Russian pianist and composer, born in 1872, died 1915.
Rather influenced by
Fryderyk Chopin but added many elements of his own.
Some pretty radical musical ideas that were in some sense
akin to
Arnold Schönberg's, although he had a hard time expressing
them in his own music. He had some influence on later russian
composers, such as
Sergey Prokofiev.
His works include the symphonic poems
Poème de l'extase
and
Prometheus.
Some of his very strange philosophical theories include
viewing himself as some kind of
mystical messiah of a
new, cosmic artform. He also had a very nice
beard.