Inna Zhvanetskaya facts for kids

Inna Abramovna Zhvanetskaya was a talented composer and music teacher from the Soviet Union. She was born on January 20, 1937, in Ukraine. She passed away on December 18, 2024. Inna spent most of her life working in Moscow before she moved to Germany in 1998, where she lived in Stuttgart.

Early Life

Inna Zhvanetskaya was born in 1937 in a city called Vinnytsia, which was then part of the Ukrainian SSR. Her family was Jewish. During World War II, they had to leave their home because of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Inna has been described as someone who survived the Holocaust, a terrible time when many Jewish people were persecuted.

Musical Career

After leaving her hometown, Inna moved to Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. She taught piano at music schools in Podolsk, a town near Moscow. She also studied how to compose music at the Gnessin State Musical College, a famous music school. Her teacher was a well-known composer named Nikolay Peyko. Inna graduated from the institute in 1964.

From 1964 to 1965, she taught piano at a special school that trained people for jobs. Then, in 1965, she became a lecturer at her old school, the Gnessin Musical-Pedagogical Institute. She taught students how to read music scores and how to arrange music for different instruments. She worked there until 1986.

Later Life

After the Soviet Union ended, Inna Zhvanetskaya moved to Germany. Since 1998, she lived in Stuttgart.

Musical Works

Inna Zhvanetskaya wrote many different kinds of musical pieces. Here are some of her compositions:

Chamber Music

Chamber music is written for a small group of instruments.

• Burlesque (for violin and piano; 1959)
• Five Dance Pieces for Children (for two cellos; 2007)
• La Bale (for viola and piano; 2015)
• Memories of the Composer Alfred Schnittke (for solo cello)
• Six Pieces (for a group of five wind instruments; 1969)
• Violin Sonata (1976)
• Splinters of Childhood (for solo violin)
• String Quartet (for four string instruments; 1962)
• Variations on a Jewish Theme (for two violins)

Orchestral Music

Orchestral music is written for a large group of musicians called an orchestra.

• Double Bass Concerto (a piece for a double bass and orchestra, also available with piano; 1978)
• Overture (a short piece often played at the beginning of a larger work; 1963)
• Piano Concerto (a piece for a piano and orchestra)
• Suite (a collection of musical pieces for string orchestra; 1965)

Piano Music

These pieces were written for the piano.

• Partita (1966)
• Polyphonic Fantasy (1962)
• Toccata (1961)
• Variations on a Theme of Brahms (1958)
• Memories of Russia
• Piano concerto

Vocal Music

Vocal music includes pieces written for singers.

• Cycle (with words by A. Izaakian; for voice and piano; 1960)
• From Medieval Hebrew Poetry (1998)
• Loud Songs of Anna Akhmatova
• Romances (with words by V. Bryusov and other poets)
• Yanvarski Stroki (with words by S. Smirnov; for voice and piano; 1968)
• Zemiyai! (with words by Tvorenye-Cholovek; for chorus and orchestra; 1972)