As we follow the saga of a certain wild-partying entertainer, WNYC’s Sara Fishko considers the case of Anton Arensky. The somewhat disreputable Russian composer wrote music, lived hard – and died young.   Here is the next Fishko Files.

The Danny Kaye Radio Show - Russian Composers

 There’s Malichevsky, Rubinstein, Arensky and Tchaikovsky,
Sapelnikoff, Dimitrieff, Tscherepnin, Kryjanowsky,
Godoswsky, Arteiboucheff, Moniuszko, Akimenko,
Solovieff, Prokofieff, Tiomkin, Korestchenko.

There’s Glinka, Winkler, Bortniansky, Rebikoff, Ilyinsky,
There’s Medtner, Balakireff, Zolotareff, and Kvoschinsky.
And Sokoloff and Kopyloff, Dukelsky, and Klenowsky,
And Shostakovitsch, Borodine, Glière, and Nowakofski.

There’s Liadoff and Karganoff, Markievitch, Pantschenko
And Dargomyzski, Stcherbatcheff, Scriabine, Vassilenko,
Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Mussorgsky, and Gretchaninoff
And Glazounoff and Caesar Cui, Kalinkikoff, Rachmaninoff.

Stravinsky and Gretchnaninoff,
Rumshinsky and Rachmaninoff,
I really have to stop, the subject has been dwelt upon enough!

He’d better stop because we feel we all have undergone enough!

More from the speaker in this week's Fishko Files...

• Richard Taruskin is a Professor of Musicology at U.C. Berkeley. His book, On Russian Music, is available here.

Pieces in Anton Arensky

• Arensky, Piano trio no. 1 in d minor, Beaux Arts Trio, Philips
• Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin, Tchaikovsky and Other Russians, Danny Kaye, ASV
• Arensky, Serenade, Mischa Elman violin, Vanguard Classics
• Arensky, Intermezzo in g minor, opus 13, USSR Symphony, Svetlanov cond., BMG Classics
• Arensky, Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, London Symphony Orchestra, Barbirolli cond., EMI Classics
• Arensky, Waltz from Two-Piano Suite Op. 15, Bauer and Gabriowitsch, pianos, VAI
• Arensky, Piano Concerto in f minor, Scherbakov, piano, Russian Philharmonic, Yablonsky cond., Naxos
• Arensky, Violin Concerto in a minor, opus 54, Gringolts, violin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Volkov cond., Hyperion

WNYC Production Credits...

Mix Engineer: Wayne Shulmister

Assistant Producer: Laura Mayer

Managing Editor, WNYC News: Karen Frillmann