Kazynski, Wiktor
Kazynski, Wiktor
Kazynski, Wiktor, Polish pianist, conductor, and composer; b. Vilnius, Dec. 30, 1812; d. St. Petersburg, March 18, 1867. He studied law at the Univ. of Vilnius, but was mostly self-taught in music. From 1836 to 1840 he was organist at Vilnius’s Cathedral of St. John. He then went to Warsaw, where he took lessons with Chopin’s teacher Eisner. In 1842 he settled in St. Petersburg, where he conducted the orch. of the Alexandrin-sky Theater (1845–67). He was one of the first pianists to champion Chopin’s works. His own compositions are of little importance, but they are of historical interest as early examples of Polish Romanticism. Among them are a melodrama to a Polish libretto, Zyd wieczny tulacz (The Wandering Jew; Vilnius, 1842), and a melodrama to a French libretto, Mqz i zona (Man and Wife; St. Petersburg, 1848), as well as 7 other works in that genre. He also wrote 3 comic operas, including Antoni i Antosia (Vilnius, 1840), 4 operettas, 4 ballets, orch. music, and songs. He publ. History of Italian Opera (St. Petersburg, 1851; in Polish and in a Russian tr.).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire