Dmitrij Borisovič Kabalevskij (Russian Дмитрий Борисович Кабалевский, commonly transliterated in English as Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky) (1904 - 1987) was a celebrated Soviet composer.

His Life

Kabalevsky was born in Saint Petersburg on December 30, 1904. His father was a mathematician and expected Dmitri to study mathematics. Against his father's will, Dmitri studied at the Moscow Conservatory in 1925, where he studied with Miaskovsky and became a professor in 1932. During World War II, he wrote many patriotic songs, having joined the Communist Party in 1940. He also wrote & played many pieces for silent movies. He died in Moscow on February 14,1987.

He was awarded a number of state honours for his musical works. Besides being a celebrated composer, he was also a writer and pianist. In the 1950s and 1960s, he became a public figure in the Soviet Union.

One of the most interesting properties of his music, is that he never seems to write a note that isn't needed.

His Works

Among his works were:

• Violin Concerto (op. 48, 1948)
• 24 Little Preludes (op. 38, 1924), based on Russian Folksongs by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
• 4 Piano Concertos (1929, 1936, 1952 and 1975 Prague)
• Opera Colas Breugnon (1938)