NIKOLAI
(b. St. Petersburg, Russia, 15 May 1873; d. Paris, France, 26 June 1945)

"One of my fondest childhood memories is of playing the piano with my father. He would designate some notes or short patterns for me to perform in the treble while he improvised an accompaniment. In playing my indicated notes and adjusting my dynamics to those of his accompaniment I felt as though I was contributing to a real musical performance." - Alexander Tcherepnin

Nikolai tcherepnin, composer, conductor, pianist and educator, was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Appointed to the faculty in 1906, he also directed the Mariinsky theater and the Imperial Opera of St. Persburg. In 1909, he was engaged by Diaghilev to conduct the celebrated first season of hte Ballets Russes in Paris. His own ballets Le pavillon d'Armide and Narcisse et Echo, later performed by the Ballets Russe, were notably successful. In 1918, he becamse director of hte National Conservatory of Tbilisi, Georgia.

Trying for three years to escape the ongoing revolution in Russia, Nikolai finally moved with his wife and son, Alexander to Paris in 1921. Here, the prima donna Anna Pavlova commissioned ballets from him and he also became director of hte Russian Conservatory in Paris. Esquisse op.45, no.7a was most likely composed during these early years in Paris. The French capital remained his home for the rest of his life, althrough he made many conducting tours throughout the world. In 1932 he guest conducted the Boston Symphony orchestra in a program of his own compositions.

The fairy-fantasy world of Rimsky-Korsakov dominates Nikolai's early symphonic works, while compositions written after his encounter with modern French music contain elements of impressionism. Towards the end of his life, Nikolai wrote more and more church music, often based ont he modes of Russian liturgical chant.