Vasily Bessel

Who was Vasily Bessel?

Vasily Vasil’yevich Bessel was a Russian music publisher.

Bessel graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1865 studying violin with Henryk Wieniawski and viola with Hieronymus Weickmann.

He co-founded the thriving publishing firm V. Bessel and Co. and a print shop, which published works by prominent Russian composers, notably Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Anton Rubinstein, Alexander Dargomyzhsky and the members of the New Russian Musical School—Modest Musorgsky, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, César Cui, Mily Balakirev, and Alexander Borodin.

He was the journal’s publisher and also the sole editor of a weekly St Petersburg magazine “Muzykal’ny listok” [The Musical Leaf] from September 3, 1872 to June 5, 1877, that appeared on Sundays during the nine-month Russian musical season, from September/October to May/June. The journal’s purpose was to offer an in-depth view of the many aspects of Russian and foreign musical life. Later he published the journal “Muzykal’noye obozrenie” [The musical revue]. He also wrote a book; “Notnoe delo” [The Note Matter], published in 1901.