Bio
Dmitry Blagoy (his family name means "Good" in English)
was born in Moscow on 13 April 1930.
His parents were eminent Soviet philologists: his father,
Dmitry Dmitrievich Blagoy,
the descendant of an aristocratic Russian family, was a well-known
Pushkin scholar, and his mother Vera
Stepanovna Nechaeva, of half-German and half-Russian origin,
was a distinguished historian and textual critic of Russian literature,
and founder of the first Dostoevsky Museum (Moscow).
Dmitry
Blagoy was a many-sided personality, with a wide range of interests
- from music, literature, and art to science. His musical talent
was discovered by Professor A.
B. Goldenweiser who recommended the six-year-old Dmitry to
enter the Central music school for gifted children under the Moscow
Conservatoire. D. Blagoy studied piano there with Goldenweiser's
pupil E. P. Hoven, then with Goldenweiser himself.
On graduation from the school, D. Blagoy entered the Moscow Conservatoire,
where he studied piano with Prof. A. B. Goldenweiser (graduating
in 1954) and composition with Prof. Y. A. Shaporin (graduating
in 1957). He then finished a postgraduate course in 1958 and became
assistant professor.
Since 1959 - teacher of piano and chamber ensemble in Moscow conservatoire.
1968 - docent (=associate professor).
1958 - member of the Soviet Composers Union, 1960 - the Moscow
Philharmonia soloist.
1971 - Ph.D. (Soviet equivalent - candidate of musicology). Dissertation
theme: "A. B. Goldenweiser - editor. Issues in the textual
study of music".
Being not only a musician but also a poet, journalist, and painter,
Dmitry Blagoy mixed various art forms. In 1972 he found his own
genre of piano recitals (music + literature): Igraet I rasskazyvaet
Dmitry Blagoy ("Dmitry Blagoy plays and narrates").
D. Blagoy wrote over 200 articles as a musicologist and journalist,
made 276 recordings for Gosteleradiofond (The State Fund of TV
and Radio programs), released 15 vinyl discs as a pianist ("Melodiya"
record label), published several piano and vocal works as
a composer (music publishers "Sovetsky kompozitor",
"Muzyka"),
discovered and returned to the stage many piano works by early
Russian composers, made several educational broadcasts on radio
and TV, and edited and published several books of his teacher
A.B. Goldenweiser.
1984 - Meritorious
Artist of Russia (RSFSR).
D.
Blagoy died on 13 June 1986. He is buried in the Hovanskoye cemetery
in Moscow.
Family:
D. Blagoy was married (1953-1977) to Natalya Vasilievna Sokolova
(Blagaya), then (1978) - Larisa Anatolyevna Kirsanova.
His children: Vera (Muslima), Maria (Christina), Dmitry, Anna,
Ivan.
Selected
works:
As a composer:
- Piano works "Fairytale-Sonata " (1958), "Variations
on a Russian Theme" (1960), "Capriccio Brilliant "
(with orchestra, 1960), "Preludes" (1962), "Album
of pieces" (1-2, 1969-71), "Four Moods" (1971)
etc.; "Mountain Vision", "5 Musical Pictures",
"Reminiscence", "Contrasts", "Dedication";
- Vocal works "Living Silence" (lyrics by V.D. Berestov,
1966), "Winter Stars" (memory of D. Blagoy's mother
V.S. Nechaeva) etc.;
- Quartet (1968) etc.
As a musicologist and pianist: Scriabin etudes (1963),
The value of graphic /figurative, pictorial/ associations in the
piano teacher's work (Methodological notes on music, 1966), Autograph
and performing interpretation of the sonata op. 57 ("Appassionata")
(Beethoven, Vol. 2, Moscow, 1972), Selected articles about music
(published in 2001, Moscow) etc.
