Vera Timanova

Who was Vera Timanova?

Vera Viktorovna Timanova was a Russian pianist.

Vera Timanova was born into a well-to-do family in Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia, where she spent her childhood. She showed musical aptitude at an early age, and at age six began taking piano instruction from local teachers, with her first public performance at the age of only nine. About this concert she wrote in her autobiography "The announcement of the concert made a splash in the city. Tickets sold briskly and I earned my first thousand roubles. I performed Mozart's Concerto and several pieces. The success was complete".

The child prodigy came to the attention of composer Anton Rubinstein, who spoke highly of her potential. The two went on to become close friends. Rubinstein's recommendation led to Timanova being sponsored by a local merchant to attend Carl Tausig's School of Advanced Piano Playing in Berlin. Subsequently, Timanova studied with Franz Liszt in Budapest and became a prominent performer in Russia, France, Austria, Britain, Germany and Turkey, while periodically returning to Ufa to perform; the last such trip was in 1896.

Among Timanova's other prominent admirers were Alexander Borodin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who dedicated the Scherzo humoristique, part of his Six Pieces for Piano Solo, Op. 19 to her. In addition to her friendship with Rubinstein, Timanova was also very close to Czech conductor and composer Eduard Nápravník. His Fantaisie, written for Timanova, is a virtuosic 12-minute work based on three Russian folk songs including The Song of the Volga Boatmen.