Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

Mitrofan Beliaev (1836–1904)

Mitrofan Beliaev

Russian music publisher and impresario (born 10/22 September 1836 in Saint Petersburg; d. 28 December 1903/10 January 1904 in Saint Petersburg), born Mitrofan Petrovich Beliaev (Митрофан Петрович Беляев, Mitrofan Petrovič Beljaev, Mitrofan Petrovich Belyayev).

The son of Petr Abramovich Beliaev, a wealthy timber merchant, he was educated at the German-speaking Reform School in Saint Petersburg until the age of 15, where he learnt the piano, violin and viola. Although he joined his father's timber business, he retained his musical interests, and was an active participant in amateur symphony concerts, eventually launching his own series of "Russian Symphony Concerts" and "Russian Quartet Evenings" in the capital. Tchaikovsky conducted his own works at a number of Russian Symphony Concerts during the late 1880s and early 1890s.

In 1885 Beliaev established a music publishing house ("M. P. Beliaeff") devoted to the works of Russian composers, based in Leipzig and Saint Petersburg. After Tchaikovsky's death, Beliaev published The Storm, Fatum, The Voevoda, and the Andante & Finale for piano and orchestra, under the posthumous opus numbers 76 to 79,

After Beliaev's death in 1894, his publishing house was eventually succeeded by C. F. Peters in Leipzig.