Publications

• pdf scans
• books
• articles
• dissertations

pdf scans

• The Muse and the Fashion: being a defence of the foundations of the art of music by Nikolai Karlovich Medtner. English translation by Alfred J Swan. Haverford College Bookstore, 1951

• Muza i moda by Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (in Russian). Paris, 1935; reprinted 1957 and 1978.

• English texts for the songs of Nicholas Medtner by Henry S. Drinker (1946)

  Singable versions of all the songs except six of the Op.61.

• Obituary by Richard Holt

  The Gramophone, December 1951

• Medtner society: volume 1 by Richard Holt
• Medtner society: volume 2 by Richard Holt
• Medtner society: volume 3 by Richard Holt

  Booklets accompanying the Medtner Society recordings, 1948
  Volumes 2 and 3 from the private collection of Adriano, Zurich

• Nicolas Medtner: his influence as a teacher by Michael Jones
  EPTA Piano Journal, Issue 125 (December 2021) pp 9-12

  Article by Iles' pupil with particular focus on her time with Medtner

• Nicolas Medtner: an honorary British composer? by Michael Jones
  British Music, volume 42 2020.

  Article by Iles' pupil focusing on perception of Medtner's music in Britain and his time in England.

• Nikolai Medtner by Leonid Sabeneev
  The Musical Times, March 1928

  One of several articles on Medtner by Sabeneev.

• Medtner by Ernest Newman
  The Musical Times, January 1915.

  Seminal article referenced in Martyn's biography.

  Both articles above reproduced by kind permission of the editors

Books

Biographical

• Nicolas Medtner: His Life and Music by Barrie Martyn (ISBN 0859679594, 1995)

  The definitive biography, with commentary on all Medtner's compositions. Currently cheapest from Ashgate or Amazon; used copies are seldom cheaper.

• Nicolas Medtner (1879-1951): A Tribute to his Art and Personality edited by Richard Holt (London, 1955).
  Titled Medtner: A Memorial Volume on the book's spine.

  A collection of essays and photographs put together by Medtner's friends and admirers after his death on the initiative of the Mysore Foundation. Not a scholarly work; the contributions are in the nature of reminiscences, tributes and eulogies, and the editing was much influenced by Anna. Available new from Waterstones, and fairly easy to obtain used.

• Medtner and his music, A tribute to a great Russian composer by Richard Holt (London, 1948).

  24 page booklet with some of the hagiographical character of the 1955 book.

• N K Metner: Vospominaniya, Staty, Materialy (N K Medtner, Reminiscences, Papers, Materials) ed. Z A Apetyan, Soviet Composer, Moscow (1981)

  A Russian parallel of Holt's 1955 book, with some chapters copied and other material added, including an expanded chapter by Anna Medtner. Formerly available online from a Russian site.

• N K Metner: Pis'ma (Letters) ed. Z A Apetyan, Soviet Composer, Moscow (1973)

  Includes Rachmaninoff's letters to Medtner, and Emil's letter to Pavel Ettingher.

• Nikolay Metner by E B Dolinskaya (Moscow, 2013)

  Biography, in Russian

• Der Komponist Nikolai Medtner. Ein Porträt by Natascha Konsistorum (ISBN 3-89487-500-3, Henschel, Berlin, 2004)

  German translation by Christoph Flamm; also available in the original Russian. A personal account of Medtner's life and music, with selected letters and a good number of photographs. Includes two CDs with recordings of the piano quintet and a number of piano works and songs.

• Nicolas Medtner pianiste, compositeur 1879-1951 by Bernard Pinsonneault (Éditions Beauchemin, Montréal 1956)

  Biography by a pupil of Laliberté, in French. Out of print and difficult to find. A scan has circulated on file sharing networks.

Scholarly

• Nikolai Medtner: Music, Aesthetics, and Contexts ed. Wendelin Bitzan and Christoph Flamm (Olms, 2021)

  Collection of articles to mark the 70th anniversary of Medtner's death

• Nietzsche's orphans: music, metaphysics, and the twilight of the Russian Empire by Rebecca Mitchell (Yale, 2015)

  Includes a chapter on Nikolai and Emil Medtner

• N. K. Metner. Lichnost, vzgljady, stil. Ispolnenie muzyki Metnera: analiticheskie etjudy (Personality, views and style. Performance of Medtner's music: analytical studies) by Vasjutinskaja Evgenija (Kompositor, St Petersburg, 2014)
   
• Nikolai Metner: Voprosy Biografii i Tvorchestva (Issues of biography and creativity) (Moscow, 2009)

  Material from the international conference "The Metner Family and the Culture of the Silver Age"

• Einführung in die Klaviermusik von Nikolai Medtner by Alexander Alexejew and others (Kuhn, Berlin 2008)

  Vol 42 of studia slavica musicologica

• Der russische Komponist Nikolaj Metner : Studien und Materialien by Christoph Flamm. Originally presented as the author's Ph.D thesis (Heidelberg, 1995). Includes letters, reviews and other documents in German, Russian, English and French, bibliography (1903-1994) and discography. Now downloadable from this link.

• Nikolaj Karlovic Medtner - der Pianist : sein kompositorisches Schaffen, seine Interpretationskunst und Pädagogik by I Zetel' (Studio, Sinzig, 2003)

  Translated into German from the Russian publication (1981).

Other

• The Russian Mephisto: a study of the life and work of Emilii Medtner by Magnus Ljunggren (Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm, 1994).

  Provides background on the musical and intellectual environment in which Nikolai grew up, and details of his personal life not found elsewhere.

• The Composer-Pianists: Hamelin and the Eight by Robert Rimm (ISBN 1574670727, 2002)

  Contains a chapter on Medtner and Rachmaninoff.

• Notes of a Moscow Pianist by Dmitry Paperno (ISBN 1-57467-034-4, Amadeus Press, 1998)

  A fascinating account of musical life inside the Soviet Union in the mid-20th century, with a number of references to Medtner. Paperno turned down Anna Medtner's invitation to give the Russian première of the piano concerto no.3, but made two recordings of pieces from Op 38.

• Modern Russian Composers by Leonid Sabaneev, translated by Judah A. Joffe (ISBN 0306706733, 1927; reprinted 1967 and 1975)

  An important early work on Russian and Soviet music through the late 1920s. Typical of the period, it tends to emphasise Medtner's German connections.

• Contemporary Russian Composers by M. Montagu-Nathan (C. Palmer & Hayward, London, 1917; Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1970)

  An early survey of Russian music, including a chapter on Medtner.

Articles

• Medtner's Fairy Tales, Medtner's BBC Broadcasts by Ateş Orga, 2021 (downloadable)

  Amplifies a review-essay for Russian Art and Culture discussing Dina Parakhina's 2021 Medtner project at the Royal College of Music, adding listings of Medtner's BBC broadcasts of 1928-50 and Edna Iles's BBC Medtner broadcasts of 1928-91.

• Лондонская гавань на пути Николая Метнера

  Article about Medtner's London period by Elena Dolinskaya, 2020

• Decision, Hope, and Resignation. Nikolai Medtner in Berlin, 1921-24 by Wendelin Bitzan, 2020
  
  
• Nikolaj Metners einsätzige Sonatenformen. Konzepte von Symmetrie und Balance in den Klaviersonaten op.11 und op.22 by Wendelin Bitzan, Die Tonkunst, 2016, no.4.
  
  
• A Milestone of Symbolist Music. A Multi-Perspective Examination of Nikolai Medtner's Sonata-Ballade, Op.27 by Wendelin Bitzan, Problemy muzykalnoy nauki, 2016, no.3 (full text available).
  
  
• Virtual Object and Reminiscing Agent in Medtner's Sonata-Reminiscenza, Op.38, No.1 by Bradley Emerson, Semiotics 2015

  Presented at the International Medtner Festival, London 2016.

• Medtner and the Muse

  Hamish Milne's inaugural lecture to the University of London in 2003

• Men and Music

  Lecture on Medtner by Erik Chisholm in 1964, giving details of Medtner's visits to Scotland in 1931.

• Medtner's key preferences

  My statistical analysis of the frequency of occurrence of keys in Medtner's output. Also available in Excel.

• Russian Piano Music in Deepest Warwickshire by Duncan Honeybourne, BMI Insight, issue 4, 2001.

  Interviews with Edna Iles with details of the Medtners' stay at Wootton Wawen.

  The Edna Iles Medtner Collection, containing letters, notes, photographs and other memorabilia, is kept in the British Library.

• Journal of the British Institute of Recorded Sound, April-July 1978

  Contains the following articles:
  - Medtner, friend and master by Edna Iles
  - Medtner Recordings by Eric Hughes, Barrie Martyn and Gerald Stonehill
  - Recordings of Edna Iles in the BIRS collection

• Metner and the Muse by Malcolm Boyd, The Musical Times, January 1980

  Article exploring Medtner's concept of the muse as inspirer and teacher through his use of the "muse" theme in The Muse Op.29 no.1, the Sonata-Ballade Op.27 and the Piano Quintet.

• The Songs of Nicolas Medtner by Malcolm Boyd, Music and Letters, January 1965

  Penetrating article on the most neglected part of Medtner's output.

• Das Leben Nikolai Medtners (1880-1951) by Alfred J. Swan, Musik des Ostens, 4 (1967), pp. 65-116
  
  
• Guide to the Daily Work of the Pianist by Nikolai Karlovitch Medtner

  Translation of some of Medtner's notes by Olga Conus. See also the thesis by Bondar.

• Medtner's Piano Music. An appreciative study by Sidney Miller, The Musical Times, October 1941. Concluded in the November issue.

Dissertations

• A study of Nikolai Medtner's Forgotten Melodies piano cycle Op.39 with reference to The Muse and the Fashion by Edwin Png Weichen (Nanyang Technological University, 2022)

• Nikolai Medtner's Skazki (Fairy Tales), Op.51: A Conservative Russian Romantic Composer’s Flights of Fancy by Yumin Na (Michigan State Univ, 2019)

• The Sonata as an Ageless Principle. Nikolai Medtner's Early Piano Sonatas: Analytic Studies on their Genesis, Style, and Compositional Technique by Wendelin Bitzan (Vienna, 2019)

• Telling Tales: The Use of Byron Almén's Musical Narrative Theory as a Filter for a Performance of Nikolai Medtner's Sonata-Skazka Op.25 No.1 (1910) by Jenny Lu (Monash, 2019)

• Music as cosmos: a study of Nikolai Medtner's Piano sonata in G minor, op.22, through the lens of The Muse and the Fashion by Iris Hsu (Peabody Inst., John Hopkins, 2019)

• Narrative and Russian folktales in Nikolai Medtner's 6 Skazki Op.51 by Daniel Feiling Guo (New South Wales, 2018)

• Nikolai Medtner: A New Source for Sonata in F Minor, Op.5 by Clement Barrera Acevedo (James Madison Univ, 2018)

• Nikolai Medtner's Fairytales, op.31, no.3 and op.35, no.3: a performance guide to two lesser known works of a neglected composer by Maria Kurchevskaya (Colorado, 2018)

• Tempo and rhythmical principles al rigore and flessibile in selected works by Nikolai Medtner: a study and recording by Aleksandr Ponomarchuk (Iowa, 2018)

• Documenting developing performance: rethinking Nikolai Medtner at the piano by Hanna Choi (St Andrews, 2018)

• Nikolai Medtner's Forgotten Melodies, op. 38: sources, analysis, and interpretation by Haeshin Shin (Boston, 2018)

• The culmination of the Russian romantic piano school as represented by early and late works of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Medtner by Ekaterina Zaitseva (Maryland, 2017)

• In Support of Nikolai Medtner: An Examination of Five of his Art Songs by Daniel J Liebeskind (Louisiana, 2017)

• The Opus 41 Vocalises of Nikolai Medtner by Nathan Uhl (Arizona, 2017)

• German Blood Russian Birth: Nationality in the Solo Piano Music of Nikolai Medtner by Michael Hamilton (Liverpool, 2017)

• A Study of Nikolai Medtner Compositional Technique: Form and Narrative in Tales by Oliver Markson (City University of New York, 2017)

• The Motivic Economy in Nikolai Medtner's Sonata Romantica by Nellie S. Seng-Quinn (City University of New York, 2016)

• The influence of romantic poetry on the career and music of Nicolas Medtner by Denise Rudell (South Carolina, 2016)

• Nikolai Medtner: performing imagination in his Sonata reminiscenza, op.38 no.1 by Christopher Miranda (Indiana, 2016)

• Medtner’s Sonata-ballade: interpreting its dramatic trajectory through virtual subjectivities by Bradley Emerson (University of Texas at Austin, 2016)

• Nikolai Medtner's first piano concerto: A metrotectonic analysis by Aleksandra Sarest (City University of New York, 2014)

• New light on Nikolay Medtner as pianist and teacher : the Edna Iles Medtner Collection (EIMC) at the British Library by Alexander Karpeyev (City University, London, 2014)

• An analysis and interpretation of Sonata Triad op. 11 by Nikolai Medtner by Yi-Wen Hou (Fu Jen Catholic University, 2013). In Chinese.

• Medtner's Fairy Tales: Texture and Subtlety by Hiroko Nagahata (Michigan, 2012)

• Nikolai Medtner's Romantic sketches for the young, op. 54: unifying elements and expression in the four preludes and four tales by Grace Eun Hae Kim (Peabody, 2012)

• Nicolai Medtner's Piano concerto no. 3, op. 60: musical style and performance strategies by Shu-Hao Hsu (Iowa, 2012)

• Medtner and the ur-human by Patrick Domico (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2012)

• A Performance guide to two Fairy Tales of Nickolai Medtner by Jonathan Paul Tauscheck (Iowa, 2012)

• Medtner's "Acht Stimmungsbilder", Op. 1: a pedagogical guide with analysis by Min Yu Koh (Southern Illinois, 2011)

• Nicolas Medtner, the neglected composer: comparative study of Nicolas Medtner's Piano concerto no. 2 in C minor, op. 50 and Serge Rachmaninoff's Piano concerto no. 4 in G minor, op. 40 by Ching-Wen Hsiao (Juilliard School, 2010)

• The Skazki (Fairy Tales) of Nikolai Medtner: the evolution and characteristics of the genre with compositional and performance aspects of selected Fairy Tales by Ekaterina Chernaya-Oh (North Texas, 2008). May be downloadable here.

• Contexts of symbolist music in Silver Age Russia, 1861--1917 by Amanda Marsrow (Southern Methodist Univ., 2008)

• Three one-movement sonatas of the Russian silver age : a comparative study by David Westfall (Hartford, 2008)

• Four piano recitals and an essay : "the muse and the fashion: a comparative study of Goethe settings by Medtner and Schubert" by Riana Vermaak (Ottawa, 2007)

• Selected late-Romantic Russian piano music by Hung Luo (Maryland, 2007)

• Nicholas Medtner's piano music with special emphasis on his Fairy tales by Sungeun Kim (Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, 2006)

• Genres of piano ensemble and its realization in the art of I. Stravinsky and N. Medtner by Olga Grines (Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory, 2005) – in Russian

• Medtner: His beliefs, influences and work by Natalya Kalendarev (Washington, 2005)

• Piano sonatas by Nikolay Medtner: a performer's perspective by Hiroaki Takenouchi (RCM London, 2004)

• An analysis of Medtner's Piano concerto no. 2 op. 50 in C minor by Bo Won Hong (Illinois, 2003)

• Performance Practice Issues in Russian Piano Music by Gregory Michael Smith (Newcastle, Australia, 2003). Chapters 3 and 4 (downloadable) include commentary and analyses of several works by Medtner.

• Thematic unity in Nicolas Medtner's works for piano : Skazki, sonatas, and piano quintet by David J Skvorak (Cincinnati, 2003).

• An introduction to Nikolai Medtner and performance analysis in dialogue form of his works for two pianos: Russian Round Dance and Knight Errant by Saida Kafarova (Texas, 2003)

• Nicolas Medtner composer, pianist, and teacher (translation of Medtner's notes compiled into a book, "The Daily Work of the Pianist and Composer" by Gurvich and L. Lukomsky, with an introduction by his student, P. Vasiliev) by Liudmila E Bondar (Michigan, 2003)

• Lecture-recital: the piano music of Nicolas Medtner by Felix Tao Chang (Kansas, 2003)

• Symmetrical features of Medtner's language: the Grozovaya sonata, opus 53, no. 2 by James L Pitts (North Texas, 1999).

• Der russische Komponist Nikolaj Metner : Studien und Materialien by Christoph Flamm. Originally presented as the author's Ph.D thesis (Heidelberg, 1995).

• The fairy tales of Nikolai Medtner by William Bloomquist (Texas, 1993).

• The songs of Nikolai Medtner by Terence Kelly (Maryland, 1988). Available elsewhere in microfilm.

• The fairy tales of Nikolai Medtner by Emily Alice Kelley (Virginia, 1981).

• Orchestral transcriptions of selected piano compositions of Nicholas Medtner by Ronald Lamar Ackerman (Boston, 1976).

• An examination of cadenzas to Beethoven's piano concerto no. 4 in G major, op. 58 with an original cadenza by Paul Rutman (Juilliard School, 1974)

• The solo piano music of Nicolas Medtner by Ronald D. Surace (Cincinnati, 1973).

• Some Stylistic Considerations in the Piano Sonatas of Nikolai Medtner by Cenieth Catherine Elmore (North Carolina, 1972).

• Six lesser-known piano quintets of the twentieth century by James Gwynn Staples (Rochester, 1972). Now downloadable.

• The Piano Sonatas of Nicolas Medtner by Charles William Keller (Ohio State, 1971).

• The Piano Sonatas of Nicolai Medtner by Bobby Hughes Loftis (West Virginia, 1970).

• A performer's analysis of eight piano sonatas of Nicholas Medtner by Sarah Louise Kinley (Butler University, Indianapolis, 1970).

• The piano solo music in smaller forms of Nicholas Medtner by M Annette Teresa Covatta (Boston, 1965)

• The piano sonatas of Nikolai Medtner by Lona Ruth Ginsburg (Los Angeles, 1961).

Medtner, 1943-44

group of musicians at Steinway, 11 Jan 1925
front: Stravinsky Medtner Furtwängler F.Steinway Hoffmann
2nd row: Ibbs (impressario) Kreisler Rachmaninoff ?
3rd row: ? ? Montyo ? Ziloti

Medtner, P I Vasil'ev and N G Rayskyi
Moscow Conservatory, 8 March 1927

Medtner and Nina Koshetz, 1929

Medtner and Rachmaninoff, 1938

Medtner and Edna Iles, 1940

with Anna at London Zoo, 1948

with Anna and "Bunny" Swann, c.1930

with Lawrance Collingwood at Camberley, 1948