BIOGRAPHY
Below is a list of published biographies labeled by date, language, and availability. Source links with dropdowns require right-click to be read in a new tab.
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- Possessed by Music: An Outline of the Life and Achievement of Alexander Glazunov by John Tail (2018, English, available on Amazon)
- Alexander Glazounov: His Life and Works by Donald Venturini (1991, English, out of print, check local music libraries)
- Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov: Life and Work by Maria Ganina (1961, Russian, check online libraries)
- Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov by Andrei Kryukov (1982, Russian, free PDF in database)
Glazunov: About the Life and Work of the Great Russian Musician by Oleg Kunitsyn (2008, Russian, free PDF in database)
This mammoth biography (over 700 pages!) merits a side note: it contains many fictionalized retellings of genuine events in Glazunov’s life, so while highly entertaining, exact quotes and details are not permissible as primary sources and should be fact-checked or taken with a grain of salt.
oTHER RESOURCES
Letters. Articles. Memoirs. Selected Works — Alexander Glazunov compiled by Maria Ganina (1958, Russian, check online databases)
Glazunov was in touch with the greatest Russian minds of his day, as apparent through his many, and often eccentric, letters. His essays also provide insight into his life, though there is hardly any autobiographical writing (a missed opportunity).
Letters From Glazunov: The Saxophone Concerto Years by Andre Sobchenko (1997, English, free)
Rare photos and letters from the 1930s regarding Glazunov’s experience with the saxophone instrument in France.
Reminiscences of Rimsky-Korsakov by Vasily Yastrebstev
While not entirely about Glazunov, he makes guest appearances dozens of times and the chronicler Yastrebstev does several “interviews” with Glazunov that have practically fallen off the musicology record.
Please Don’t Hate Me by Dmitri Tiomkin
Tiomkin was one of Glazunov’s composition students and has multiple extremely colorful stories about what it was like to be a student while he was director. Includes bizarre incidents involving Glazunov, Prokofiev, and Lourie!
Sergey Prokofiev Diaries 1907-1914 by Sergey Prokofiev (2006, English, limited library availability)
Includes excerpts of life as a student during Glazunov’s tenure as teacher and director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire. Many sharp impressions and anecdotes!