Anna Aleksandrova-Levenson

Anna Aleksandrova-Levenson, born Aleksandra Yakovlevna Levenson, was a Russian pianist and teacher. She is primarily remembered for her close association with the renowned composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who was her teacher and with whom she maintained a lifelong correspondence.

She graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1878. During her studies, she had the distinction of being a student in Tchaikovsky's harmony and instrumentation classes, and she studied piano under the tutelage of Karl Klindworth. After graduating, she embarked on a teaching career in various educational institutions in Moscow. Her professional relationship with Tchaikovsky continued, and he recommended her for a position as a music teacher to his friend Nikolay Kondratyev on his estate at Nizy.

Anna married Nikolay Aleksandrovich Aleksandrov (1858–1936), a chemistry teacher who later became a professor of pharmacology at Tomsk University. Their son, Anatoly Nikolayevich Aleksandrov (1888–1982), became a famous composer and musicologist. He notably contributed to the preservation of Tchaikovsky's legacy by editing the composer's string quartets for volume 31 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works in 1955.

A significant aspect of her historical importance lies in her correspondence with Tchaikovsky. A total of 33 letters from Tchaikovsky to her, dating from 1877 to 1893, have survived and been published. Conversely, 55 of her letters to the composer, written between 1880 and 1893, are preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin. Based on this connection, she also published several articles containing her memories of the composer and some of his unpublished letters.

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