Nadezhda Simonyan (February 26, 1922 - June 7, 1997) was a Russian composer,[1] who wrote over 40 film scores[2] for movies, radio, and television, as well as chamber and orchestral works, and music for circus performances.[3]

Simonyan was born in Rostov-on-the-Don. She studied composition and piano at Leningrad Conservatory, where she received a diploma in 1950 and earned a medal. Her teachers included Oles Chishko and Venedikt Pushkov.[4]

In 1956, Simonyan wrote her first film soundtrack for Old Man Khottabych, a children's film by Gennadii Kazanskii. Peter Rollberg described Simonyan's strength as a composer as a “. . . warm melodiousness that equally energizes cheerful, dramatic, and tragic episodes with a pragmatic, flexible approach to instrumentation.”[5] In 1960, Italian film maker Federico Fellini praised her soundtrack for the movie Lady with the Dog.[6] She often used smaller chamber orchestras, sometimes with folk instruments, for her film scores.[7]

Chamber

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  • Sonata (violin and piano)[4]

Circus

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  • incidental music[4]

Film scores

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Orchestra

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  • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra[11]

Piano

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Radio scores

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  • Golden Apples[4]
  • On the Bank of Sevan[4]
  • Story of Turkey[4]
  • Three Bears[4]
  • Year of My Birth[4]

Vocal

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References

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  1. ^ Hixon, Donald L. (1993). Women in music : an encyclopedic biobibliography. Don A. Hennessee (2nd ed.). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2769-7. OCLC 28889156.
  2. ^ "Nadezhda Simonyan". Moviefit. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  3. ^ "Nadezhda Simonyan". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Books & Music (USA). ISBN 978-0-9617485-2-4.
  5. ^ a b Rollberg, Peter (2008-11-07). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6268-5.
  6. ^ Egorova, Tatiana (2014-07-10). Soviet Film Music. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-37725-1.
  7. ^ Jaffé, Daniel (2022-02-15). Historical Dictionary of Russian Music. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-3008-7.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Simonyan, Nadezhda - listen online, download, sheet music". classical-music-online.net. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "Hoovies". hoovies.net. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  10. ^ Москва в кино (in Russian). Контакт-Культура. 2008. ISBN 978-5-93882-035-7.
  11. ^ Smith, Steven (1984). The Piano Concerto After Bartok: A Survey for Performers of the Piano Concerto Literature with Emphasis on the Postwar Era, 1945-1970. University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music.