Maximilian Osseyevich Steinberg (Russian Максимилиан Осеевич Штейнберг; 4 July 1883 [O.S. 22 June] – 6 December 1946) was a Russian composer of classical music. Steinberg was born into a Lithuanian Jewish family in Vilnius (then Russian Empire). His father, Osey (Hosea) Steinberg, was a leading Hebraist. In 1901 he went to Saint Petersburg, to study biology at Saint Petersburg University. He graduated in 1906. In the meantime he also started studying at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He entered Anatoly Lyadov's harmony class, moving on to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's harmony class and Alexander Glazunov's counterpoint class. His considerable talent in composition soon showed, encouraged especially by his mentor Rimsky-Korsakov. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1908. Fellow student Igor Stravinsky felt disgruntled at the apparent favor of Steinberg by Rimsky-Korsakov over him.[1] Nevertheless, Steinberg named Stravinsky as one of his closest friends when the latter had made a big name in the West, which Stravinsky strongly resented.
In 1908, Steinberg was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church and married Rimsky-Korsakov's daughter Nadezhda. Rimsky-Korsakov died the same year, and Steinberg edited and completed his mentor's monumental treatise, Principles of Orchestration, which was later published in Paris. Steinberg became first a lecturer, then in 1915 Professor of Composition and Orchestration, at the Conservatory, a post his father-in-law had held. His now celebrated Passion Week was completed in 1923, shortly before the Communist Party banned the performance of all sacred music during the Second Soviet Anti-Religious Campaign.
Steinberg held numerous other posts at the Conservatory; among other things, he was, from 1934 to 1939 a deputy director, before he went into retirement in 1946. Steinberg played an important role in Soviet music life as a teacher of composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Galina Ustvolskaya and Yuri Shaporin. He died in 1946 in Leningrad. Text source : Wikipedia (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
