NIKOLAI MEDTNER Life & times

1879

LIFE: Nikolai Medtner is born in Moscow on 24 December (old style), the fifth child of Karl, the manager of a lace factory, and Aleksandra, who teaches him the piano from a young age.

TIMES: Alexander Soloviev, a revolutionary ex-student, attempts to assassinate Russian emperor Alexander II in Saint Petersburg but misses with all five shots.

1900

LIFE: Completing studies under teachers including Paul Pabst, Vasily Safonov and Sergei Taneyev, he graduates from the Moscow Conservatory, taking the Anton Rubinstein Prize.

TIMES: Led by the German Eduard von Toll, a Russian polar expedition departs Saint Petersburg on the ship Zarya with the aim of exploring the Arctic islands to the north of Siberia.

1918

LIFE: After a lengthy covert relationship, he marries Anna Bratenshi, a violinist three years his senior and the wife of his older brother Emil. Remarkably, the marriage enjoys Emil’s blessing. TIMES: As civil war grips Russia following the Revolution, the Bolsheviks form the Red Army to fight against the White Army, consisting of various anti-communist forces.

1935

LIFE: Having left Russia in 1921, he and Anna eventually settle in north London following years of financial hardship in Germany and then France. TIMES: Loosely based on John Buchan’s 1915 novel, Alfred Hitchcock’s film The 39 Steps proves a major hit in British cinemas.

1944

LIFE: He gives the premiere of his Third Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic and conductor Adrian Boult at the Royal Albert Hall, and records all his concertos soon after. TIMES: Towards the end of the year, London is regularly attacked by newly developed German V2 rockets, which cause widespread destruction and well over 2,500 deaths.

1951

LIFE: He dies, aged 71, at his home in north London, and is buried at Hendon Cemetery. A blue plaque identifies his and Anna’s house on Wentworth Road. TIMES: Six years after losing the general election to Clement Attlee’s Labour Party, 76-year-old Winston Churchill is elected as Prime Minister of the UK.