Иван Евстафьевич Хандошкин

Ivan Yevstafyevich Khandoshkin (Ukrainian: Іван Остапович Хандошко) (1747 – 29 or 30 March 1804) was born in the village Velykyi Pereviz near Myrhorod. He was a Russian Empire violinist and composer of Ukrainian Cossack origin. Ivan studied under Tito Porta with other Italian influences being Domenico dall’Oglio and Pietro Peri. He was a musician at the Russian court from 1765, of which he later became kapellmeister, and he taught violin at the Academy of Fine Arts. He and Potyomkin founded a music academy in Yekaterinoslav in 1785, but this endeavor failed, and Khandoshkin returned to St. Petersburg in 1789. Ivan was born as a serf but eventually achieved freedom through his music in the court of Tsar Peter III. As it turns out Tsar Peter was quite a music fan. When his wife, Catherine, forcefully overtook the throne he said that all he wanted was his mistress, his negro, his dog, and his violin. Ivan remained as the court musician. His most notable works are six violin sonatas and several pieces based on folk songs. He is famous for being one of, if not the first, musical folklorist of the western world. His devotion to writing Russian folk songs can probably be attributed to his background. His music (primarily for the violin) is comparable to music by his contemporaries such as Giuseppe Tartini's student, Antonio Lolli (whose stunts on the violin preceded Paganini), Gaetano Pugnani, Ludwig Spohr, and many others. His music was unfamiliar to the average western ear until recently, when violinist Anastasia Khitruk discovered some of the sheet music and began performing several works, and later recorded them for Naxos #8.570028 in St. Petersburg at St. Cathrine's Church in 2005. The so-called "Khandoshkin's viola concerto in C Major, written in 1801" published for the first time by the State Publishing House, Moscow, in 1947 and released in the former Soviet Union on Melodya, with Rudolf Barshai, playing viola and conducting the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in reality is not a Khandoshkin' composition, but a musical hoax by Mikhail Goldstein. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.