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Alexei Vladimirovich Stanchinsky (March 9, 1888— Oct. 6, 1914) was a Russian composer and pianist. From a young age Stanchinsky was a gifted musician, composing and performing his first works at the age of six years old. At the age of 16, he continued to develop his skills by taking lessons from music educators such as Josef Lhévinne and Konstantine Eiges for piano, and Nikolai Zhilyayev and Alexander Grechaninov for counterpoint, harmony, and composition. At the age of 19, Stanchinsky entered the Moscow Conservatory to continue his musical studies with Taneyev and Igumnov to assist his musical growth. Stanchinsky had always shown great promise as a musician even at a young age, but was often viewed as “unstable” and a victim of his own nerves. This became very prominent when his father passed away in 1908, as Alexei became quite delusional and suffered from this state for many years. After a brief hiatus from music, Stanchinsky returned to his roots by gathering folk tunes for a personal collection and eventually returned to the conservatory life-style by studying with his colleagues again. However, his life would never again be what it was. In October 1914, he was found dead next to a stream near Logachyovo after wandering the countryside. His death is still a mystery, as details were never found or revealed about his last days.

Biogragphy

Early Life

Alexei Stanchinsky was born on March 9, 1888 in Obolsunovo, Vladmir, Russia. At the age of six, it was apparent that Stanchinsky was an unusually talented musician as he was already performing piano works of the “masters”. After a few years, Stanchinsky and his parents moved to Logachyovo when he was 11, as a source of inspiration for his musical gift. Logachyovo was the village made famous by Mikhail Glinka, as he spent many years there gathering folk songs. Due to his health, Stanchinsky could not live in the city comfortably, so he often commuted to Moscow for studying purposes. Due to his illness and inability to travel at times, his lessons with Maitre Sergey Tanayev were often done by correspondence. This is one of the first recorded accounts of musical work being performed by correspondence rather than face to face. It was during the span from 1904-1907 that Stanchinsky would begin his ascent to the title of “Musical Genius” by not only continuing to grow, but being fully accepted into the Moscow Conservatory in 1907.

Later Years

While Stanchinsky was working at the Moscow Conservatory, he excelled in all facets of his studies, however after one major event all his work would come crashing down before him. In 1908 his father passed away, which was the ultimate derailment for Alexei. Not long after his father’s passing, Stanchinsky was diagnosed with the disease Dementia praecox, which offered him a wide variety of symptoms including hallucinations and fits of rage. He spent the majority of 1908 in a medical clinic where despite periods of “lucidity”, he was eventually described as incurable and discharged. After a time of being released from the clinic, Stanchinsky once again entered the Moscow Conservatory. It was during this time that it seemed that Stanchinsky was back to his normal self, as he was again composing, playing, and working with his colleagues once more. He spent the next few years further developing his skills and his own unique sound. During the years before his death he had moved on from traditional styles of composition and began to discover his own creative musical voice, rather than mimicking those of composers past. After much of his work was finished and he seemed to have returned to a sense of normalcy, he was asked by his teacher Tanayev to partake in a recital along with fellow composers of his time. This may seem trivial that he performed a recital, but from the information gathered, it was the only recital that Stanchinsky ever took part in. The recital’s primary purpose was to expose students to contemporary Russian Composers. His works were all well received, and it appeared for a moment that Stanchinsky had solidified himself as a member of music’s all- time greatest revolutionaries. However his revelation to the world was short lived, as a few months later he was found dead near a stream near Logachyovo, close to a family friend’s estate. He was only 26 years old when he passed, yet he certainly left an impact on the world of music. His final resting place was in Smolensk, Russia, well known as the birthplace of Mikhail Glinka .

List of Known Works

• Allegro, Op. 2 – Piano (1912)
• 4 Canons- Preludes- Piano (1913)
• Canon in B Minor- Piano (1908)
• Etude for Piano- (1907)
• Two Mazurkas- Piano (1905)
• Nocturne for Piano- (1907)
• Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor- (1905)
• Piano Sonata No. 1 in F- (1911-12)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in G- (1912)
• Piano Trio – (1907-10)
• Prelude and Fugue in G Minor for Piano- (1909)
• Prelude in Lydian Mode- Piano (1913)
• 3 Preludes for Piano- (1907-10)
• 5 Preludes for Piano- (1907-12)
• 3 Sketches for Piano- (1905-07)
• 12 Sketches, Op. 1- Piano (1911)
• Two Songs to Text by Robert Burns-(1907-10)
• Variations in A Minor for Piano- (1911)

There are other works that are credited yet were left unfinished or destroyed by Stanchinsky due to his brash nature in his composition lessons, and his later desire to create his own musical voice. Much of what has survived was credited to his colleagues and more importantly Zhilyayev and Tanayev for preventing the mass burning of his works during their lessons with Stanchinsky.

Inspirations

Alexei Stanchinsky is often reviewed as a revolutionary Russian Composer, but there are many aspects of his work that can be viewed as a sort of tribute to those musicians that he admired. His first Piano Sonata’s have a sort of texture that resembles the works of Skryabin and Grieg, and in many other works there is a simplicity to them gathered from folksongs that heavily resemble those of Mussorgsky. After his years at the conservatory he began to wander away from the composers of the past and push forward to new ideas that were still being hinted at by 19th century composers.

In his second Piano Sonata he began exploring asymmetrical time signatures such as 11/8, and he fully explores the tonality of his works, while relying on harmonic and melodic tension derived from the complete use of octatonic, whole-tone, as well as diatonic and modal collections. He reciprocated these concepts by featuring Russian folk songs as the melodies in his music, quite similar to the works of Stravinsky during the same time frame. Near his last years, his music had reached a peak of its own, combining what he had learned and creating music that was very polyphonic at its base form. It is acclaimed that Russian music had suffered a great blow following his death.

Untimely Death

There are many possibilities surrounding the death of the young Stanchinsky, and unfortunately there was no evidence provided after his death to offer any closure to the matter. Looking at his life, he was an often sickly child, often having to forego trips to Moscow and other major cities due to his health concerns. Later in life developed a hereditary type of Dementia, which was set on him very early, around the time that he was 21-22 years old. The inability of medicine to overcome his state may have played a huge part in his death, as he often would go through phases of good health and several relapses. During several of his relapses, he would often have fits of rage which resulted in the loss of large portions of his music, and possibly his death. Despite the possibility, it is only a speculation that he had taken his own life. The one thing that is for certain was that his death was by drowning outside of Logachyovo, Russia, and music was dealt a great blow after his loss.