Volkonsky, Andrei (EN)

Volkonsky Andrei Mikhaylovich, *14 February 1933 Geneva, †16 September 2008 Aix-en-Provence, Russian composer and harpsichordist. He came from an aristocratic Russian family. He studied piano playing from J. Auber in Geneva in 1944–45, and later, from 1945, he studied at the Paris Conservatory under D. Lipatti (piano) and N. Boulanger (composition). He came back to the USSR with his family in 1947, graduated from the piano class at the Tambov Conservatory and studied composition under Y. Shaporin in 1950–54 at the Moscow Conservatory, which he was expelled from before obtaining a diploma. In the late 1950s, he established contact with A. Webern’s student Ph. Herschkowitz, who lived in Moscow, and played an important role in nonconformist artistic circles. The composer’s interests in avant-garde European music were against the cultural policy of the USSR at that time, and as a result, the performance of his works was banned from 1964. Volkonsky left the country permanently in 1973, he lived in Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy; he settled in Aix-en-Provence in 1987. He founded ensembles performing early music: the pioneering ensemble Madrigal in 1964 in Moscow, and the trio Hoc Opus in 1981 in Geneva. He was active in the Belyayev Foundation from 1976, which helps young musicians. He also performed as a pianist, harpsichordist, organist and conductor.

The period from 1949 to 56 is considered the neoclassical stage of Volkonsky’s work. The second stage (from 1956) is characterised with the use of dodecaphonic technique (Musica stricta), and the third covers the years of emigration: the composer combined various musical styles, from dodecaphony to modal shaping. His compositional work is also distinguished by his sensitivity to tone colour. Volkonsky was an outstanding harpsichordist, making recordings both as a soloist (including J.S. Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier) and as a chamber musician.

Literature: F. Druzhinin Andriej Wołkonskij. Wospominanija. Stranicy żyzni i tworczestwa, Moscow 2001; Y. Kholopov Andrei Volkonsky the initiator: a profile of his life and work, in: “Ex oriente– -II”: nine composers from the former USSR: Valentin Silvestrov, Roman Ledenyov, Faraj Karayev, Victor Ekimovsky, Nikolai Karetnikov, Alemdar Karamanov, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Sergei Slonimsky, Andrei Volkonsky, transl. from Russian by R. Kohanovskaya, ed. V. Tsenova, Berlin 2003; P.J. Schmelz Andrey Volkonsky and the Beginnings of Unofficial Music and Denisov’s Laments, Volkonsky’s Rejoinder, in: P.J. Schmelz Such Freedom, if only Musical. Unofficial Soviet Music during the Thaw, New York 2009; E. Dubiniec Kniaz’ Andriej Wołkonskij. Partitura żyzni, Moscow 2010.