Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky (20 April 1881 – 8 August 1950) was a Russian and Soviet composer, often hailed as the "Father of the Soviet Symphony." Born in Nowogieorgiewsk, near Warsaw in the Russian Empire, Myaskovsky was the son of an engineer officer in the Russian army. Following his mother's death, he and his siblings were raised by his aunt, Yelikonida Konstantinovna Myaskovskaya, a former singer at the Saint Petersburg Opera. The family relocated to Saint Petersburg during his teenage years.

Despite early musical training in piano and violin, Myaskovsky initially pursued a military career, completing his engineering training in 1902. However, a transformative experience at a performance of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony in 1896 inspired him to become a composer. He took private lessons with Reinhold Glière and later studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory under Anatoly Lyadov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, where he became close friends with Sergei Prokofiev.

Myaskovsky's early works were influenced by Tchaikovsky and Alexander Scriabin, evident in his first surviving symphony and First Piano Sonata. He graduated from the conservatory in 1911 and embarked on a career as a teacher and music critic. Throughout his life, Myaskovsky was awarded the Stalin Prize five times, cementing his legacy as a significant figure in Soviet music.