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Biography
Lebedev Alexey Konstantinovich (1924 -
1993)
outstanding Russian tuba player, pedagogue,
Professor of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
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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