Edison Denisov

Edison Vasilievich Denisov (Russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов, April 6, 1929 – November 24, 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called "Underground"—"Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music.

Denisov was born in Tomsk, Siberia into the family of a radio physicist, who gave him the very unusual first name Edison, in honour of the great American inventor. He studied mathematics before deciding to spend his life composing. This decision was enthusiastically supported by Dmitri Shostakovich, who gave him lessons in composition.

In 1951–56 Denisov studied at the Moscow Conservatory—composition with Vissarion Shebalin, orchestration with Nikolai Rakov, analysis with Viktor Zuckerman and piano with Vladimir Belov. In 1956–59 he composed the opera Ivan-Soldat (Soldier Ivan) in three acts based on Russian folk fairy tales.

He began his own study of scores that were difficult to obtain in the USSR at that time, including music ranging from Mahler and Debussy to Boulez and . He wrote a series of articles giving a detailed analysis of different aspects of contemporary compositional techniques and at same time actively experimented as a composer, trying to find his own way.

After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, he taught orchestration and later composition there. His pupils include composers Dmitri Smirnov, Elena Firsova, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Sergei Pavlenko, Ivan Sokolov, Yuri Kasparov, Dmitri Kapyrin, and Alexander Shchetinsky. See: List of music students by teacher: C to F#Edison Denisov.

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