SERGEI MIKHAILOVICH LYAPUNOV  

Liapunov had Tchaikovsky among his teachers at the Moscow Conservatory, later moving to St. Petersburg, where he came under the direct influence of Balakirev, the dictatorial leader of the Russian nationalist Mighty Handful. He taught later at the Conservatory, but left Russia after the Revolution, teaching in Paris until his death in 1924. He wrote extensively for the piano, with an impressive set of Twelve Studies completed in 1905 and a number of character pieces, in which his interest in Russian folksong is often apparent.