Yuliya Veysberg


Yuliya Lazarevna Veysberg was a music critic and composer.

Life and career

Yuliya Veysberg was born in Orenburg, Russian Empire. She studied at the Women's University, and in 1912 graduated from St. Petersburg Conservatory where she studied composition under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. From 1912 to 1914 she continued her studies in Berlin with Engelbert Humperdinck and Max Reger.
She returned to St. Petersburg and subsequently married Andrey Rimsky-Korsakov, musicologist and son of Rimsky-Korsakov, and from 1915 to 1917 served on the editorial board of, and contributed reviews to, the first Russian music magazine, Muzïkal'nïy sovremennik, which the couple founded. She and her son, Vsevolod Rimsky-Korsakov, died in World War II during the Siege of Leningrad conducted by Nazi German troops.

Works

Veysberg's compositions included vocal works, a symphony, a scherzo, and a fantasia. Selected works include:
  • At Night
  • Chinese songs
  • Chanson d'automne: Les sanglots longs, op. 2 no. 1
  • Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit, op. 2 no. 1
She also produced several operas, such as:

Recordings

Fifteen of Veysberg's art songs were released in 2025 on the album Yulia: Forgotten Songs of Yulia Weissberg Rimsky-Korsakov by soprano Sarah Moulton Faux and pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski, produced and engineered by Judith Sherman. It includes the "Rautendelein" cycle, songs based on Chinese poetry, and settings of texts by Sophia Parnok and Sarojini Naidu.