Roman Matsov
Encyclopedia
Roman Matsov; (Petrograd April 27, 1917, - August 24, 2001, Tallinn
) was an Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor of German-Baltic descent.
He undertook summer courses in Berlin under Georg Kulenkampff
(violin) and Walter Gieseking
(piano). In 1940 he graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in violin and piano, and shortly before Estonia became part of the USSR he entered the Leningrad Conservatory, while still being Konzertmeister of several Estonian symphony orchestras.
At the outbreak of war he volunteered for the front and became a lieutenant, but being wounded severely in 1941. In 1943 he conducted for the first time, in Yaroslav, with the evacuated Estonian artistic collective. He received his first conducting prize in 1946. Matsov received the All-Union conductor's prize in 1948. By 1950 he was a regular conductor and lead conductor of Estonia Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra. He gave premiers of many works of Estonian composers, along with Stravinsky, Hindemith, Schoenberg and Webern, and went on to rise rapidly.
During the Second World War his family had emigrated to Australia and his sister in Australia only found that he was still alive only by seeing news of a concert.
However later he was criticised for scheduling the works of Mahler.
was banned from traveling abroad and spurned by official musical authorities. Three years following his death, in 2004 Gramophone noted "A home is being sought for thousands of Shostakovich manuscripts and recordings still stored in the Estonian apartment of the collection's former owner, conductor Roman Matsov".
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
) was an Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor of German-Baltic descent.
He undertook summer courses in Berlin under Georg Kulenkampff
Georg Kulenkampff
Georg Kulenkampff was one of the world's most prominent concert violinists, one of the best-known German virtuosi of the 1930s and 1940s. Widely considered one of the finest violinists of the 20th century, Kulenkampff was known for his interpretations of works from the Romantic period...
(violin) and Walter Gieseking
Walter Gieseking
Walter Wilhelm Gieseking was a French-born German pianist and composer.-Biography:Born in Lyon, France, the son of a German doctor and lepidopterist, Gieseking first started playing the piano at the age of four, but without formal instruction...
(piano). In 1940 he graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in violin and piano, and shortly before Estonia became part of the USSR he entered the Leningrad Conservatory, while still being Konzertmeister of several Estonian symphony orchestras.
At the outbreak of war he volunteered for the front and became a lieutenant, but being wounded severely in 1941. In 1943 he conducted for the first time, in Yaroslav, with the evacuated Estonian artistic collective. He received his first conducting prize in 1946. Matsov received the All-Union conductor's prize in 1948. By 1950 he was a regular conductor and lead conductor of Estonia Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra. He gave premiers of many works of Estonian composers, along with Stravinsky, Hindemith, Schoenberg and Webern, and went on to rise rapidly.
During the Second World War his family had emigrated to Australia and his sister in Australia only found that he was still alive only by seeing news of a concert.
However later he was criticised for scheduling the works of Mahler.
Friendship with Shostakovich
Roman Matsov collaborated with Dmitry Shostakovich to ensure the composer's music survived, but like Maria YudinaMaria Yudina
Maria Veniaminovna Yudina was an influential Soviet pianist.Yudina was born to a Jewish family in Nevel, Russia. She studied at the Petrograd Conservatory under Anna Yesipova and Leonid Vladimirovich Nikolayev. She also briefly studied privately with Felix Blumenfeld. Her classmates included...
was banned from traveling abroad and spurned by official musical authorities. Three years following his death, in 2004 Gramophone noted "A home is being sought for thousands of Shostakovich manuscripts and recordings still stored in the Estonian apartment of the collection's former owner, conductor Roman Matsov".