Isaak Glikman

Isaac Davydovich Glikman (1911–2003) was a Soviet literary critic, theater critic, librettist, screenwriter, and teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was a close friend of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Glikman was born in 1911 in Vitebsk, in the family of Jewish actor David Glikman.

He graduated from philology faculty of the Leningrad University. It was while working in an administrative capacity for the Leningrad Philharmonia's Mass Education Unit that he first met Shostakovich in 1931; he then became his literary consultant and unofficial secretary. In the 1940s he headed the literary section of the Maly Opera Theater. Collaborating with composers, librettists and directors, he helped to create new stage works, among them Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace. He wrote screenplays for famous operas and operettas, and worked for many years as a music consultant and editor at Lenfilm.