Editing Nikolai Myaskovsky (section)

== Early works ==
Prokofiev and Myaskovsky worked together at the conservatory on at least one work, a lost symphony, parts of which were later scavenged to provide material for the slow movement of Prokofiev's [[Piano Sonata No. 4 (Prokofiev)|Piano Sonata No. 4]]. They both later produced works using materials from this period—in Prokofiev's case the Third and Fourth piano sonatas; in Myaskovsky's other works, such as his Tenth String Quartet and what are now the Fifth and Sixth Piano Sonatas, all revisions of works he wrote at this time.

Early influences on Myaskovsky's emerging personal style were Tchaikovsky, strongly echoed in the [[Symphony No. 1 (Myaskovsky)|first]] of his surviving symphonies (in C minor, Op. 3, 1908/1921), which was his Conservatory graduation piece, and [[Alexander Scriabin]], whose influence comes more to the fore in Myaskovsky's [[Piano Sonata No. 1 (Myaskovsky)|First Piano Sonata]] in D minor, Op. 6 (1907–10), described by [[Glenn Gould]] as "perhaps one of the most remarkable pieces of its time",<ref>Glenn Gould, 'Music in the Soviet Union', in ''A Glenn Gould Reader'' edited by Tim Page (London: Faber & Faber, 1987), p. 179.</ref> and his [[Symphony No. 3 (Myaskovsky)|Symphony No. 3]] in A minor, Op. 15 of 1914, a turbulent and lugubrious work in two large movements.

Myaskovsky graduated in 1911 and afterwards taught in Saint Petersburg, where he also developed a supplementary career as a penetrating musical critic, writing for the Moscow publication, "Muzyka."<ref>{{Cite web |title=История еженедельника «Музыка» 1910–1916 гг.: документы и личности |url=https://vestnik.journ.msu.ru/eng/books/2023/3/istoriya-ezhenedelnika-muzyka-1910-1916-gg-dokumenty-i-lichnosti/ |access-date=1 November 2023 |website=vestnik.journ.msu.ru}}</ref> He was one of the most intelligent and supportive advocates in Russia for the music of [[Igor Stravinsky]],<ref>See [[Richard Taruskin]], ''Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions'', pp. 229, 644, 762 and elsewhere.</ref> though the story that Stravinsky dedicated ''[[The Rite of Spring]]'' to Myaskovsky is untrue.<ref>Taruskin, pp. 1018–1019.</ref>

Called up during [[World War I]], he was wounded and suffered [[shell-shock]] on the [[Austria]]n front, then worked on the naval fortifications at [[Tallinn]]. During this period he produced two diametrically opposed works, his [[Symphony No. 4 (Myaskovsky)|Symphony No. 4]] (Op. 17, in E minor) and his [[Symphony No. 5 (Myaskovsky)|Symphony No. 5]] (Op. 18, in D major). The next few years saw the violent death of his father, an ex-Tsarist general who was murdered by Red Army soldiers while waiting for a train in the winter of 1918–19,<ref>Andrew Stewart, notes to Cello Classics CC1012, p. 4.</ref> and the death of his aunt, to whom he was closely attached, in the winter of 1919–20. His brother-in-law, the husband of his sister Valentina Yakovlevna, had committed suicide before the War because of financial troubles.<ref name=Prok37>Sergei Prokofiev, ''Soviet Diary 1927 and Other Writings'' translated and edited by Oleg Prokofiev (London: Faber & Faber, 1991, {{ISBN|0-571-16158-8}}), p.  37.</ref> Myaskovsky himself served in the Red Army from 1917 to 1921; in the latter year he was appointed to the teaching staff of the [[Moscow Conservatory]] and membership of the Composers' Union. Thereafter he lived in Moscow, sharing an apartment with his widowed sister Valentina and her daughter. (He also had a married sister, Vera.)<ref name=Prok37/>