Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "

Serge Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...

", using it in his signature. (Se
The Koussevitzky Music Foundations official web site
Retrieved 5 November 2009.) His surname can be transliterated variously as "Koussevitzky", "Koussevitsky", "Kussevitzky", "Kusevitsky", or, into Polish, as "Kusewicki"; however, he himself chose to use "Koussevitzky". (russian: Серге́й Алекса́ндрович Кусеви́цкий, links=no; ''Sergey Aleksandrovich Kusevitsky''; 4 June 1951) was a Russian-born conductor, composer and double-bassist, known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.

Biography

Early career

Koussevitzky was born into a Jewish family of professional musicians in Vyshny Volochyok, Tver Governorate (present-day

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, ''Tverskaya oblast'', ), from 1935 to 1990 known as Kalinin Oblast (), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. It was named after Mi ...

), about 250 km northwest of Moscow, Russia. His parents taught him

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

, and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. He also learned trumpet.José Bowen, "Koussevitzky usevitsky Sergey (Aleksandrovich)" in

Sadie, Stanley Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was pub ...

; John Tyrrell, eds. (2001). ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', 2nd edition. New York: Grove's Dictionaries. . At the age of fourteen he received a scholarship to the Musico-Dramatic Institute of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, where he studied

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

with Rambusek and music theory. He excelled at the bass, joining the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra at the age of twenty, in 1894, and succeeded his teacher, Rambusek, as the principal bassist in 1901. That same year, according to some sources, he made his début (25 March) as a soloist in Moscow, although his biographer

Moses Smith Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

states he made his solo début earlier in 1896; he later won critical acclaim with his first recital in Berlin in 1903. In 1902 he married the dancer

Nadezhda Galat Nadezhda may refer to: * Nadezhda (given name), people with the given name ''Nadezhda'' *Nadezhda (satellite) Nadezhda (Russian language, Russian: Надежда, means Hope in English) was a civilian satellite navigation system. Overview The ...

. The same year, with Reinhold Glière's help, he wrote a popular concerto for the double bass, which he premiered in Moscow in 1905. In 1905, Koussevitzky divorced Nadezhda and married Natalie Ushkova, the daughter of an extremely wealthy tea merchant. He soon resigned from the Bolshoi, and the couple moved to Berlin, where Serge studied conducting under Arthur Nikisch, using his wife's wealth to pay off his teacher's gambling debts.

Conductor and publisher

In Berlin he continued to give double bass recitals and, after two years practising conducting in his own home with a student orchestra, he hired the Berlin Philharmonic and made his professional début as a conductor in 1908. The concert included Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, with the composer at the piano. The next year he and his wife returned to Russia, where he founded his own orchestra in Moscow and branched out into the publishing business, forming his own firm, Éditions Russes de Musique, and buying the catalogues of many of the greatest composers of the age. Among the composers published by Koussevitzky were Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Nikolai Medtner. During the period 1909 to 1920 he continued to perform as soloist in Europe, and in Russia he and his orchestra toured towns along the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...

by riverboat in 1910, 1912, and 1914. The programs included many new works. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, he accepted a position as conductor of the newly named State Philharmonic Orchestra of Petrograd (1917–1920). In 1920, he left Soviet Russia for Berlin and Paris. In Paris he organized the ''Concerts Koussevitzky'' (1921–1929), presenting new works by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Maurice Ravel. In 1924 he took a post in the United States, replacing Pierre Monteux as conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. However, he continued to return to Paris in the summers to conduct his ''Concerts Koussevitzky'' until 1929. In 1941 he and his wife became United States citizens.

In America

Koussevitzky's appointment as conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) was the beginning of a golden era for the ensemble that would continue until 1949. Over that 25-year period, he built the ensemble's reputation into that of a leading American orchestra. Together with Gertrude Robinson Smith he played a central role in developing the orchestra's internationally acclaimed summer concert and educational programs at Tanglewood where today the 5,700-seat main performance venue bears his name. In the early 1940s, he discovered a young tenor named Alfred Cocozza (who would later be known as Mario Lanza), and provided him with a scholarship to attend Tanglewood. With the Boston Symphony he made numerous recordings, most of which were well regarded by critics. His students and protégés included Leonard Bernstein,

Eleazar de Carvalho Eleazar de Carvalho (28 June 1912, Iguatu, Ceará – 12 September 1996, São Paulo) was a Brazilian conductor and composer. Biography De Carvalho's parents were Manuel Afonso de Carvalho and Dalila Mendonça. He studied in the United Stat ...

, Samuel Adler, and Sarah Caldwell. Bernstein once received a pair of cufflinks from Koussevitzky as a gift, and thereafter wore them at every concert he conducted.

Personal life

Koussevitzky's second wife Natalie died in 1942, and he created the

Koussevitzky Music Foundations Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevit ...

in her honor.''Copland''. "1900 through 1942" by Aaron Copland and

Vivian Perlis Vivian Perlis (April 26, 1928 – July 4, 2019) was an American musicologist and the founder and former director of Yale University's Oral History of American Music. Personal life Vivian Perlis was born in Brooklyn, New York. After growing ...

. . In late 1947, he married Olga Naumova (1901–1978), Natalie's niece. Naumova had lived with the couple and acted as their secretary for 18 years. Olga Naumova was the daughter of the distinguished politician and civil servant

Aleksandr Naumov Aleksandr Nikolaevich Naumov (1868 in Simbirsk – 1950 in Nice) was a politician. Life Naumov, a graduate of Moscow University, was a land captain in Samara Governorate from 1893 to 1897, a member of the Zemstvo Assembly of Stavropol Uezd in ...

(1868, Simbirsk – 1950, Nice, France) who served as Minister of Agriculture in the Russian Imperial Cabinet. She has been described as quiet, and soft-spoken, and Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland counted her among their close friends. His nephew Faviy Adolfovich Koussevitzky, known professionally as

Fabien Sevitzky Fabien Sevitzky (September 29, 1891 in Vyshny Volochyok – February 3, 1967 in Athens) was a Russian-born American conductor. He was the nephew of renowned double-bass virtuoso and longtime Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevi ...

, was music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1937 until 1955. Sevitzky changed his surname in order to mitigate accusations of nepotism against him. Koussevitzky died in Boston in 1951 and was buried alongside his wife Natalie at the Church on the Hill Cemetery in Lenox.

Champion of contemporary music

Koussevitzky was a great champion of modern music, commissioning a number of works from prominent composers. During his time in Paris in the early 1920s he programmed much contemporary music, ensuring well-prepared and good quality performances.Nichols R. ''The Harlequin Years: music in Paris 1917–1929.'' Thames & Hudson, London, 2002. Among the well-received premieres were

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

's ''

Pacific 231 ''Pacific 231'' is an orchestral work by Arthur Honegger, written in 1923. It is one of his most frequently performed works. Description The popular interpretation of the piece is that it depicts a steam locomotive, one that is supported by the ...

'',

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

's '' Second Rhapsody'' and

Albert Roussel Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...

's ''Suite in F''. For the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary, he commissioned Copland's ''Ode'', Prokofiev's Symphony No. 4 (which Prokofiev later revised),

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

's ''Concert Music for Strings and Brass'', and Stravinsky's '' Symphony of Psalms'', as well as works by

and Howard Hanson. Originally retrieved 2 April 2007. In 1922, Koussevitzky commissioned Maurice Ravel's arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's 1874 suite for piano, '' Pictures at an Exhibition'', which was premiered on 19 October that year and quickly became the most famous and celebrated orchestration of the work. Koussevitzky held the rights to this version for many years. In 1940, Koussevitzky commissioned

Randall Thompson Randall Thompson (April 21, 1899 – July 9, 1984) was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works. Career Randall attended The Lawrenceville School, where his father was an English teacher. He then attended Harvard University, ...

, then a professor at the University of Virginia and director of the men's Glee club, to write a new piece for performance at Tanglewood. Koussevitzky had a large-scale festival piece in mind, but with World War II underway and France having fallen to Germany, Thompson could not find such an inspiration. Instead, he produced his unaccompanied ''

Alleluia Alleluia (derived from the Hebrew '' Hallelujah'', meaning "Praise Yahweh") is a Latin phrase in Christianity used to give praise to God. In Christian worship, Alleluia is used as a liturgical chant in which that word is combined with verses ...

'' – with the word sung 64 times in the Russian manner – which became his most frequently performed work.

Legacy

In 1915, Claude Debussy dedicated the first movement of his '' En blanc et noir'' for two pianos to Koussevitzky. As an avid supporter of new music, Koussevitzky created the Koussevitzky Music Foundations in 1942. The basic aim of the foundations was to assist composers by commissioning new compositions and underwriting the cost of their performance. New works created with the foundations' support include:

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's opera '' Peter Grimes'', Douglas Moore's opera '' The Ballad of Baby Doe'', Béla Bartók's '' Concerto for Orchestra'', Aaron Copland's '' Symphony No. 3'', Henri Dutilleux's string quartet ''

Ainsi la nuit ''Ainsi la nuit'' (''Thus the Night'') is a string quartet written by the French composer Henri Dutilleux between 1973 and 1976. It was premiered in 1977 by the Parrenin Quartet. It is considered one of the most important works in the genre and ...

'' and Olivier Messiaen's '' Turangalîla-Symphonie''. Following Koussevitzky's 1951 death, his widow, Olga Koussevitzky, presented double-bassist Gary Karr with his double bass, once believed to have been made in 1611 by brothers Antonio and

Girolamo Amati Girolamo Amati (1561–1630) was an Italian luthier, active from 1580 to 1630. Biography Born in Cremona, Girolamo was the youngest son of Andrea Amati and brother of Antonio Amati. Girolamo worked, probably from 1575, with his brother, in his ...

. The instrument now bears the names of both Karr and Koussevitzky, and has been played by bassist Scott Pingel and the

San Francisco Academy Orchestra The San Francisco Academy Orchestra, founded in 2000, is an American Symphony Orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Mission To preserve, promote, and present the art of orchestral performance as a vital form of human expression. Brief His ...

. In 1956, the American composer Howard Hanson, a friend of Koussevitzky, wrote his '' Elegy for Serge Koussevitzky.'' The Tanglewood Music Center awards the Koussevitzky Prize for outstanding student conductor.Seiji Ozawa at www.bso.org
Retrieved 5 November 2001.Michael Tilson Thomas at www.bso.org
Retrieved 5 November 2009. It has been awarded since 1954, but unlike many prizes, it is not awarded annually. Past winners have included Seiji Ozawa (1960),

Russell Peck Russell Peck was an American composer born in Detroit on January 25, 1945 to Thorland (Tom) and Margaret (Carlson) Peck. He died in Greensboro, North Carolina on March 1, 2009, at the age of 64. Life and career Peck's early music education was ...

(1966), and Michael Tilson Thomas (1969). The Musicians Club of New York, of which Olga Koussevitzky was president from 1962 to 1975, presents the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards. Three prizes are awarded annually in categories that rotate between voice, strings, piano, and woodwind/brass. Winners have included

Judith Raskin Judith Raskin (June 21, 1928 – December 21, 1984) was an American lyric soprano, renowned for her fine voice as well as her acting. Life and work Raskin was born in New York to Harry A. Raskin, a high school music teacher, and Lillian Raskin, a ...

(1956), Jean Kraft (1959), Robert DeGaetano (1969), Paul Neubauer (1982) and

François Salque François Salque is a contemporary French classical cellist. Biography A graduate from Yale University, François Salque teaches at the and at the Conservatoire de Paris. He has played and recorded chamber music with Éric Le Sage, Alexan ...

(1994).

Recordings

Serge Koussevitzky recorded with the Boston Symphony exclusively for Victor/ RCA Victor, except for a live recording made for Columbia Records, the ''Symphony 1933'' composed by Roy Harris, recorded in Carnegie Hall, New York, during a concert, using portable equipment. One quite notable early RCA Victor session in Boston's Symphony Hall in 1929 was devoted to an early recording of Ravel's ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement. Co ...

'', and his first sessions with the Boston orchestra of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's ''Pastoral'' Symphony and a suite from Stravinsky's '' Petrushka'' were recorded in Symphony Hall in 1927. Some of Koussevitzky's later recordings, including performances of the second suite from Prokofiev's '' Romeo and Juliet'' (1945, Symphony Hall, Boston), first symphony (1947, Carnegie Hall, New York, a session that included Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony), and fifth symphony (1945, Symphony Hall, Boston), were reportedly mastered on RCA's sound film optical recording process, first employed in this way with the San Francisco Symphony in March 1942. Koussevitzky's final recordings, made in November 1950, on magnetic tape using RCA's proprietary RT-21 two-track, -inch machines at 30

inches per second The inch per second is a unit of speed or velocity. It expresses the distance in inches (''in'') traveled or displaced, divided by time in seconds (''s'', or ''sec''). The equivalent SI unit is the metre per second. Abbreviations include ...

, were acclaimed performances of Sibelius's Second Symphony and Grieg's "The Last Spring". Both have been re-released by RCA on CD in Taiwan. Films of some of Koussevitzky's performances at Tanglewood, including a very spirited Beethoven " Egmont Overture", were made during the 1940s. Several of the Koussevitzky/ Boston Symphony's 78 rpm recordings with were reissued on LP on the bargain RCA Camden label, originally released at US$1.98 for a 12-inch LP album when premium priced Red Seal records were selling for US$5.98, in the early 1950s as the "Centennial Symphony Orchestra". One of the later albums featured Prokofiev's '' Peter and the Wolf'' and Richard Strauss's '' Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks''; while the orchestra was again listed as the Centennial Symphony and the conductor not identified, the narrator, actor Richard Hale, was. Koussevitzky rerecorded the piece in Tanglewood with

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

narrating during the summer of 1950 on magnetic tape; originally issued on a ten inch LP and three 45 rpm records, it has never been reissued officially by RCA in spite of the popularity of the Camden disc with Hale. Hale was also the narrator for Arthur Fiedler's 1953 RCA Victor recording of the same music with the Boston Pops Orchestra. RCA Victor reissued several other historic orchestral recordings on its Camden label with spurious names to avoid having them in direct competition with newer recordings by the same artists on the upscale Red Seal label.

Notable premieres

In concert

* Alexander Scriabin, '' Prometheus: The Poem of Fire'', Moscow, 2 March 1911 * Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's '' Pictures at an Exhibition'', Paris, 19 October 1922 *

's ''

'', 1923 * Sergei Prokofiev, First Violin Concerto with Marcel Darrieux as soloist, Paris, 18 October 1923 *Prokofiev, Second Symphony, Paris, 6 June 1925 * Arnold Bax, '' Symphony No.2'', Boston, 13 December 1929 *Prokofiev, Fourth Symphony, Boston, 14 November 1930 *

, '' Second Rhapsody'', Boston Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Boston, 29 January 1932 * David Diamond, Symphony No. 2, Boston, 14 October 1944 * Béla Bartók, '' Concerto for Orchestra'', Boston Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Boston, 1 December 1944 * Aaron Copland, ''

Appalachian Spring ''Appalachian Spring'' is a musical composition by Aaron Copland that was premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite. The music, scored for a thirteen-member chamber orchestra, was created upon ...

'' (suite) Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1945 * Samuel Barber, '' Knoxville: Summer of 1915'', Eleanor Steber as soloist, Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1948 * Leonard Bernstein, '' The Age of Anxiety'', Leonard Bernstein as soloist, Tanglewood, 1949

On record

* Maurice Ravel's orchestration of

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

's '' Pictures at an Exhibition'', Boston Symphony Orchestra, October 1930 *

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

, Seventh Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, HMV, London, 1933 * Richard Strauss, Also sprach Zarathustra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1935 * Roy Harris, Third Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1939 * Hector Berlioz, '' Harold in Italy'' with William Primrose as soloist, 1946 * Aaron Copland, ''

'' (suite), Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1946

Notes and references

Notes References

American Symphony Orchestra The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski whose mission is to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable for all audiences. Leon Botstein is the orchestra's m ...

Serge Koussevitzky biography
bach-cantatas.com

A film about Messiaen's ''Turangalîla-Symphonie''. commissioned by the Koussevitzky foundation.

''Time'' magazine cover 10 October 1938 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koussevitzky, Serge 1874 births 1951 deaths People from Vyshny Volochyok People from Tver Governorate Russian Jews White Russian emigrants to the United States American people of Russian-Jewish descent Culture of Boston Jewish classical musicians Russian classical double-bassists Male double-bassists 20th-century Russian conductors (music) Russian male conductors (music) 20th-century Russian male musicians Composers for double bass