Anatol Liadov

The New Groves has an entry for a composer Liadov, Anatol [Anatoly] Konstantinovich. It reads in full “See LYADOV, ANATOL KONSTANTINOVICH”. Which immediately puts us into a cataloguing quandary, especially as Wikipedia lists him as 'Anatoly Lyadov': is his first name Anatol or Anatoly; is his patronymic compulsory; and is his surname spelled Liadov with an i, or Lyadov with a y?! For what it's worth, the IMSLP website (where lots of scores are downloadable for all sorts of composers) agrees with Wikipedia and calls him “Lyadov, Anatoly”: y's all round, basically. If we're taking votes, that's the Encyclopedia Brittanica's version, too. A random sample of my CD covers has 2 for the 'Liadov' version and 3 for the 'Lydov' one, so it's close.

In situations of dispute like this, I'd usually turn to the scores published in the composer's own lifetime for a definitive pointer… but in this case, that leads us into even darker holes:

There are some brand new variants in that lot which may be surprising! My favourite is the first one: Anatole Liddow, which doesn't even come close to what most people would dispute about!

To cut to the chase, then: this site is going with “Anatol” because that's in New Groves as the approved form; and “Liadov” because that's at least offered as an alternative in New Groves and also happens to be the form that Hyperion Records approves of! If you prefer “Anatoly Lyadov” you would still be in good company, though. And whilst the New Groves indicates that the patronymic is required, I think things are already too complex, so omitting is seems the sensible thing to do!

Anyway, however you catalogue him, he was born in St. Petersburg in 1855 and died in Polinovka, Novgorod district, somewhat south of St. Petersburg in 1914. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, initially studying piano and violin, but switching mid-stream to composition. He was friends with Rimsky-Korsakov there: they would each write a fugue a day on the same subject. In 1878, he himself became a teacher at the Conservatory, resigning when Rimsky-Korsakov was dismissed and re-joining upon his re-instatement. By all accounts, he was quite lazy: he married into money and thus had no externaal incentive to composer. His music output is thus fairly modest. It didn't help that he was his own worst critic, believing that nothing he wrote was of much merit. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that whilst there are lots of works, few of them are of the monumental, significant form -and many take the form of variations on folk or other pre-existing melodies. His output is thus mostly of 'pure music', brilliantly orchestrated, but with little attempt to express human emotion.

Possibly apocryphal, the story is commonly put about that Diaghilev asked him to write a score for his new ballet, The Firebird in 1909, but his tendency to indolence meant he failed to get started on the score in good time …which resulted in Stravinsky getting his first big commission instead. It has been pointed out, however, that there's no actual evidence that Liadov actually accepted the commission in the first place, so the legend may not be all that it's cracked up to be.

In conclusion, then: he was held in great affection by his fellow musicians and, although he never completed a work of great size or scope, he left several characteristic pieces for orchestra and several charming minatures for piano which, whatever the modesty of their ambition, nevertheless have retained their place in the standard repertory