Razumovsky, Count, later Prince Andrei

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Razumovsky, Count, later Prince Andrei

Razumovsky, Count , later Prince Andrei , Russian diplomat and music patron; b. St. Petersburg, Nov. 2, 1752; d. Vienna, Sept. 23, 1836. He was the Russian ambassador at Vienna from 1793 to 1809. He founded the celebrated Razumovsky Quartet (1808; first violin, Schuppanzigh; second violin, Louis Sina, whose part was occasionally taken over by Razumovsky; viola, Weiss; cello, Lincke), later known as the Schuppanzigh Quartet (without Razumovsky). Razumovsky’s name was immortalized through the dedication to him of Beethoven’s 3 string quartets, op. 59, and (with Prince Lobkowitz) the 5th and 6th Syms. He was a munificent and prodigal patron of art, but after the destruction by fire of his Vienna palace (Dec. 31, 1814) he gave up the quartet, and disappeared from musical history.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire