Puchalski Wladimir, Włodzimierz, Wiaczesławowicz, *2 April (21 March) 1848 Minsk, †23 February 1933 Kyiv, Russian pianist, composer and teacher of Polish origin. In 1874, he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied under T. Leschetizky (piano), J. Johanssen and N. Zaremba (theory of music and composition). He taught piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1874–76) and in Kyiv (1876–1933). He taught piano classes at the school of the Russian Musical Society in Kyiv and the conservatory that was established from it in 1913. In 1913–14, he served as the first director of that school; after the revolution, he was its dean of the performance department, and in 1928, he received the title of professor. He contributed to the development of musical life in Kyiv and Ukraine. He developed the principles of Leschetizky’s piano playing, bringing them closer to the method of L. Deppe. His students included, among others: A. Brailowsky, W. Horowitz, J. Isserlis, G. Kogan, K. Mikhailov and L. Nikolayev, and theoreticians – A. Alshwang and B. Jaworski. Puchalski as a composer did not gain much importance. He is the author of the opera Valeria (after I. Turgenev, staged in Kyiv in 1923), Ukrainian Fantasy for orchestra, a piano concerto, studies, piano miniatures and songs.
