Orlova, Alexandra 1911–

(Aleksandra Orlova, Aleksandra Anatol'evna Orlova, Alexandra Anatol'evna Orlova)

PERSONAL: Born February 22, 1911, in Ekaterinoslav, Russia (now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine); immigrated to the United States, 1978; naturalized U.S. citizen, 1984; daughter of Anatoly (an art scholar) and Sara (a teacher; maiden name, Guber-Grits) Shneerson; married Georgy Pavlovich Orlov (a musicologist), 1935 (died, 1940); married Mikhail Aleksandrovich Glukh (a composer), 1948 (died, 1973); children: Alexei, Mikhail. Ethnicity: "Russian." Education: Attended Institute of Art History, 1927–29, and Leningrad University, 1933. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—97 VanWagenen Ave., Apt. 1D, Jersey City, NJ 07306-5378.

CAREER: Leningrad Conservatoire, Leningrad, U.S. S.R. (now Russia), bibliographer, 1933–35; Leningrad Philharmonic, Leningrad, library bibliographer, 1935–37, library director, 1941–44; Tchaikovsky Museum, Klin, U.S.S.R., scientific worker, 1938–39; Leningrad Scientific Research Institute, Leningrad, scientific worker, 1945–50; writer, 1950–.

WRITINGS:

M.I. Glinka: Letopis' zhizni b tvorchestva, Gos. Muzykal'noc izd-vo (Moscow, U.S.S.R.), 1952, 2nd edition published in two volumes as M.I. Glinka: Literaturnoe nasledie, and M.I. Glinka: Zapiski, Commentaryee, [Leningrad, U.S.S.R.] 1952 revised edition, translated by Richard Hoops, published as Glinka's Life in Music: A Chronicle, UMI Research Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1978.

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka: kalendar'k stopi a tidesi a tiletii v so dnia a rozhdeniia, [Leningrad, U.S.S.R.], 1954.

Petr Il'ich Tchaikovskii, 1840–1893 (juvenile), [Lenin-grad, U.S.S.R.], 1955.

Glinka v vospominani á kh sovremennikov, Gos. Muzykal'noc izd-vo (Moscow, U.S.S.R.), 1955.

Trudy i dni M.P. Musorgskogo: letopis' zhzni i tvorchestva, Gos. Muzykal'noc izd-vo (Moscow, U.S.S.R.) 1963, translation by Roy J. Guenther published as Musorgsky's Days and Works: A Biography in Documents, UMI Research Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1983.

(With V.N. Rimskii-Korsakov) Stranitsy zhizni N.A. Rimskogo-Korsakova, four volumes, Muzyka (Leningrad, U.S.S.R.) 1969–73.

Glinka v Peterburge, Lenizdat (Leningrad, U.S.S.R.), 1970.

(Editor, with M.S. Pekelis) Literaturnoe nasledie M.P. Musorgskogo, two volumes, Muzyka (Moscow, U.S.S.R.) 1971–72.

Musorgskii v Peterburge, Lenizdat (Leningrad, U.S.S. R.), 1974.

(Editor) P.I. Tchaikovskii, O muzyke, o zhimi, o sebe, Muzyka (Leningrad, U.S.S.R.), 1976, translation by R.M. Davison published as Tchaikovsky: A Self-Portrait, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1990.

(Editor) Musorgsky Remembered, translated by Veronique Zaytzeff and Frederick Morrison, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1991.

Also coauthor of a work, the translated title of which is Tchaikovsky's Days and Years, (Moscow, U.S.S.R.), 1940. Contributor to anthologies, including Symphony Orchestras of the World: Selected Profiles, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1987. Contributor of articles to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS: Alexandra Orlova once told CA: "I am a music historian and documenter. Chronicles are the principal genre of my works. As far as I know, I am one of the very first to have started work on music chronicles more than sixty years ago.

"I write my books and articles to have them read—and understood—not only by scholars and students of music, but by the general reader as well."

She added: "My primary motivation for writing is love for music."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, February, 1992, W.E. Grim, review of Musorgsky Remembered, p. 906.

Library Journal, July, 1991, Susan Kagan, review of Musorgsky Remembered, p. 99.

Music and Letters, November, 1991, Edward Garden, review of Tchaikovsky: A Self-Portrait, p. 618; May, 1993, Edward Garden, review of Musorgsky Remembered, p. 310.

Music Educators Journal, September, 1993, review of Musorgsky Remembered, p. 11.

Musical Quarterly, summer, 1991, Eric Roseberry, review of Glinka's Life in Music: A Chronicle, p. 211.

Notes, March, 1993, Gerald R. Seaman, review of Tchaikovsky, p. 1013.

Opera Quarterly, winter, 1984–85; autumn, 1990, Harlow Robinson, review of Glinka's Life in Music, p. 133.

Publishers Weekly, July 25, 1991, review of Musorgsky Remembered, p. 44.

Slavic Review, spring, 1985; summer, 1990, Carol Bailey Hughes, review of Glinka's Life in Music, p. 315; fall, 1992, Caryl Emerson, review of Musorgsky Remembered, p. 544.

Slavonic and East European Review, October, 1984; July, 1992, Simon Karlinsky, review of Tchaikovsky, p. 541.

Times Literary Supplement, November 3, 1989, John Warrack, review of Glinka's Life in Music, p. 1215; November 9, 1990, John Warrack, review of Tchaikovsky, p. 1210.