Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (, Nikoláj Kárlovič Métner; 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. After a period of comparative obscurity in the 25 years immediately after his death, he is now becoming recognized as one of the most significant Russian composers for the piano. A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano. His works include 14 piano sonatas, three violin sonatas, three piano concerti, a piano quintet, two works for two pianos, many shorter piano pieces, a few shorter works for violin and piano, and 108 songs including two substantial works for vocalise. His 38 Skazki (generally known as "Fairy Tales" in English but more correctly translated as "Tales") for piano solo contain some of his most original music. Biography Nikolai Medtner was born in Moscow on 24 December 1879, according to the Julian calendar; 5 January 1880 by the Gregorian calendar. He was the son of Karl Petrovich Medtner (1846–1921) and Alexandra Karlovna Goedicke (1843–1918), the fifth of their six children. Medtner first took piano lessons from his mother until the age of ten. He also had lessons from his mother's brother Fyodor Goedicke (the father of his more famous cousin Alexander Goedicke). He then entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1891, and graduated nine years later in 1900 at the age of 20, receiving the Anton Rubinstein prize, having studied under Pavel Pabst, Wassily Sapellnikoff, Vasily Safonov and Sergei Taneyev among others. Despite his conservative musical tastes, Medtner's compositions and his pianism were highly regarded by his contemporaries. With the support of Taneyev, Medtner rejected a career as a performer and turned to composition, partly inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven's late piano sonatas and string quartets. His composing career began professionally in 1903, when he began publishing his first music, and it began receiving its first performances. With the publication of his First Piano Sonata in F minor, he was noticed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, who would remain a friend of Medtner's throughout his life, as well as a supporter of his composing. Among his students in this period was Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. During the years leading up to the 1917 Russian Revolution, Medtner lived at home with his parents. During this period he fell in love with Anna Mikhaylovna Bratenskaya (1877–1965), a respected violinist and the young wife of his older brother