Lev Eduardovich Conus (russian: Лев Эдуа́рдович Коню́с, ''Lev Eduárdovich Konyús''), known in Western Europe and the US as Leon Conus (1871–1944), was a Russian

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, music educator, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. A brother of the composers

Georgi Conus Georgi Eduardovich Conus, french: Georges Conus (russian: Гео́ргий Эдуа́рдович Коню́с, ''Georgy Eduardovich Konyus''; , Moscow 29 August 1933, Moscow) was a Russian music theorist and composer of French descent. He was th ...

and

Julius Conus Julius or Jules Conus (russian: Юлий Эдуардович Конюс, ''Yuly Eduardovich Konyus''; 1 February 1869 3 January 1942) was a Russian violinist and composer. Conus was born in Moscow, the son of the pianist Eduard Conus. His bro ...

, he studied together with

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

Anton Arensky Anton Stepanovich Arensky (russian: Анто́н Степа́нович Аре́нский; – ) was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music. Biography Arensky was born into an affluent, music-loving ...

's advanced

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

class and served as chief professor of piano at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

until 1918. Together with his wife, the pianist and pedagogue Olga Kovalevskaya Conus (1890-1976) they left the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

for

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1921 where he subsequently taught at the city's Russian Conservatory, before finally moving to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1935. He taught in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

until his death at the age of 73. After his death, his wife published Fundamentals of Piano Technique, an influential book of Leon Conus's technical exercises for pianists.

Additional reading

Tchaikovsky-Research.net

External links

* 1871 births 1944 deaths Russian classical pianists Male classical pianists Russian male classical composers Pupils of Pavel Pabst Pupils of Sergei Taneyev Russian Romantic composers Russian music educators 20th-century Russian male musicians 19th-century male musicians {{Russia-classical-pianist-stub