Babin Viktor Khaimovich (1908-1972)

Babin Viktor Khaimovich (13 December 1908, Moscow – 1 March 1972, Cleveland) - pianist, composer, and educator, as well as an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at the University of Albuquerque (USA).

From 1917, Viktor Babin lived in Riga. In 1928, he graduated with distinction from the Latvian Conservatory, studying piano under L. Homan-Dombrovskaya and composition under J. Vītols. He also studied conducting under E. Cooper (1926–1928). In 1929, he made his debut as a pianist. Between 1928 and 1932, Viktor Babin attended the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, studying composition with F. Schreker and piano with A. Schnabel, supported by a Latvian Cultural Fund scholarship.

In the early 1930s, Babin gave solo performances and played with symphony orchestras. He appeared on radio broadcasts in the Baltic states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. As a solo pianist, he performed frequently at the Latvian Conservatory, the Latvian National Opera, the House of the Blackheads, the Riga seaside, and Latvian Radio.

From 1932, Babin performed as a piano duo with Vitya Vronsky, a student of A. Schnabel, who became his wife in 1933. Their duo quickly gained recognition in Latvia and Europe. In Riga, they participated in numerous concerts, including charity events for Jewish organisations. They toured France in 1932, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Germany in 1934, and Kaunas, The Hague, London, and other British cities in 1936.

Between 1935 and 1936, Babin served in the Latvian Army as a corporal in the Riga Infantry Regiment. In 1936 (or 1937), he debuted as a pianist in the USA. In 1937 (or 1938), he emigrated to the USA with his wife.

He taught at the Aspen Music School (1951–1954) and the Berkshire (now Tanglewood) Music Center, where he also served as director while continuing to perform with Vronsky. From 1954, he played in the Festival Quartet alongside N. Graudan, S. Goldberg, and W. Primrose. Between 1961 and 1972, he was the director and a professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Among his students were P. Schenly, J. Jones, and O. Radosavljevich.

Babin’s solo repertoire included works by classical and contemporary composers such as S. Prokofiev, C. Debussy, I. Stravinsky, and E. Krenek, as well as his own compositions. He wrote over 50 works, including piano concertos, a violin concerto, pieces for solo piano or two pianos (such as Sonata-Fantasia, Variations on a Theme by Beethoven, March, and Fantasia on Old Themes), a sonata for cello and piano, chamber music, and a song cycle Beloved Stranger on poems by Witter Bynner. He also arranged works by J. S. Bach, I. Stravinsky, and S. Rachmaninoff for two pianos.

Discography:

Suite No. 2 by S. Rachmaninoff for two pianos, recorded at HMV in 1936

Vitya Vronsky & Victor Babin, Two Pianos, HMV (1962)

Liebeslieder Waltzes by Brahms and other recordings with RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca, and EMI

Literature:

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 1

Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, London, 1978, p. 20

SKV, p. 20