Russian Music Society

Russian Music Society. Formed in Saint Petersburg in 1859, the society was dedicated to the development of refined musical taste and talent in the Russian Empire. It subsequently established branches in Kyiv (1863), Kharkiv (1871), and Odesa (1884). These played a leading role in the music life of each center through the establishment of music schools and the sponsorship of concert programs. In 1913 the society's music schools in Kyiv and Odesa were turned into full conservatories (see Kyiv Conservatory and Odesa Conservatory). The society was disbanded throughout the Russian Empire in 1917 with the outbreak of the revolution. The activities of the Kyiv branch are described in M. Kuzmin's Zabuti storinky muzychnoho zhyttia Kyieva (The Forgotten Pages of the Musical Life of Kyiv, 1972).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]