Prometey Ionovich Chistalyov

Prometey Ionovich Chistalyov was a composer, musicologist and folklorist. He was born on 27 February 1921 in the settlement of Nyuvchim, Ust-Sysolsky Uyezd, Vologda Governorate (now Syktyvdinsky District of the Komi Republic), into a family of intellectuals. In 1938, after finishing secondary school, he enrolled in the physics and mathematics faculty of the Komi State Pedagogical Institute.

In 1940 Chistalyov moved to the village of Vizinga (Sysolsky District) and taught mathematics. From October 1940 to July 1946 he served in the military and took part in the fighting on the 3rd Baltic Front (1944–1945). After demobilization he worked as a mathematics teacher at the Nyuvchim school and graduated from the Pedagogical Institute by correspondence in 1952. That same year he moved to Syktyvkar, where he taught mathematics and physics at the music college (now the Republican College of Arts). In 1955 he became the director of the college. At the same time he studied music there.

From 1960 to 1982 Chistalyov worked as a research fellow at the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he collected, studied, and promoted the music of the Permic peoples and Komi folk musical instruments. Together with A. K. Mikushev and Yu. G. Rochev he participated in the creation of the three-volume edition "Komi Folk Songs." Beginning in 1949, Chistalyov composed more than a hundred songs, orchestral and instrumental works, as well as musical-dramatic pieces: the musical comedy "Flowers in the Snow," the opera-fairy tale "The Terrible Beast," and the radio opera "Vasya the Helper." Prometey Ionovich Chistalyov died on 11 August 1988 and was buried in Syktyvkar.