Meitus, Yuli (Sergeievich)

Meitus, Yuli (Sergeievich), Ukrainian composer; b. Elizavetgrad, Jan. 28, 1903; d. there (Korovo-grad), April 2, 1997. He received training in piano at the C.V. Neyghauza School in Elizavetgrad (graduated, 1919), and then studied in Kharkov at the Inst. of Music and Drama (graduated, 1931). For the most part, Meitus adhered to the tenets of Soviet realism in his extensive output. Among his dramatic works were the operas Perekhop (1938; Kiev, Jan. 20, 1939), Gaydamaki (1941; Ashkhabad, Oct. 15, 1943), Leily and Medznun (Ashkhabad, Nov. 2, 1946), The Young Guard (Kiev, Nov. 7, 1947), The Sunrise Above the Dvina (Kiev, July 5, 1955), The Stolen Happiness (1959; Lvov, Sept. 10, 1960), Mukh-turnkuly (Ashkhabad, Dec. 29, 1962), The Daughter of the Wind (1964; Odessa, Oct. 24, 1965), Ulyanov’s Brothers (1966; Ufa, Nov. 25, 1967), Anna Korenina (1970), Yaroslau the Wise (1972; Donetsk, March 3, 1973), Rikkard Zorge (1975), Marianna Pindea (1978), Ivan Grozny (1983), and Antony and Cleopatra (1997). He also wrote music for the theater and films, 5 orch. suites (1927, 1929, 1939, 1942, 1944), the symphonic poem On the Way to Glory (1945), the Turkman Symphony (1946), an overture (1954), chamber music, choral pieces, and some 400 romances and ballads. In 1973 he was named a National Artist of the Ukraine, and in 1991 he was awarded its T.G. Shevchenko state gratuity

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire