Music in the Life and Works of Boris Leonidovich Pasternak

Abstract: This article describes how the life and works of Boris Pasternak were strongly connected with music. Pasternak began his artistic career as a musician, namely a pianist and student of composition. His interest in music was contributed by his acquaintance with the composer Alexander Scriabin, who made a strong impression on the young Pasternak and inspired him to music. Pasternak devoted several chapters to Scriabin in his short prose Safe Conduct and Essay in Autobiography. A few years later, when Pasternak gave up music, his sense of the musicality of the verse remained in his poetry. Even in his prose work, we can find several passages that mention music or musicians. Pasternak uses musical examples to describe the outer and inner world of his literary heroes. This article focuses on Pasternak's prose work, especially on the novel Doctor Zhivago and the autobiographical works Safe Conduct and Essay in Autobiography, but also gives a very few examples from his rich poetry. Keywords: Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago, Scriabin, Musicality of the verse