Pyotr Alexeyevich Bessonov or (in the pre-1917 spelling) Bezsonov (Пётр Алексе́евич Бессо́нов; 1828–1898) was a leading

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

who collected and published many East Slavic and South Slavic

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

s. The son of a priest, Bessonov was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He graduated at

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

in 1851. After five years of graduate work in ancient and modern languages, he earned the government printing commission. From 1864 to 1867 he was

supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position and role that is primarily based on authority over la ...

of the Vilna Museum and Public Library, besides serving as director of

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

in the same city. For the two following years he was

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

at Moscow University. Having received an honorary doctor's diploma in Slavonic

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

from Kazan University, he became

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of Slavic languages at the University of Kharkov in 1879, remaining in the position till his death. He published: * ''Bolgarskiya Pyesni'' (1855), the first great collection of Bulgarian folk songs; * a collection of Serbian folk songs, under the title ''Lazarica'' (1857); * Pyotr Kireevsky's collections of Russian songs (1861–71); * a number of treatises on the Bulgarian, Serbian, and Russian languages and literatures.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bezsonov, Pyotr 1828 births 1898 deaths Writers from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Philologists from the Russian Empire Folklorists from the Russian Empire Librarians from the Russian Empire Imperial Moscow University alumni Academic staff of the National University of Kharkiv