Lev Petrovich Steinberg (Steinberg, Leo) |

Steinberg, Lev

People’s Artist of the USSR (1937). In 1937, a group of outstanding creative workers was awarded the honorary title of People’s Artist of the USSR. Thus, the special merits of the masters of the older generation to the young art of the country of victorious socialism were noted. Among them is Lev Petrovich Steinberg, who began his artistic career in the last century.

He received his musical education at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, studying with prominent masters – von Ark, and then with A. Rubinstein in piano, Rimsky-Korsakov and Lyadov in composition.

Graduation from the conservatory (1892) coincided with his debut as a conductor, which took place during the summer season in Druskeniki. Soon after that, the theatrical career of the conductor began – under his direction, Dargomyzhsky’s opera “Mermaid” was held at the Kokonov Theater in St. Petersburg. Then Steinberg worked in many opera houses in the country. In 1914, at the invitation of S. Diaghilev, he performed in England and France. In London, under his direction, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “May Night” was shown for the first time, as well as Borodin’s “Prince Igor” with the participation of F. Chaliapin.

In the first years after the Great October Socialist Revolution, Steinberg worked fruitfully in Ukraine. He took an active part in the organization of musical theaters and philharmonics in Kyiv, Kharkov, Odessa. From 1928 until the end of his life, Steinberg was the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, artistic director and chief conductor of the CDKA Symphony Orchestra. Twenty-two operas were staged at the Bolshoi Theater under his direction. The basis of the conductor’s repertoire, both on the opera stage and on the concert stage, was the works of Russian classics, and primarily members of the “Mighty Handful” – Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin.

L. Grigoriev, J. Platek