Description Akimenko (1876 – 1945) was a Ukranian by birth. He was taught by Rimsky Korsakoff, Liadov, Vitols and Balakirev at St.Petersburg. All his teachers had a great interest in Russian folksong and undoubtedly passed on this interest and knowledge to Akimenko. Likewise Akimenko became a composition teacher and in his turn passed on this interest to his pupils, the most well known being Igor Stravinsky (Akimenko was his first composition teacher, handing Stravinsky over to Rimsky Korsakoff later as he advanced). Akimenko was known as a teacher, musicologist and pianist. His main compositional output was of miniatures, mainly for piano. These 3 pieces were originally written for piano solo and show a decidedly folk music orientation. He spent most of his later life in Paris, in fact a total 19 of his 69 years were spent in Paris, where he died in 1945.
