Tatiana Nikolayeva

For the Soviet politician, see Tatyana Nikolayeva (politician).

Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva (Russian: Татьяна Петровна Николаева, romanized: Tatyana Petrovna Nikolaeva; May 4, 1924 – November 22, 1993) was a Soviet and Russian pianist, composer, and teacher.

Tatyana Petrovna Nikolayeva in 1956

Life

Nikolayeva was born in Bezhitsa,^[1] in the Bryansk district, on May 4, 1924.^[2] Her mother was a professional pianist and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under the renowned pedagogue Alexander Goldenweiser, and her father was an amateur violinist and cellist.^[2] Nikolayeva won first prize in the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig, which was founded to mark the bicentenary of Bach's death in 1750. Dmitri Shostakovich, who was a member of the jury, composed and dedicated the 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, to her: it remained an important part of her piano repertoire.^[2]

She sat as a jury member on international competitions such as the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition,^[3] the International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Leeds Piano Competition.^[2] She recorded her own transcription of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.^[4] Nikolayeva was the teacher of Nikolai Lugansky.^[5] Among her other students were András Schiff, whom she taught in summer courses at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar,^[6] and Michael Korstick, whom she taught during her master classes at Musikhochschule Cologne, Germany.

She died on November 22, 1993, in San Francisco, nine days after succumbing to a brain haemorrhage during a performance of one of the Op. 87 fugues at the Herbst Theatre.^[2][7]

As James Campbell-Methuen commented in her obituary, "Aside from the Shostakovich, though, Tatiana Nikolayeva will be remembered as a Bach player who flung stylistic considerations to the winds and played the music with an irrepressible musical intelligence and knowledge of the resources of her chosen instrument."^[2]

Partial repertoire

• Preludes, Op. 34 (Shostakovich)^[8]
• 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (Shostakovich)^[9]
• Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 (Shostakovich)

Compositions

• Violin Concerto (1972)^[10]
• Symphony (1955; rev. 1958)^{[citation needed]}
• 24 Concert Études, Op. 13, in all major and minor keys (1951–53)^[11]
• Piano Quintet (1947)^{[citation needed]}