by Igor Boelza and edited by Alan Bush.
It says nothing about the Third Symphony which was written “after the October Revolution”

Clearly, Steinberg ensured that his music fell in line with Soviet ideals : one of his works was “ a comprehensive arrangement of the national songs of many peoples [18 to be precise!] of the USSR for voice and orchestra. Gosh, doesn’t that whet the appetite, Alison!


His 4th Symphony “Turksib” is ‘dedicated to the builders of the famous railway line hundred of miles across the desert.’ [I remember listening on R.3 to The Electrification of the Soviet Union, an opera in two acts by Nigel Osborne. ]

He was a student if Rimsky, subsequently marrying his daughter, Liadov! and Glazunov. Those three inflenced his early works, as you picked up from his 1st Symphony, Alison.

Wiki has some other tit-bits:

He wrote his 2nd Symphony in the decade before the October Revolution and that shows the influence of ‘Scriabin and French Impresionism’.

The 5th Symphony must have been a very late work for my little book makes no mention of it.

Fascinating, another late piece was the Ballet ‘Till Eulenspiegel’ which joined Knipper’s Sinfonietta and Professor Igor Boelza’s Opera in celebrating the ‘figure of the Flemish national hero, an avenger of his people and the dread of his enemies’.
Additional, late research:

Wiki has some more tit-bits:

Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 3 (1905/06)
Symphony No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 8 "In memoriam Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov" (1909) [Serious stuff!]
Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 18 (1928)
Symphony No. 4 "Turksib" in C major, Op. 24 (1933)
Symphony No. 5 "Symphonic Rhapsody on Uzbek Themes", Op. 31 (1942) [not published until 1986 - shades of his pupil Myaskovsky?]

Maximilien died in 1946.

Wiki has a picture of him.