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Nicolas Slonimsky (April 27 [O.S. April 15] 1894 – December 25, 1995), bornNikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy (Russian:Никола́й Леони́дович Слoнимский), was a Russian-born American musicologist, conductor, pianist, lexicographer, and composer. Best known for his writing and musical reference work, he wrote theThesaurus ofScales andMelodic Patterns and theLexicon of Musical Invective, and editedBaker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians.
Slonimsky was born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy inSaint Petersburg. He was ofJewish origin; his grandfather was RabbiChaim Zelig Slonimsky. His parents adopted the Orthodox faith after the birth of his older brother, and Nicolas was baptized in theRussian Orthodox Church.[1] His maternal aunt,Isabelle Vengerova, later a founder of Philadelphia'sCurtis Institute of Music, was his first piano teacher.
He grew up in theintelligentsia. After theRussian Revolution of 1917, he moved south, first toKiev, then toConstantinople, and ultimately to Paris, where many other Russian musicians and his sisterYulia Slonimskaya Sazonova[2] had already fled. He worked as accompanist to conductorSerge Koussevitzky, and he toured Europe in 1921–22 as accompanist to tenorVladimir Rosing. In 1923, Rosing became director of opera at theEastman School of Music inRochester, New York, and he invited Slonimsky to join him.
Slonimsky's younger brother,Mikhail, remained in Russia and became an author. His nephew,Sergei Slonimsky, became a composer.[citation needed]
In Rochester, Slonimsky continued his composition and conducting studies, withAlbert Coates andEugene Goossens, and accompanied Rosing at many vocal recitals, including a performance atCarnegie Hall in October 1924. After two years, he moved to Boston, where Koussevitzky had become conductor of theBoston Symphony Orchestra, and resumed his position as his pianist and now bilingual secretary. During this time, Slonimsky taught music theory at theBoston Conservatory and the Malkin Conservatory, and began to write music articles forTheBoston Evening Transcript,The Christian Science Monitor and the magazineThe Etude.[3]
Slonimsky began writing songs and other incidental pieces, and performed as a piano soloist and vocal accompanist. In 1927, he formed the Boston Chamber Orchestra, for which he solicited music from contemporary composers. Slonimsky was a great champion of contemporary music,[3] and through his interest in performing it metHenry Cowell andCharles Ives. He conducted the world premieres of Ives'Three Places in New England in 1931 (in New York'sTown Hall),Edgard Varèse'sIonisation for thirteen percussionists in 1933, and various other works.
In 1931, Slonimsky marriedDorothy Adlow, art critic ofThe Christian Science Monitor. She was active as a critic and lectured extensively around the U.S., serving on panels and art juries. They married in Paris, with Varèse asbest man. Their daughter, Electra, later edited his letters and collected works.[a]
In 1932, Slonimsky conducted a series of concerts in Havana highlighting Ives, Ruggles, Cowell,Amadeo Roldán andAlejandro García Caturla. He then traveled to Paris, Berlin and Budapest to conduct further concerts. He mentioned at the time he found conducting to be "the nearest approximation to music in motion". Thanks to the popularity of these tours, he was invited to conduct five concerts in theHollywood Bowl in the summer of 1933. These were controversial and received mixed critical reviews.
Throughout his life, Slonimsky wrote extensively for periodicals and newspapers, produced program and liner notes, and contributed to numerous reference works. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" (fromGreek διασκευαστής), a "reviser or interpolator". When his conducting career slowed, he spent more time writing about music. He produced the chronologyMusic Since 1900, and later after travelling in Latin America, produced the first thorough coverage in English,Music of Latin America. In 1947 he published theThesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, which would later become one of his most influential works as a sourcebook for composers and performers. The book influenced many jazz musicians and composers, includingAllan Holdsworth,John Coltrane,Frank Zappa,Paul Grabowsky, andSteve Rochinski, and remained in print 60 years later, but was largely ignored for years after its publication.Quincy Jones said in a February 2018 interview: "Every time I used to see Coltrane he'd have Nicolas Slonimsky's book."[4]
Two books for children followed,The Road to Music andA Thing or Two About Music, with jokes, anecdotes and puzzles. Then in 1953, Slonimsky brought out theLexicon of Musical Invective ("Critical Assaults on Composers since Beethoven's Time"), a collection of hilariously scathing, insulting, vituperative, and enraged contemporary critiques of musical greats in their time. In 1958, he became editor ofBaker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, developing a reputation for factual accuracy,[3] and remained its head editor until 1992.
In 1964 Slonimsky's wife died and he moved to Los Angeles. He taught at UCLA for three years, and lectured and spoke about music, introducing himself to classes by spelling out his name: "Slonimsky. S–L–O as in 'slow', N–I–M as in 'nimble', S–K–Y as in 'sky'." He possessed a sly sense of humor, and was a regular guest on radio and television programs, includingJohnny Carson'sTonight Show. New York public television stationWNET filmed an interview with him for the "Aging" segment of thePBS seriesThe Mind.[5]
He became a friend ofavant-garde composer and rock guitaristFrank Zappa, and performed some of his own compositions at a Zappa concert inSanta Monica, California, in 1981. He named his cat Grody-to-the-Max after learning the phrase from Zappa's daughterMoon Zappa.[1][3]
Slonimsky wrote theLectionary of Music as a "reading dictionary," as he called it. Then in 1988, he published his autobiography,Perfect Pitch, filled with anecdotes about musical figures of the 20th century, including his mentors and colleagues.
For his 98th birthday, he visited Saint Petersburg to participate in a music festival. A documentary of his life including video of this visit,A Touch of Genius, was broadcast by Film America on his 100th birthday.[6] He died in Los Angeles in 1995 at the age of 101.[3] His papers are archived in theLibrary of Congress.[7]
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