Alexander Mosolov (1900–1973), a composer of the early Soviet era, known best for his piano sonatas, orchestral episodes, and vocal music, is considered the prime representative of the Russian Futurism. He was born in Kiev, but his family moved later to Moscow, where his mother worked at the Bolshoi Theater. Mosolov studied at the Moscow Conservatory and achieved his greatest fame in the Soviet Union and around the world for his 1926 composition, Factory: machine-music, Op. 19. Later conflicts with Soviet authorities led to his expulsion from the Composers’ Union in 1936 and imprisonment in the Gulag in 1937. Following an early release, which had been argued for by his Conservatory teachers, Mosolov turned his attention to setting Turkmen and Kyrgyz folk tunes for orchestra. His later music conformed to the Soviet aesthetic to a much greater degree, but he never regained the success of his early career.
Mosolov’s works include five piano sonatas (only four of which are extant), two piano concerti (only one movement exists of the second piano concerto), two cello concertos, a harp concerto, four string quartets, twelve orchestral suites, eight symphonies, and a substantial number of choral and voice pieces.