Tchaikovsky
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Vasilii Safonov

Vasilii Il'ich Safonov (Василий Ильич Сафонов) was a Russian pianist and conductor, also known as Vasily Safonoff. Born 25 January/6 February 1852 at Itsiurksk (near Terel).

Safonov was the son of a Cossack general who left the Caucuses in 1862 to settle in Saint Petersburg. Here Vasilii attended the Aleksandr Lyceum and took piano lessons with Teodor Leszetycki (1830-1915) and, like Tchaikovsky, began his career in the civil service, After seven years Safonov resigned his post and enrolled at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1879, where he studied music theory under Nikolai Zaremba and piano with Louis Brassin, graduating with a gold medal in 1880.

After a spell teaching at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, he became professor of piano at the Moscow Conservatory in 1885 on Tchaikovsky's recommendation. In 1889 he succeeded Sergei Taneev as the conservatory's director. Although Tchaikovsky initially welcomed this appointment, recognising Safonov's skills as an administrator, he began to believe that the latter's style was too autocratic and disrespectful of the traditions of the institution. These differences of views led to Tchaikovsky's resignation as a director of the Russian Musical Society in Moscow. Subsequently relations between the two men improved to an extent, and the composer dedicated his piano piece Méditation (No. 5 of the Eighteen Pieces, Op. 72)  to Safonov in 1893.

In 1889 Safonov succeeded Max Erdmannsdörfer as principal conductor of the Russian Musical Society concerts in Moscow, where in his later years he was one of the first conductors to dispense with a baton. After being invited to New York as guest conductor of the Philharmonic Society Orchestra in 1904, he returned to become its sole conductor from 1906 to 1909, while concurrently serving as director of the National Conservatory of Music in the city.

After returning to Russia in 1909, he resumed his conducting position with the RMS in Moscow (where he remained until 1912), and also performed in chamber ensembles. In 1916 his guide to piano technique, entitled A New Formula [Новая формула] was published in Russian and English

Vasilii Safonov died on 14/27 February 1918 at Kislovodsk, aged 66.