Alexander Gretchaninov

Alexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (Александр Тихонович Гречанинов) (October 25 N.S. 1864 Moscow, – January 3, 1956 New York) was a conservative Russian Romantic composer. Gretchaninov started his musical studies rather late because his father, a businessman, had expected the boy to take over the family firm. Gretchaninov himself related that he did not see a piano until he was 14 and began his studies at the Moscow Conservatory in 1881 against his parents' wishes and without their knowledge.