Mitrofan Petrovich Beliaev

Born Feb. 10 (22), 1836, in St. Petersburg; died there Dec. 22, 1903 (Jan. 4, 1904). Russian music figure and music publisher.

A wealthy timber merchant, Beliaev became an active propagandist of Russian music. He established the Glinka Prize in 1884 and organized competitions with prizes for the best chamber music compositions beginning in 1892. In 1885 he organized the public Russian symphonic concerts and in 1891 set up the Russian quartet evenings. In 1898, Beliaev became chairman of the Society of Chamber Music. In 1885 he founded the M. P. Beliaev-in-Leipzig Music Publishing House, which published exclusively the compositions of Russian composers. During the 1880’s and 1890’s, a group of musicians belonging to the new Russian school gathered around Beliaev.