Editing Nikolai Rubinstein

{{Short description|Russian pianist, conductor and composer (1835–1881)}}
{{Distinguish|Nicolai Rubinstein|Nikolai Rubinshtein}}{{Infobox person
| name               = Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinstein
| image              = Nikolai Rubinstein 1872.jpg
| caption            = Nikolai Rubinstein in 1872
| native_name        = Николай Григорьевич Рубинштейн
| native_name_lang   = ru
| birth_date         = 14 June [O.S. 2 June] 1835
| birth_place        = [[Moscow]]
| death_date         = 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1881 (aged 45)
| death_place        = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| resting_place      = [[Novodevichy Cemetery]]
| occupation         = Pianist, conductor, composer
| known_for          = Founder of the [[Moscow Conservatory]] (1859)
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
'''Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinstein''' ({{langx|ru|Николай Григорьевич Рубинштейн}}; {{OldStyleDate|14 June|1835|2 June}} &ndash; {{OldStyleDate|23 March|1881|11 March}}) was a Russian [[pianist]], conductor, and [[composer]]. He was the younger brother of [[Anton Rubinstein]] and a close friend of [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]].

==Life==
Born to [[Russian Jews|Jewish]] parents in [[Moscow]], where his father had just opened a small factory, Rubinstein showed talent at the keyboard early on. He studied piano first with his mother, and while the family was in [[Berlin]] between 1844 and 1846, he studied piano with [[Theodor Kullak]] and [[harmony]] and [[counterpoint]] with Siegfried Dehn; during this time both he and his brother [[Anton Rubinstein|Anton]] attracted the interest and support of [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]] and [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]].  When the family returned to Moscow, Nikolai studied with [[Alexander Villoing]], who also toured with him. He studied medicine to avoid army conscription, graduating from [[Moscow University]] in 1855.<ref name="garden21850"/>
 
[[File:Rubinstein N & A Postcard-1910.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Brothers Rubinstein: Nikolai (''left'') and [[Anton Rubinstein|Anton]], 1862]]
As a result of his playing, Rubinstein was welcomed in all the fashionable artistocratic houses in Moscow. He co-founded the Moscow branch of the [[Russian Musical Society]] in 1859 and the [[Moscow Conservatory]] in 1866 with [[Nikolai Petrovitch Troubetzkoy|Prince Nikolai Petrovitch Troubetzkoy]], serving as director of the latter until his death in 1881. He hired [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], then newly graduated from the [[Saint Petersburg Conservatory]], to teach harmony at Moscow Conservatory. He actively encouraged Tchaikovsky's creative efforts and performed his compositions. Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky had a well-known falling-out over the latter's [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)|First Piano Concerto]], but Rubinstein later revised his position and became an ardent champion of the work. Rubinstein conducted the premiere of Tchaikovsky's opera ''[[Eugene Onegin (opera)|Eugene Onegin]]'' in 1879.  Tchaikovsky wrote his [[Piano Trio (Tchaikovsky)|Piano Trio in A minor]] in Rubinstein's memory after he died from [[tuberculosis]]<ref>[http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Nikolay_Rubinstein Nikolay Rubinstein]. Tchaikovsky Research</ref> in [[Paris]].<ref name="garden21850"/>

Rubinstein also conducted and performed music of the nationalistic music group "[[The Five (composers)|The Five]]" to a much greater degree than his brother. In 1869, when the group's leader, [[Mily Balakirev]], was forced to resign as conductor of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Musical Society, Rubinstein gave Balakirev his support,<ref name="garden21850"/> playing at concerts of the Free Music School as Balakirev's guest.<ref>Maes, 45.</ref> He also gave the first performance of Balakirev's piano work ''[[Islamey: an Oriental Fantasy|Islamey]]'', the work for which he is best known today.<ref name="garden21850"/>

==Pianism==
Nikolai Rubinstein was generally regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his time, although now his reputation is overshadowed by that of his brother Anton. His pianistic style was quite at odds with that of his fiery brother. He instead opted for a restrained classicism more in line with the musical values of [[Clara Schumann]] than [[Franz Liszt]]. [[Edward Garden]] writes in the ''New Grove'' (2001), "His performances emphasized salient details of the structure of a piece and revealed great clarity of detail."<ref name="garden21850">Garden, ''New Grove (2001)'', 21:850.</ref>

According to [[Harold C. Schonberg]], Anton Rubinstein is reported to have said that "if Nikolai had really worked on it, he could have been the better pianist of the two."<ref name="schonberg279">Schonberg, 279.</ref> One of Nikolai's pupils, [[Emil von Sauer]], wrote a comparison of the two brothers' playing styles in 1895:

<blockquote>It is difficult to say which was the better pianist. In every way as different as the brothers were in personal appearance—the one dark, almost to blackness; the other very fair — so different was their playing. The playing of Nicholas was more like that of [[Carl Tausig|Tausig]], only warmer and more impulsive. Perhaps Anton Rubinstein was the more inspired player of the two, but he was unequal. Nicholas never varied; his playing both in private and in public was always the same, and he kept up the same standard of excellence.<ref>As quoted in Schonberg, 279.</ref></blockquote>

==Students==
Nikolai Rubinstein's best-known piano students were [[Sergei Taneyev]], [[Emil von Sauer]] and [[Alexander Siloti]].<ref name="garden21850"/> Sauer and Siloti went on to study under [[Franz Liszt]].<ref>Schonberg, 317, 323—324.</ref> His other notable pupils included [[Ina Lange]], [[Ernst Jedliczka]] and [[Henryk Pachulski]].

==As a composer==
[[File:Ngrubinstein grave.JPG|thumb|right|upright|Grave of Nikolai Rubinstein in [[Novodevichy Cemetery]], Moscow.]]
Rubinstein was also a composer of some note, though Garden dismisses his music as "unimportant.<ref name="garden21850"/> Among his most popular works is his ''[[Tarantella]]'' in G minor and his [[Fantasia (music)|Fantasia]] on a Theme by [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]], both for piano solo. When asked why he did not compose more than he did, he replied that his brother Anton "composed enough for three."<ref>As quoted in Garden, ''New Grove (2001)'', 21:850.</ref>

==Worklist (incomplete)==
* Op. 11 - Two mazurkas
* Op. 13 - Bolero
* Op. 14 - Tarentelle in G minor (pub. 1861 for solo piano; pub. 1877 for piano duet; also arranged for 2 pianos)
* Op. 15 - Polka for piano in E-flat major
* Op. 16 - Valse in A-flat major (later arranged for 2 pianos)
* Op. 17 - Scene de Bal (later arranged for 2 pianos)
* WoO - Two Feuilles d'Album

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Garden, Edward, ed. Stanley Sadie, ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition'' (London: Macmilian, 2001), 29 vols. {{ISBN|0-333-60800-3}}.
* Maes, Francis, tr. [[Arnold J. Pomerans]] and Erica Pomerans, ''A History of Russian Music: From ''Kamarinskaya ''to'' Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002). {{ISBN|0-520-21815-9}}.
* Schonberg, Harold C., ''The Great Pianists'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987, 1963). {{ISBN|0-671-64200-6}}.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071129202113/http://www.sonoraproductions.com/s022584.html Note regarding dedication] of Tchaikovsky's 1st Symphony to Rubinstein
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050215053602/http://www.laphil.org/resources/piece_detail.cfm?id=1226 L.A Philharmonic] reference to Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky's String quartet No. 1
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050404023448/http://www.mosconsv.ru/foreign/foreign.html Article] about Rubinstein's role in founding The Moscow State Conservatory

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Rubinstein, Nikolai Grigoryevich}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinstein, Nikolai}}
[[Category:1835 births]]
[[Category:1881 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century classical composers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century Russian classical pianists]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:19th-century male musicians from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Judaism]]
[[Category:Founders of Russian educational institutions]]
[[Category:Jewish classical composers]]
[[Category:Jewish classical pianists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Moscow]]
[[Category:Piano educators]]
[[Category:Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]
[[Category:Russian male classical pianists]]
[[Category:Russian Jews]]
[[Category:Russian male classical composers]]
[[Category:Composers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Pianists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Music educators from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian Romantic composers]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in the Russian Empire]]