Isaac Schwartz

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Isaac Schwartz
Leningrad Conservatory
Occupationcomposer
Known forfilm music
AwardsNika Award (1992)

Isaac Iosifovich Schwartz (Russian: Исаак Иосифович Шварц; 13 May 1923 – 27 December 2009), also known as Isaak Shvarts, was a Soviet composer.[1]

Schwartz was born in

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
.

Schwartz's father was professor of

Leningrad State University: he was arrested in 1936 and executed two years later as part of the Great Purge.[2] Schwartz's family was exiled to Kyrgyzstan in 1937, and Schwartz gave private music lessons in Frunze (now Bishkek
) as well as occasionally accompanying the silent films at the cinema with live music.

During the

Union of Soviet Composers in 1955. Only years later did he discover that Shostakovich had paid for his education.[3] When Shostakovich was dismissed from the Conservatory, Schwartz was asked to denounce Shostakovich, but he refused.[4]

Schwartz's first major commission was the music for the film Our Correspondent in 1959. He went on to compose the music for more than 100 Soviet films, including

White King, Red Queen (Белый король, красная королева) and Luna Park (Луна-парк).[5]

Schwartz also composed music for ballets and theatrical performances and, to a lesser extent, for television. His one symphony, Gelbe Sterne – Purimspiel im Ghetto, composed in 1993, was first performed in Saint Petersburg in 2000: it was inspired by the story of the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania. The work was recorded on Capriccio with Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Spivakov in 2005 (currently available as a download only).

Schwartz died in

Russian Federation
, on 27 December 2009, aged 86.

Selected filmography

References

  1. .
  2. ^ a b "Isaac Schwartz, Soviet Composer, Dies at 86", New York Times, 30 December 2009.
  3. ^ a b Wilson, Elizabeth (1994). "Shostakovich: A Life Remembered." Faber and Faber, p. 220.
  4. ^ Wilson, Elizabeth (1994). "Shostakovich: A Life Remembered." Faber and Faber, p. 221.
  5. ^ ЛУЧШАЯ МУЗЫКА К ФИЛЬМУ, Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences, retrieved 2010-01-01[permanent dead link]. (in Russian)

External links