Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Ney, Elly

(b Düsseldorf, 27 Sept 1882; d Tutzing, 31 March 1968). German pianist. She was a pupil of Isidor Seiss for nine years at the Cologne Conservatory, after which in 1901 she won the Mendelssohn Prize in Berlin and then continued studies under Leschetizky and Sauer in Vienna. Shortly before Seiss' death in 1905, the year of her official Viennese début, Ney took over his class in Cologne, but after three years abandoned teaching in favour of her concert career. From 1921 she played in the United States, where in the years before the Second World War she established a reputation as a serious and deeply musical artist. Ney made regular appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Nikisch and for sixteen years from 1911 was married to the Dutch conductor Willem van Hoogstraten, with whom in the 1960s she recorded the last three Beethoven concertos. During the 1930s Ney established a piano trio with Max Strub (violin) and Ludwig Hoelscher (cello).

Renowned as a large-scale virtuoso player in her earlier years, she is remembered more especially for the Beethoven and Brahms performances of her middle and later career. In contrast to the massive displays of temperament in her playing, she was also capable of highly sensitive tonal colouring and managed to maintain her finely developed finger technique into old age. Latterly she gave masterclasses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She published Ein Leben für die Musik (Darmstadt, 1952), which later appeared as Erinnerungen und Betrachtungen (Aschaffenburg, 1957).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

W. Niemann: Meister des Klaviers (Berlin, 1919, 2/1921)

C. von Pidoll: Elly Ney (Leipzig, 1942)

Z. Maurina: Begegnung mit Elly Ney (Memmingen, 1956)

H. Vogel: Aus den Tagebüchern von Elly Ney (Tutzing, 1979)

JAMES METHUEN-CAMPBELL

Ney, Joseph Napoléon, Prince de la Moskova.

See Moskova, joseph napoléon ney.

Neyschl.

See Neuschel family.

Neysidler.

See Neusidler family.

Nezeritis [Neseritis], Andreas

(b Patras, Greece, 30 Nov 1897; d Athens, 19 Nov 1980). Greek composer. He studied the piano with Evlambiou, Wassenhoven and Farandatos at the Patras and Athens conservatories (1917–22), also following courses in harmony, counterpoint and fugue. Lavrangas gave him private lessons in composition and orchestration (c1926–33). In 1957 he was elected vice-president of the League of Greek Composers and in 1967 he succeeded Varvoglis as president. His nationalist music is characterized by a smooth-flowing modal melody that unites a variety of harmonic styles, as in the prelude to the Five Psalms of David, a staple of the Greek orchestral repertory. His Symphony no.3 (1969), with its debt to Brucknerian symphonic gesture, represents a sincere confession of religious faith.

WORKS

(selective list)

Vocal: O vassilias Aniliagos [King Aniliagos] (op, 2, I. Polemis), ?1933, Athens, National State Opera, 27 March 1948; 5 Pss of David (Pss lxxxv, cxxx, cxxii, lvi, cl), S, Mez, T, Bar, chorus, orch, 1945–6; Hero and Leander (op, 3, Grillparzer: Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen, trans. R. Nezeritis), 1947–64, Athens, National State Opera, 12 Nov 1970; 26 songs for 1v, pf

Orch: Dance Suite on Cypriot Themes, 1931; 2 Gk. Rhapsodies, d, a, 1938; Pf Concertino, c, 1938; Ballet Music, str, 1940; Vn Conc., b, 1942–3; Sym. no.1, g, 1948; Sym. no.2, c, ?1957; Conc., str, 1959; Sym. no.3, d, 1969; 3 Sym. Dances [based on nos.1–3 of 5 Dances, pf]

Other inst: 3 Sketches from Childhood, pf, 1922; Str Qt, D, 1937, ?lost; 5 Dances, pf, 1958

BIBLIOGRAPHY

G. Leotsakos: ‘“Hero and Leander”’, Ta néa (24 Nov 1970)

G. Leotsakos: ‘Efyge ki o synthétis Andreas Nezeritis’ [Composer Andreas Nezeritis has passed away], Théatro, xi/64–6 (1981), 136 [obituary]

GEORGE LEOTSAKOS

Nezhdanova, Antonina (Vasil'yevna)

(b Krivaya Balka, nr Odessa, 4/16 June 1873; d Moscow, 26 June 1950). Russian soprano. She graduated from Umberto Masetti’s class at the Moscow Conservatory in 1902; that year she was engaged as a soloist at the Bol'shoy, where she remained for nearly 40 years, singing leading roles in Russian and west European operas opposite Sobinov. In 1912 she sang Gilda at the Paris Opéra with the Monte Carlo company. Her other roles included Lyudmila, Tat'yana, Lakmé, the Snow Maiden, Volkhova (Sadko ), the Queen of Shemakha, Elsa and Rosina. As Glinka’s Antonida and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Marfa (The Tsar’s Bride), she achieved a most harmonious musical and dramatic integration.

Nezhdanova was one of the greatest representatives of the Russian school, with a clear, beautiful voice and a coloratura technique of dazzling lightness and brilliance. Her performances were unselfconscious and heartfelt, and she was a subtle, dramatic actress. From 1936 she taught at the Stanislavsky Opera Studio and at the Bol'shoy opera studio, then at the Moscow Conservatory (1943–50).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GV [with discography by J. Stratton and R. Vegeto]

V. Podol'skaya: A.V. Nezhdanova i yeyo ucheniki: zametki kontsertmeystera [Nezhdanova and her pupils: notes of an accompanist] (Moscow, 1960)

L. Collingwood: ‘Two Famous Russian Singers’, Opera, xxi (1970), 782–5

G. Polyanovsky: Antonina Nezhdanova (Moscow, 1970)

I.M. YAMPOL'SKY