Anatoly Bogatyrev


Anatoly Vasilyevich Bogatyrev was a Belarusian composer and music teacher, seen as one of the leaders of the national school of Belarusian music.

Biography

Bogatyrev was born in Vitebsk, the son of a language teacher. He studied at the Vitebsk Music School, the Minsk School of Music, and the Conservatory of Belarus where he was taught composition by Vasily Zolotarev, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. He came to prominence while still in his twenties, being appointed chairman of the board of the Belarusian Union of Composers in 1938, and receiving the Stalin Prize in 1941. In 1948 he began teaching composition at the National Conservatory, Minsk, where he later became a deputy director. He joined the CPSU in 1954, and was made a People's Artist of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1968. Bogatyrev died on September 19, 2003 in Minsk.

Music

Bogatyrev's music is tonal with marked nationalist tendencies. His study of Belarusian folklore strongly influenced his music, not just in his folksong arrangements, but also in his choice sometimes to adopt modes and the rhythms of Belarusian folk music. He has been described as "one of the founders and leading representatives of the Belarusian school…Whether vocal or instrumental, his works are arresting for the richness of their melodies and for their polyphonic textures."

Selected works

Stage