Henrïkh Matusavich Vahner

Henrïkh Matusavich Vahner, also cited as Wagner, was born on 2 July 1922 in Zyrardów, in the Warsaw Province, and became one of the leading figures of composition in Soviet Belarus. His output belongs to the second half of the twentieth century and draws on his experience of the Second World War, a theme that runs through much of his work.

His training began at the Warsaw Conservatory between 1936 and 1939, and continued at the National Conservatory in Minsk, where he graduated in piano under Shershevsky in 1948 and in composition under Bahatïrow in 1954. From 1962 to 1995 he taught at the Gor'ky Pedagogical Institute in Minsk, later the Belarusian Pedagogical University, and for a period served as secretary of the board of the Union of Composers of Belarus, from 1963 to 1973. He received the Badge of Honour in 1971, and the titles Honoured Representative of the Arts of the Byelorussian SSR and People's Artist of Belarus in 1988.

His first works to gain recognition were the Belaruskaya syuita and the comic ballet Padstawnaya nyavesta. However, the vocal and symphonic poem Vechna zïvïya, dedicated to the victims of fascism, marked a turning point. The war reappeared in the opera Stsezhkay zhïtstsya and in the Third Symphony. His music is characterised by dramatic contrasts, rich orchestration, rhythmic ostinatos and a notable metrical variety. Although some works from the early 1970s show neoclassical traits, his style comes close to that of Bartók and Prokofiev. Nationalist elements appear in his attachment to popular song and dance genres, and he devoted particular attention to children's music, whose compositions form the basis of the Belarusian school repertoire.