Yuri Sakhnovsky

Yuri Sergeevich Sakhnovsky
Юрий Сергеевич Сахновский
Born(1866-09-25)September 25, 1866
Gorodishchi, Russian Empire (present-day Sverdlovsky, Russia)
DiedApril 2, 1930(1930-04-02) (aged 63)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (present-day Russia)
Occupation(s)Composer, conductor, music critic

Yuri Sergeevich Sakhnovsky (September 25, 1866  April 2, 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.