Serge Koussevitzky

Music Conductor

• Born: July 26, 1874
• Birthplace: Vishny-Volochok, Russia
• Died: June 4, 1951
• Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts

Russian classical conductor

A celebrated conductor, Koussevitzky promoted new music by young composers by providing commissions and performances. He founded the renowned music festival at Tanglewood in Massachusetts.

The Life

Serge Koussevitzky (sehrj koo-sah-VIHTS-kee) was born into a poor but musical family. His mother, Anne Barabeitchik, played piano; his father, Alexander Koussevitzky, a klezmer musician, played violin and double bass; his brother Nicholas played piano; and his brother Adolf played piano and was a conductor. He also had a sister Anyuta, or Anna. Koussevitzky was trained on the violin at an early age by his father. Following his mother’s death when he was three, Koussevitzky studied piano with Maria Fiodorovna Ropenberg.

At age fourteen, Koussevitzky moved to Moscow to enroll in the Moscow Conservatory. His application was rejected, and he entered the Moscow Philharmonic School, where his principal instrument was the double bass. Upon graduation, Koussevitzky embarked on a career as a double bassist in the Moscow Imperial Theatre Orchestra, and he worked as a soloist traveling throughout Russia.

Koussevitzky married ballerina Nadezhda Galat in 1901. The marriage did not last long, and after his divorce in 1905, he married Nataliya Konstantinova Ushkove, daughter of a wealthy Moscow merchant. Together, they toured Europe, with Koussevitzky performing as a double-bass soloist.

Although Koussevitzky’s first work as a conductor and musical director had occurred with a small theatrical group in his town of Vishny-Volochok, in the Tver region of Russia, before his trip to Moscow in 1888, his formal debut took place in 1908, when he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with great success. In this performance, he included works by two relatively unknown composers, Sergei Taneiev and Reinhold Glière. This sponsorship of new composers was repeated throughout his conducting career. After this, Koussevitzky and his wife traveled extensively among Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Paris.

In 1924 Koussevitzky moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1949. His tenure with this orchestra produced numerous world premieres performed in conjunction with recognized and established pieces, such as Hector Berlioz’s The Roman Carnival overture (1844), Johannes Brahms’s Haydn Variations (1873), and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (1808). In addition, Koussevitzky performed as guest conductor in Europe with such illustrious organizations as the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 1942 his wife Nataliya died, and Koussevitzky established the Koussevitzky Foundation in her honor. Numerous compositions written as tributes to her were performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1947 Koussevitzky married Olga Aleksandrova Naumov, his wife’s niece. They remained committed to the sponsorship of new music, primarily by American composers. Koussevitzky died in Boston in 1951, and Olga died in 1976.

The Music

Koussevitzky is best known as a conductor and a supporter of new music by living composers. He demonstrated his interest in 1908, when he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in a program consisting of all Russian music: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet (1870), Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto in C Minor (1901), Taneiev’s entr’acte to Oreste (1895), and Glière’s Symphony in C Minor (1907).

Music Publisher. In 1909 Koussevitzky returned to Russia and established his own publishing company, the Russian Music Publishing House, also known as Editions Russes de Musique. In support of Russian composers, this organization issued works by Taneiev, Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, Aleksandr Scriabin, Sergei Prokofiev, and Nikolay Medtner.

Conductor. Koussevitzky propelled his conducting career by founding his own orchestra, and he initiated the Concerts Koussevitzky, first in Moscow and St. Petersburg and then in Paris. He focused his attention on combining standard orchestra repertoire, such as pieces by Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with works of new composers: Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Arthur Honegger, Erik Satie, and Lili Boulanger.

Later, as the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Koussevitzky programmed music by living composers, averaging between nine and twelve premieres per season. Among the composers he promoted were Arthur Bliss, Aaron Copland, Ottorinio Respighi, Filip Lazar, Walter Piston, and Howard Hanson. The complete list showcases American composers from the early to middle twentieth century. Many of these performances were recorded.

Tanglewood. Koussevitzky wanted to do more for young composers. With Nataliya’s support, he established the Berkshire Symphony Festival in the 1930’s, and it later became the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. This summer music festival provided advanced classes in conducting, composition, harmony, and counterpoint with well-known musicians, such as Leonard Bernstein. It also provided general classes in singing and playing an instrument, with a series of concerts featuring the classic repertoire and new music. In addition, Koussevitzky encouraged the musicians in the Boston Symphony Orchestra to take part in the festival as performers, teachers, and consultants.

Musical Legacy

Koussevitzky’s legacy lies in his recognition of young talent and his ability to bring this music to the attention of the general public. His work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, encompassing the largest portion of his conducting career, revealed his desire to provide a place where new and largely unknown composers could hear their music performed by a world-class orchestra for one of the most musically savvy audiences in the United States. At Tanglewood, Koussevitzky provided a school where experienced musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra trained the younger musicians. This school has since expanded to include opera production. The Koussevitzky Foundation continues to promote the works of new composers through commissions and awards.

Principal Recordings

albums (as conductor): Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, 1929; Debussy: Piano Suite No. 2, 1930; Maurice Ravel: Boléro, 1930; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, 1930; Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30, 1935; Haydn: Symphony No. 102 in B-flat Major, No. 102, 1936; Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63, 1937; Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, 1950; Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, 1950; Edvard Grieg: The Last Spring, No. 2, Op. 34, 1950; Amran Khachaturian: Piano Concerto in D-flat Major, 1946; Haydn: Symphony No. 94 in G Major, H 1, No. 94, 1946; Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2, Op. 64, 1946; Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100, 1946; Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48, 1949.

Bibliography

Copland, Aaron. “Serge Koussevitzky and the American Composer.” In Copland on Music. New York: Doubleday, 1960. Copland was one of the first American composers to come into contact with Koussevitzky in Paris, and here he details the maestro’s work with young composers in the early twentieth century and describes Koussevitzky’s passion for introducing music by living composers to audiences in Europe and America. Includes a listing of works by American composers performed by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 1943-1944 season.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Tanglewood: 1952.” Tempo 24 (Summer, 1952): 22-23. Copland was the assistant director of the Berkshire Music Center when he wrote this article designed to reassure musicians that the music program would continue after Koussevitzky’s death in 1951.

Music Educators Journal. “Summer Music Mecca in the Berkshires: The Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood.” 26, no. 4 (February, 1940): 46. The opening of the new music center and school is the focus of this article.

Smith, Moses. Koussevitzky. New York: Allen, Towne & Heath, 1947. A music critic offers a thorough look at the life and career of Koussevitzky. Includes illustrations and several appendixes: a list of world premieres by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; a list of American composers whose works were performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra during Koussevitzky’s tenure; compositions commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation through 1945; and a discography of recordings with Koussevitzky.