Boris Arapov

Boris Alexandrovich Arapov (Russian: Бори́с Алекса́ндрович Ара́пов; 12 September 1905 in Saint Petersburg – 21 January 1992 in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian composer.

Life and career

Arapov grew up in Poltava in Ukraine, and received there his first musical instruction. His first desire was to become a pianist. When he moved to Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) in 1921, he took piano lessons with Maria Yudina. However, a hand disease later forced him to abandon this dream.^[1] His instruction in composition started in 1923 at the Leningrad Conservatory, where he was taught by, amongst others, Vladimir Shcherbachov.

He later became a teacher at the conservatory, and a professor in 1940. In 1951 he became the director of the faculty for orchestration and the faculty of composition in 1976. He received the honours "people's artist of the USSR" (1976) and Order of Lenin (1986).

Arapov oriented himself first of all towards the officially desirable composition style and worked primarily with nationalist elements, mainly restricting his subject matter to Russian folklore. However, from around 1960, his compositional style started to become more experimental, introducing a more complicated harmonic, rhythmic and sound colour. As subject matter, he more often selected works of literature. Although this later work is generally tonal, the levels of internal discord are higher than previously. In his very last works, Arapov introduced a religious subject matter.

Selected works

Orchestral

• Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1947)
• Symphony No. 2 in D major (1959)
• Symphony No. 3 (1963)
• Symphony No. 4 for voices, choir and orchestra (1975)
• Symphony No. 5 (1981)
• Symphony No. 6 for voices, choir and orchestra (1983)
• Symphony No. 7 (1991)
• Concerto for orchestra (1969)
• "Tajik Suite" (1938)
• "Russian Suite" (1951)
• Violin Concerto (1963/64)
• Concerto for violin, piano, percussion and chamber orchestra (1973)
• "The Revelation of St John" for cello, piano, percussion and string orchestra (1989)

Stage works and other vocal music

• "Hodja Nasreddin", comic opera (1944)
• "The frigate "Victory", opera with text by Alexander Pushkin (1959)
• "Rain", chamber opera from W. Somerset Maugham (1967)
• "The Picture of Dorian Gray", ballet from Oscar Wilde (1971)
• "Four Seasons", vocal cycle for soprano, tenor and nine instrumentals (1978)

Chamber music

• Trio with Mongolian themes, for clarinet, viola and piano (1938)
• Violin Sonata (1978)
• Cello Sonata (1985)
• Horn Sonata (1981)
• Sonata for solo violin (1930)
• Quintet for oboe, horn, harp, viola and cello (1979)

Piano music

• Piano Sonata No. 1 (1970)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 (1976)
• Piano Sonata No. 3 (1987)
• Piano Sonata No. 4 (1990)
• Piano Sonata No. 5 "De profundis" (1992)

References