Ivan Laskovsky

Ivan Fyodorovich Laskovsky (Russian: Иван Фёдорович Ласковский, (1799-10-13)13 October 1799 – (1855-12-12)12 December 1855) was a Russian pianist and composer of the Romantic era.

Ivan Fyodorovich Laskovsky
Иван Фёдорович Ласковский
Portrait of Ivan Laskovsky, author unknown.
Born	(1799-10-13)13 October 1799 Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	12 December 1855(1855-12-12) (aged 56) Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire
Occupation(s)	Pianist, composer

Biography

In the painting Slavic Composers by Ilya Repin, Ivan Laskovsky is depicted in military uniform, behind Dargomyzhsky, who is sitting on the chair in the middle of the painting.

Ivan Laskovsky was born on 13 October 1799 in Saint Petersburg. His father was a Russified Pole, while his mother was Russian. By the age of eight he could play fairly difficult pieces on the piano. He received his education at a private boarding school. Laskovsky served in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment from 1817 until 1832. After retiring he became an officer at the Ministry of War.^[1] He was a student of John Field and studied theory with Johann Konrad Friedrich Haberzettel, despite this, he did not receive complete music education.^[2] The pianist was regarded as one of the greatest of Saint Petersburg. He was close friends with Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Vladimir Odoyevsky, and Mikhail Vielgorsky.^[3] Ivan Laskovsky passed away on 12 December 1855 in the city.

Works

Laskovsky composed more than a hundred piano works, which 78 were published. His first works, which included ecossaises, mazurkas, and waltzes, were published in St. Petersburg around 1822–25. In 1832, Laskovsky, along with another composer (Nikolai Norov) published four pieces of his (a nocturne, a waltz, a scherzo, and a contradance), along with the music of Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Griboyedov, and Norov. The composer's main piano works were published in six volumes after his death under Mily Balakirev.^[4]

His complete works were also published in Petrograd. These pieces could be compared to the ones of Chopin and Field. Laskovsky also composed chamber music. A string quartet in G minor was published in 1947 under the Soviet Union; the other three remain in manuscript form only and are stored in the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory.^[1][5] He also wrote a trio, and a tarantella for orchestra, among other works.^[4]