Igor Markevitch
Igor Borisovich Markevitch (
Markevitch settled in Italy during World War II. After the war, he moved to Switzerland. He had an international conducting career from there. He was married twice and had three sons and two daughters.
Origin
He was born in
Career
Markevitch gained important recognition in 1929 when choreographer-impresario
He produced at least one major work per year during the 1930s. He was rated among the leading contemporary composers of the time, even to the extent of being hailed as "the second Igor", after
Markevitch continued composing as war approached, but in October 1941, not long after completing his last original work, the Variations, Fugue and Envoi on a Theme of Handel for piano, he fell seriously ill. After recovering, he decided to give up the composition and focus exclusively on conducting. His last compositional projects were the revision of L'envol d'Icare and arrangements of other composers' music. His version of J. S. Bach's Musikalisches Opfer (Musical Offering) is especially notable.
He had débuted as a conductor at age 18 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. After presiding at the Dutch premiere of Rébus, Markevitch had studied conducting with Pierre Monteux and Hermann Scherchen.[9] As a conductor, he was much admired for his interpretations of the French, Russian and Austro-German repertory, and of twentieth-century music in general.
He settled in Italy, and during the
In 1970, after ignoring his own compositions for nearly 30 years, Markevitch began to conduct his own music frequently, triggering its slow revival. His last concert was in Kiev, his birthplace. He died suddenly from a heart attack in Antibes on 7 March 1983, after a concert tour in Japan and Russia.
Family
A great-great-grandfather,
The Ukrainian Markevitch (also spelled in Polish as Markiewicz) family is believed to have originated 300 years ago from a common paternal ancestor and his wife. Their ethnicity is disputed as Polish, Ukrainian, or Serbian, as the patronymic name is widespread among central European peoples.[10][11]
In Budapest on 20 April 1936 Markevitch married Kyra Nijinsky (19 June 1914 – 1 September 1998), daughter of the great ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and his wife Romola de Pulszky.[12][13] they had a son Vaslav Markevitch (20 January 1937 – 12 January 2024 [14]) before they divorced.
Secondly, Markevitch married in Lausanne on 22 July 1947 Donna Topazia Caetani (1921 – 1990), the only child of Don Michelangelo Caetani dei Duchi di Sermoneta and his wife, the former Cora Antinori.[15] Cora Caetani ran the boutique of Jansen, the Paris decorating firm. Their son, Oleg Caetani Markevitch (b. 1956), became chief conductor and artistic director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia. They also had two daughters together: Allegra (b. 1950) and Natalia (Nathalie, b. 1951), and another son, Timour Markevitch (1960–1962).
Works
Compositions
- Noces, suite for piano (1925)
- Sinfonietta in F major (1928-9)
- Piano Concerto (1929)
- Cantate for soprano, male chorus & orchestra (1929–30) (text by Jean Cocteau)
- Concerto Grosso (1930)
- Partita for piano and small orchestra (1930–31)
- Serenade for violin, clarinet and bassoon (1931)
- Rébus, ballet (1931)
- Cinéma-Ouverture (1931)
- Galop for 8 or 9 players (1932)
- L'envol d'Icare, ballet (1932); recomposed as Icare (1943)
- Hymnes for orchestra (1932–33) (revised version 1980 with ad lib contralto and extra movement orchestrated from No. 3 of Trois poèmes of 1935)
- Petite suite d’apres Schumann for small orchestra (1933)
- Psaume for soprano and small orchestra (1933)
- Le paradis perdu, oratorio (1934–35) (text by Markevitch after John Milton)
- Trois poèmes for high voice and piano (1935) (texts by Cocteau, Goethe); No.3 orchestrated 1936 as Hymne à la mort, incorporated 1980 into Hymnes for orchestra
- Cantique d’amour for orchestra (1936)
- Le nouvel âge, sinfonia concertante for orchestra with 2 pianos (1937)
- La Taille de l’homme, 'concert inachevée' for soprano and 12 instruments (1938–39, unfinished, but Part I complete and performable)
- Stefan le poète, 'impressions d’enfance' pour piano (1939–40)
- Lorenzo il magnifico, sinfonia concertante for soprano and orchestra (1940) (texts by Lorenzo de Medici)
- Variations, Fugue et Envoi on a Theme of Handelfor piano (1941)
- Le Bleu Danube, valse de concert on themes by Johann Strauss (1944)
- 6 Songs of Mussorgskyarranged for voice and orchestra (1945)
- BWV 1079 by Johann Sebastian Bacharranged for triple orchestra (1949–50)
Theory
- Die Sinfonien von Ludwig van Beethoven: historische, analytische und praktische Studien (The Symphonies of Beethoven: Historical, Analytical, and Practical Studies) — published by Edition Peters, Leipzig, 1982
Sources
- The New York Times
- Tempo 133/4 (September 1980) Igor Markevitch double issue.
- Birth centenary exhibition "Igor Markevitch compositeur et chef d'orchestre 1912/2012" Château de Chillon, Switzerland. Catalogue.
References
- Newspapers.com.
Igor Markevitch, the Russian-born composer and conductor...
- Newspapers.com.
The Russian-born conductor-composer Igor Markevitch...
- Newspapers.com.
De origen ruso y naturalizado italiano...
- ^ 'Igor Markevitch: A Chronology', Tempo 133/4, p. 10.
- ISBN 9780767931373. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- ^ 'Icare' by Clive Bennett in Tempo No. 133/134 (September 1980), p. 45.
- ^ "Igor Markevitch". Naxos.com. Naxos Music Group. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- ^ Bennett, 1980, p. 4.
- ^ Lyndon-Gee, C. Liner notes for Marco Polo CD 8.223666 Complete Orchestral Music Vol 2, 1996; taken from research by David Drew, Tempo 133-134, September 1980.
- ^ [1] Archived 2019-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, Muzeysheremetievyh United Kingdom
- ^ [2] Archived October 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Nadine Meisner (1998-10-22). "Obituary: Kyra Nijinsky - Arts & Entertainment". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- ^ "Kyra Nijinsky". Mijnstambomen.nl. 1936-04-24. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- ^ Family. "Obituary".
- Aldo Moro kidnapping, now transcend the level of rumours.
External links
- Igor Markevitch at AllMusic
- Igor Markevitch discography at Discogs
- Igor Markevitch biography at Boosey & Hawkes
- Igor Markevitch biography at Classical Composers Database
- František Sláma (musician) Archive. More on the history of the Czech Philharmonic between the 1940s and the 1980s: Conductors