Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein was born 28 November 1829 in Russia, the elder brother of Nikolai Rubinstein. He founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he taught composition to Tchaikovsky, while his brother founded Moscow's. As a pianist he became legendary for his historical recitals, but he was equally prolific as a composer: 20 operas (the best known being The Demon), five piano concertos, six symphonies, and a deep catalogue of solo piano and chamber works. In 1865 he married Vera de Tschikouanov, a maid of honor at the Russian court, with whom he had three children. He died 20 November 1894, remembered less for the staggering volume he composed than for what he could do at the keyboard and whom he shaped in the conservatory.