Boris Grigorevich Goltz (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Борис Григорьевич Гольц; 16 December (OS) / 29 December 1913 – 3 March 1942), was a Soviet composer. He is remembered today mainly for his set of 24 Preludes, Op. 2, for piano. He was born in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. He moved with his family to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1926. In 1933 entered the

Leningrad Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

, initially as a piano student, working with Nikolayev. His harmony teacher, V. V. Pushkov, persuaded him to take up composing seriously, and he obtained a double degree in piano (graduated 1938) and composition (graduated 1940). Russian involvement in World War II commenced in 1941. Goltz volunteered for the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, but was instead assigned to the Political Administration of the Baltic Fleet, to compose patriotic songs. Several of his songs, such as ''Shining Star in the Heavens'', ''The Song of Anger'' and ''The Song of Vengeance'', became very popular during the war. He worked in inhuman conditions during the Siege of Leningrad, and died six months after the start of the Siege, of illness caused by malnutrition. Few of Goltz's works were published in his lifetime, and most are lost. His 24 Preludes, Op. 2 have been recorded by Sergei Podobedov, issued on the

Music & Arts Music & Arts is a classical and jazz record label founded in Berkeley, California by Frederick Maroth. It began in 1984 as a classical music label before adding jazz and world music. The catalog includes classical composers and musicians Milto ...

label.

Bibliography

* Akhonen, Aleksandra, ''O leningradskom kompozitore Borise Goltze (1913–1942)'', Musicus, 2005. * Frid, Rafael Zalmanovich, ''Boris Grigorevich Goltz: Ocherk zhizni i tvorchestva''. Leningrad: Soviet Composer, 1960. * Goltz, B. ''24 Preliudii dla fortepiano''. Leningrad, Izd. Musika, 1971. * Roy, Matthew J., ''The genesis of the Soviet prelude set for piano: Shostakovich, Zaderatsky, Zhelobinsky, and Goltz''. Thesis, Eastern Washington University, 2012. *Skorbyashenskaya, Olga, ''Boris Goltz (1913-1942)'', 2008. (Notes accompanying ''Complete works for solo piano'', Sergei Podobedov (piano), Music & Arts, ASIN: B01K8O87SO.)

External links

* * Boris Goltz at Russian Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Goltz, Boris Soviet composers 1913 births 1942 deaths Music & Arts artists Victims of the Siege of Leningrad Deaths by starvation