Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev, born on November 25, 1856, graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1875, where he received composition lessons from Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Initially, he worked primarily as a pianist and undertook concert tours, including to France. He was one of the first to perform Tchaikovsky's piano works.
From 1878 to 1905, Taneyev's work was closely associated with the Moscow Conservatory. There, he taught as a professor of harmony, instrumentation, composition, counterpoint, and form. This cultivated master mastered counterpoint like few other Russian musicians of his time and was often called the "Brahms" of Russian music.
Taneyev devoted particular attention to the folk music of the North Caucasus, which he collected and transcribed. In his music, he continued the tradition of Glinka and Tchaikovsky as well as Bach and Beethoven, anticipating some 20th-century trends, including Neoclassicism.
His notable works include four symphonies characterized by austere melodies, two cantatas, and numerous chamber music pieces such as string quartets, trios, and piano quintets. In his only opera, "Oresteia," based on Aeschylus—remarkably not a Russian subject—the austere master reveals himself in a solemnly monumental form, somewhat in the style of a modernized Gluck, with powerful dramatic climaxes.
Despite his eminent talent, this quiet master never achieved widespread popular success. Throughout his life, he was primarily known as Tchaikovsky's favorite pupil, since few other composers could win the unreserved affection of the Russian people. Taneyev died on June 19, 1915, in Moscow, his death, occurring in the midst of the First World War, going largely unnoticed by the general public.