Yuri Sakhnovsky

Yuri Sergeevich Sakhnovsky (Ю́рий Серге́евич Сахно́вский) (1866–1930) was a Russian composer, conductor and music critic.

Sakhnovsky came from a well-off family and was known as a "bon vivant (he weighed 260.lbs) handsome, brilliant and wealthy".

Sakhnovsky studied chant with Stepan Vasilevich Smolensky, to whom Sergei Rachmaninoff dedicated his Vespers, though Sakhnovsky later turned to a more "lush" style of choral writing. While a student Sakhnovsky took in his eight-year younger fellow student Rachmaninoff during the difficult winter when it seemed he was suffering from malaria.

In later life Sakhnovsky was active more as a critic than a composer. Particularly notorious were his attacks on Alexander Scriabin's music as "decadent" from 1911-1914.

His song "The Blacksmith" was recorded by Maxim Mikhailov and his song "The Clock" was recorded by Vladimir Rosing.

References and Sources

 * Strimple, Nick (2003). Choral Music in the Twentieth Century. Amadeus. ISBN 978-1-57467-074-5.
 * Strimple, Nick (2003). Choral Music in the Twentieth Century. Amadeus. ISBN 978-1-57467-074-5.