Paul Juon

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Paul Juon (Russian: Павел Фёдорович Юон March 6, 1872–August 21, 1940) was a Moscow-born composer and student of Anton Arensky, Sergei Taneyev and Woldemar Bargiel. His younger brother Konstantin Yuon was a notable painter.

He entered conservatory in 1889, where he studied violin with Jan Hrimaly. His first (privately) printed works, two Romanzen (lieder) appeared in 1894, the year he began studies with Bargiel. Several years later he moved to Berlin, and in 1934 from there to Switzerland. During his time in Berlin he was a composition professor, his students including Heinrich Kaminski (substantial works of whose have been revived, published and recorded ([1], [2], [3]), Stefan Wolpe, Philipp Jarnach and Gunnar Johansen. He moved to Switzerland in 1934 and died in Vevey.

His works include sonatas for viola, cello, winds, and three for violin (the third was recorded on a multi-LP set called Musik zwischen den Kriegen : eine Berliner Dokumentation), four symphonies (including one in manuscript) and also a chamber symphony, four string quartets, several piano trios, piano quartets and piano quintets as well as one sextet for piano and strings from 1902 and a wind quintet, a number of concerted works including three violin concerti and a triple concerto with piano trio (another in the line of concertos from Beethoven's onwards, like those by Benjamin Frankel and Nikolai Tcherepnin also), many piano works and lieder, and a number of stage works including an opera Aleko.

Several of these works have been recorded on compact disc, including several of the sonatas, two of the concertos, all four string quartets and all of the piano trios.