heavily resemble those of Mussorgsky. After his years at the conservatory he began to wander away from the composers of the past and push forward to new ideas that were still being hinted at by 19th century composers. In his second Piano Sonata he began exploring asymmetrical time signatures such as 11/8, and he fully explores the tonality of his works, while relying on harmonic and melodic tension derived from the complete use of octatonic, whole-tone, as well as diatonic and modal collections. He reciprocated these concepts by featuring Russian folk songs as the melodies in his music, quite similar to the works of Stravinsky during the same time frame. Near his last years, his music had reached a peak of its own, combining what he had learned and creating music that was very polyphonic at its base form. It is acclaimed that Russian music had suffered a great blow following his death. Early death He drowned outside Logachyovo, Russia, but it is not known if he intentionally took his own life. As a child he was often sickly and had to forgo trips to Moscow and other major cities. According to Elena Bai's story, Alexey was supposed to come to her on September 22, 1914. Stanchinsky's mother was against this meeting, did not let Alexei go. According to Vera Glinka, who was visiting (the daughter of Mikhail Glinka's cousin, with whom Alexei was associated with friendly and creative interests), Stanchinsky did not obey and went into the night. As sister Lydia Stanchinskaya wrote, Alexei was found the next day “... dead on the bank of the river 15 miles from Logachev, in wet clothes. According to the mother, the paramedic who arrived at the scene determined death from heart paralysis. " Apparently, Stanchinsky had to wade the river, September was cold, and his body could not stand it (Stanchinsky had a weak heart). References External links Biography at answers.com List of works Composers from the Russian Empire 1888 births 1914 deaths Deaths by drowning