Khandoshkin, Ivan (Yevstafievich)

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Khandoshkin, Ivan (Yevstafievich)

Khandoshkin, Ivan (Yevstafievich), Russian violinist and composer; b. 1747; d. St. Petersburg, March 28, 1804. He was a liberated serf. He studied in St. Petersburg with an Italian musician, Tito Porta, then was sent to Italy, where he was a student at Tartini’s school in Padua. Returning to Russia in 1765, he became a violinist at the St. Petersburg Imperial Chapel. He then concertmaster of the Court Orch. (1773), and also taught violin at the Academy of Arts there, and later in Moscow and Ekaterinoslav. His position in Russian musical life was highly unusual for a man of his origin. He was the first Russian violin virtuoso, and the first to write instrumental music on Russian folk themes. He publ. 6 sonates pour deux violons (Amsterdam, 1781), Chansons russes variées pour violon et basse (Amsterdam, 1781), and Nouvelles variations sur des chansons russes for Violin (St. Petersburg, 1784).

Bibliography

A. Mischakoff, K. and the Beginning of Russian String Music (Ann Arbor, 1983).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire