Exposition

Russian Paganini of the Catharina the Great court. Why Ivan Yevstafyevich Khandoshkin was called: ‘The finnest Russian violinist of 18th century'? Analysis of the Three Solo Sonatas op. 3. (2021)

Aleksandra Kwiatkowska
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About this exposition

The Violin Solo Sonatas op. 3, composed approximately in the 1780s by the Russian composer Ivan Khandoshkin, take up an exceptional place in music history. In the last decades of the eighteenth century, Western European sonatas were mainly composed for fortepiano solo or fortepiano with an accompanying other instrument such as violin. Music of the sonata genre was featured by its simplicity and homophonic textures. Khandoshkin’s Sonatas, however, present us with rather unusual features for those times. This music for solo violin includes dominating polyphonic textures, double stops, many dissonances and improvisational moments. One could say that Khandoshkin stayed in the traditional, baroque style and did not follow revolutionary developments of the classical era. By analysing the Violin Solo Sonatas and studying the historical background of the composer’s life, I realized that Khandoshkin consciously chose not to follow the one dominating style of the Western music world. Instead, in the Solo Sonatas he successfully combined baroque, classical music features and therefore, created his unique style by inspiring his music on Russian sentimentalism. Moreover, in his sonatas, he expanded many violin techniques which were inspired by playing on Russian traditional instruments such us balalaika or gudok. These technical moments were unplayable for many violinists during these times and they are even challenging for violin players of today. By presenting this unknown music on my CD and sharing my knowledge of Khandoshkin’s Sonatas in my Master thesis, I hope to encourage other musicians to explore this unusual repertoire in greater depth.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsKhandoshkin, Russian music, Violin Solo Sonatas, Russian Virtuoso, Art of Interpretation
date23/11/2020
published07/06/2021
last modified07/06/2021
statuslimited publication
share statusprivate
copyrightAleksandra Kwiatkowska
licenseAll rights reserved
languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1057061/1057062
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue1. Master Research Projects


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