Dragomirov-Tolstiakov, Pavel

DRAGOMIROV, Pavel Nilovich [Dragomirov-Tolstiakov, real name Tolstiakov; brother of Nikolai Nilovich Tolstiakov] (b. December 16, 1880, Moscow; d. May 25, 1938, Odessa [?]) - choral conductor, church choirmaster, composer, teacher. In 1899 he graduated from the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing with his name inscribed onto the “Golden Plaque of Honor,” then from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. From 1901 he taught music theory in the choral conducting class at the Imperial Court Chapel. In 1902, together with Alexander Chesnokov, he was appointed assistant teacher of singing at the Chapel, at the invitation of Stepan Smolensky, working there until 1904. From 1907 to 1917, he taught solfege and score reading at the Church Choirmasters' School in St. Petersburg, established by Smolensky. From 1910 he was choirmaster of the Mariinsky Opera House, from 1916—chief choirmaster. In 1915 he was a member of the commission for awarding prizes for sacred music by the journal Khorovoe i regentskoe delo. [Journal of Choral Conducting and Church Choir Directing].

Dragomirov is known as a composer of sacred musical works, intended primarily for medium-size and small choirs. Contemporaries recognized his “talent and technical skill,” and considered him to be follower of the composition school established by Tchaikovsky. After the Revolution, Dragomirov taught at a music school in Lokhvitsa (now the Poltava region), and in 1924-1926. worked at the Kharkov Opera House. From 1929 until the end of his life he worked as the chief choirmaster of the Odessa Opera House.