Zach Collins performs Concert Allegro by Lebedev at the Moscow Conservatory (2017)

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Biography

Alexi Lebedev (1924-1993) was born on January 9th, 1924 in the town of Dankov in the Lipetsk region. His father was an Honorary Surgeon, he supervised the town hospital; his mother was a teacher of mathematics at a secondary school. Alexey Lebedev finished school in 1942 and joined the army. Upon finishing an infantry military college he went to the front where he was wounded in 1943 and underwent surgery for his wounds. Afterwards he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War. After hospitalization he continued his service in a military band in Moscow. While in Moscow he also began study of tuba and music theory at the Ippolitov-Ivanov Musical College. After the army, in 1945 he studied tuba in the Orchestra Department of the Moscow State Conservatory. He graduated one year early, in 1949, with honors and his name is inscribed on the “Marble Board of Honor”of the Conservatory. From 1950 to 1953 he also studied composition at the Conservatory. From 1953 until his death in 1993 he taught tuba and brass chamber music in the Conservatory’s Department of Wind Instruments.

Tuba performance. In 1950-1966 Alexey Lebedev was employed as a solo tubist with the State Academic Bolshoi Theater. He played in the concerts and recordings of the Bolshoi Theatre Brass Quintet with T.Dokshizer, Y.Gundel, V.Polekh, and M.Zanalov. With the Moscow Youth Orchestra under the baton of K.Kondrashin he took part in the Youth Festivals in Hungary (1949) and in Poland (1955).

Teaching. From 1950 until 1993 A.Lebedev worked at the Moscow Conservatory, first as a teacher (1950-1970), then as Associate Professor (1970-1986) and from 1986 until 1993 as full Professor. For about 20 years he also taught brass chamber music. In 1959-1974 he worked at his two-volume method, School of Playing Tuba, which was published twice. The book includes his own compositions for tuba. He also worked in cooperation with contemporary Russian composers, and, as contribution to the School there appeared original compositions for tuba by N.Rakov, V.Kikta, K.Volkov, T.Smirnova, V.Strukov, and G.Dmitriyev. Works by A,Lebedev and by these authors have been included in the Programs of Russian and International Competition, and they are performed in solo concerts. During Lebedev’s forty-three years of work at the Conservatory, some fifty tubists graduated from his studio, and more than one hundred students graduated from his brass chamber ensembles. Two of his students won awards at the All-Union Competitions of Wind and Percussion Instruments Performers. Many of his graduates hold positions with best Russian orchestras. Among them are Y.Larin, A.Kazachenko, V.Gorbenko, S.Tikhonov, A.Filippov, Y.Sobolev, Y.Yefremov, V.Starkov. Some of them work in other former republics of the USSR: S.Pashetov, Y.Strelchuk, V.Apostol in Ukraine, S.Kharlamov in Moldova, N.Yarshevich in Bielorussia.

Composing. When Alexei was beginning his work there were very few original compositions for tuba. He composed his Concerto No.1 (1947) and his Concert Allegro (1949), both for tuba and piano, as a student. They were published in 1950 and in 1956 and later republished several times.

His work as a composer combined well with his activity as a pedagogue. He broadened the tuba repertoire creating original etudes and exercises for tuba and piano, transcribing and arranging for tuba works by old and contemporary composers. In 1986 he composed his Concerto No. 2 for tuba, which was posthumously published in Germany in 1995 by Hofmeister. He also made compositions and transcriptions for brass ensembles.   
-(TUBA Journal, Vol.26, No.1)

Professor Lebedev was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Tuba – Euphonium Conference held in Riva del Garda, Italy in 1997.

Biography

Alexey Lebedev was born on January 9th, 1924 in the town of Dankov in the Lipetsk region. His father was an Honorary Surgeon, he supervised the town hospital; his mother was a teacher of mathematics at a secondary school. Alexey Lebedev finished school in 1942 and joined the army. Upon finishing an infantry military college he went to the front where he was wounded in 1943 and underwent surgery for his wounds. Afterwards he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War. After hospitalization he continued his service in a military band in Moscow. While in Moscow he also began study of tuba and music theory at the Ippolitov-Ivanov Musical College. After the army, in 1945 he studied tuba in the Orchestra Department of the Moscow State Conservatory named after Tchaikovsky. He graduated one year early, in 1949, with honors and his name is inscribed on the 2Marble Board of Honor2 of the Conservatory. From 1950 to 1953 he also studied composition at the Conservatory. From 1953 until his death in 1993 he taught tuba and brass chamber music in the Conservatory’s department of Wind Instruments.
Tuba performance. In 1950-1966 Alexey Lebedev was employed as a solo tubist with the State Academic Bolshoi Theater. He played in the concerts and recordings of the Bolshoi Theatre Brass Quintet with T.Dokshizer, Y.Gundel, V.Polekh, and M.Zanalov. With the Moscow Youth Orchestra under the baton of K.Kondrashin he took part in the Youth Festivals in Hungary (1949) and in Poland (1955).

Teaching. From 1950 until 1993 A.Lebedev worked at the Moscow Conservatory, first as a teacher (1950-1970), then as Associate Professor (1970-1986) and from 1986 until 1993 as full Professor. For about 20 years he
also taught brass chamber music. In 1959-1974 he worked at his two-volume School of Playing Tuba which was published twice. The School includes his own compositions for tuba. He also worked in cooperation with contemporary Russian composers, and, as contribution to the School there appeared original compositions for tuba by N.Rakov, V.Kikta, K.Volkov, T.Smirnova, V.Strukov, and G.Dmitriyev. Works by A,Lebedev and by these authors have been included in the Programs of Russian and International Competition, they are performed in solo concerts. During Lebedev’s forty three years work at the Conservatory, some fifty tubists graduated from his studio, and more than one hundred students graduated from his brass chamber ensembles. Two of his students won awards at the All-Union Competitions of wind and Percussion Instruments Performers. Many of his graduates hold positions with best Russian orchestras. Among them are Y.Larin, A.Kazachenko, V.Gorbenko, S.Tikhonov, A.Filippov, Y.Sobolev, Y.Yefremov, V.Starkov. Some of them work in other former republics of the USSR: S.Pashetov, Y.Strelchuk, V.Apostol in Ukraine, S.Kharlamov in Moldova, N.Yarshevich in Bielorussia.

Composing. When Alexei Konstantinovich was beginning his work there were very few original compositions for tuba. He composed his Concerto No.1 (1947) and his Concert Allegro (1949), both for tuba and piano, as a student. They were published in 1950 and in 1956 and later republished several times.

His work as a composer combined well with his activity as a pedagogue. He broadened the tuba repertoire creating original etudes and exercises for tuba and piano, transcribing and arranging for tuba works by old and contemporary composers. In 1986 he composed his Concerto No. 2 for tuba which was posthumously published in Germany in 1995 by Hofmeister. He also made compositions and transcriptions for brass ensembles. Of special interest are his songs. Within the period of the 1950ies - 1970ies he composed over sixty songs - lyrical songs as well as songs for the military and for children, These songs were often aired on radio, included in published song collections.

Alexey Konstantinovich was well-known and highly respected in the music world. In 1998 he was awarded the most prestigious honor of the World Tuba Brotherhood Association (T.U.B.A.), the Lifetime Achievement Award. This posthumous award was given by the Executive Committee of T.U.B.A. in recognition of Lebedev’s important contributions to the tuba during his lifetime (Tuba Journal, vol. 26, No. 1, 1998).

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