After becoming a student at the Moscow Conservatory, Alexander Goldenweiser entered the class of the young teacher Alexander Ilyich Ziloti. A talented pianist, conductor, music editor, and concert organizer, Alexander Ziloti was undoubtedly an independent and outstanding personality in the history of music.
Ziloti was born into a noble family in 1863. His father, Ilya Matveyevich, was a famous public figure, and his mother, Yulia Arkadyevna, was the aunt of Sergei Rachmaninoff. The musician’s family spent most of their time at the Sofiyivka family estate in the Kharkov province. Nikolay Sergeyevich Zverev convinced Alexander’s parents to give their son a professional musical education and took Sasha to his boarding school for gifted children. In his senior years at the conservatory, Ziloti was transferred to the class of Nikolay Rubinstein and became his best student. Alexander Ziloti studied music theory with Pyotr Tchaikovsky, which led to their warm, friendly relationship.
Having noticed his student’s outstanding gift, Nikolay Rubinstein decided that, after graduating from the conservatory, Ziloti should be sent to Franz Liszt in Germany. Having listened to Ziloti playing the piano, the composer invited the young man to study with him. Liszt had a powerful influence on Ziloti not only in the art of music, but also in life.
After graduation, Alexander often gave concerts. During one of them, he met his future wife, Vera Pavlovna Tretyakova, the daughter of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, the founder of the famous gallery. The young people got married and lived a long happy life.
Having worked for only two years at the Moscow Conservatory as a piano professor, Alexander Ziloti managed to wield an enormous influence on his students. Then Alexander Ziloti went abroad and his concerts were a great success. Returning to the Russian Empire, Ziloti settled in St. Petersburg and began organizing educational concerts: he established public concerts for low-income audiences and students, and founded the Russian Music Fund, which helped poor musicians.
During the revolution of 1917, Ziloti was arrested for organizing a strike of musicians and ended up in the Kresty Prison. After his release, he left his homeland, lived in the USA, and continued to follow the musical life of his native country until the end of his life. During the war, he transferred his modest contribution to support the Soviet army through his cousin Sergei Rachmaninoff.
