Composer · 1835 - 1918
Cesar Cui
Biography
Cesar Cui
(b Vilnius, 6/18 Jan 1835; d Petrograd [St Petersburg], 26 March 1918). Russian composer and critic of Franco-Lithuanian descent.
His father, an officer in the French Army, remained in Russia after Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in 1812, married a Lithuanian, Julia Gucewicz, and lived at Vilnius, where he taught French at the gymnasium. César received his early general education there, at the same time studying the piano. After a few months of harmony and counterpoint lessons from Moniuszko he entered the Engineering School at St Petersburg in 1851, and later studied at the Academy of Military Engineering (1855–7); on graduating he was appointed lecturer, and in 1879 professor. He was an acknowledged expert on fortifications, and his writings on the subject were widely acclaimed.