Tchaikovsky
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Nikolai Hubert (1840–1888)

Nikolai Hubert

Russian music critic, teacher and pianist (b. 7/19 March 1840 in Saint Petersburg; d. 26 September/8 October 1888 in Saint Petersburg), born Nikolai Al'bertovich Hubert (Николай Альбертович Губерт, Nikolaj Al'bertovič Gubert, Nikolay Al'bertovich Hubert)

Hubert studied composition with Nikolai Zaremba and harmony with Anton Rubinstein at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he formed a lifelong friendship with his fellow student Tchaikovsky. After graduating in 1869, Hubert moved to Kiev, where he was a teacher in choral singing and music theory for the local branch of the Russian Musical Society, and also worked briefly as an opera conductor in Odessa. In 1871 he was appointed professor of music theory at the Moscow Conservatory), where he once again worked alongside Tchaikovsky, and became its director after Nikolai Rubinstein's death in 1881.

During the 1870s and 1880s he was also the music critic for the journals Contemporary Chronicle (Современная летопись) and Moscow Register (Московские ведомости).

Nikolai Hubert and his wife Aleksandra were among Tchaikovsky's closest friends, and they each made piano transcriptions of many of the composer's orchestral works. Hubert left his post at the Moscow Conservatory in 1883 due to ill health, but returned to the faculty in 1885 and remained there until his death three years later.

Tchaikovsky's works dedicated to Nikolai Hubert:

• O Sing that Song—No. 4 of the Six Romances, Op. 16 (1872).

Tchaikovsky's correspondence with Nikolai Hubert:

• 26 letters from Tchaikovsky to Nikolai Hubert have survived, dating from 1882 to 1888.