Moisei Vainberg

Born Dec. 8, 1919, in Warsaw. Soviet composer. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR.

Vainberg was born into the family of a musician. In 1939 he graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory, where he studied piano with J. Turczynski, and in 1941 from the Byelorussian State Conservatory, where he studied composition with V. A. Zolotarev. He has been living in Moscow since 1943.

The characteristic features of Vainberg’s style are fresh harmonic writing, brilliant imagery, and dance rhythms. He often uses Polish, Jewish, Moldavian, and Armenian folk songs (Moldavian Rhapsody, 1949; Polish Melodies, 1950; about 100 art songs to the words of J. Tuwim, I. Perets, O. Tumanian, and other poets; and the Sixth Symphony, 1963). The exposure of the inhuman nature of fascism, which is a major tragic and dramatic theme of his work, is combined with an expression of the joyful power of life and poetic love (the Eighth Symphony, called The Flowers of Poland, 1964: the cantata Diary of Love, written in 1965 and dedicated to the memory of the children who perished at Oswiçcim). Vainberg has composed 11 symphonies, 12 string quartets, 19 sonatas for various instruments, music for the theater and motion pictures, and other works.