Nikolai Roslavetz

Early 20th-Century Ukrainian Avant-Garde Composer

Nikolai Andreyevich Roslavets (1881–1944) was a significant early Soviet avant-garde composer who played a notable role in the Russian futurist movement. He is often considered the "Russian Schoenberg" for his development of a highly complex and individual compositional system that has been likened to Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, although Roslavets's method predates Schoenberg's. His music was largely neglected after his death, partly due to the political climate of the time and the Soviet Union's growing preference for Socialist Realism in the arts, which led to the suppression of his works.