Nicolas Slonimsky

Nicolas Slonimsky (born April 27, 1894, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Dec. 25, 1995, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) was a Russian-born U.S. musicologist, conductor, and composer. He left the Soviet Union after studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and settled in the U.S. in 1923. In the 1930s he conducted premieres of works by Charles Ives, Edgard Varèse, and others. In Music Since 1900 (1937) he chronicled the century’s musical life day by day. His Lexicon of Musical Invective (1952) collected wrongheaded musical criticism. His Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns (1947) was an inspiration to numerous composers. He edited four editions of Baker’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1958–92). His commodious scholarship was undertaken with zest and humour, and near the end of his long life he was lionized by Frank Zappa and other musicians.