Ivan Khandoshkin

Ivan Yevstafyevich Khandoshkin ( _ru. Иван Евстафьевич Хандошкин) (1747 - March 29 or 30, 1804) was a Russian violinist and composer. He has been described as "the finest Russian violinist of the eighteenth century". He 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.Geoffrey Norris, "Ivan Khandoshkin". "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" online.]

Ivan was born as a serf but eventualy acheived 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 6 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 writting upon Russian folk songs can probably be attributed to his background. His music (primarily for the violin) is comperable to music by his contemporaries such as Guissepe Tartini's student, Antonio Lolli (whose stunts on the violin preceded Paganini), Gaetano Pugnani, Ludwig Spohr, and many others. His music is unfortunately unfamiliar to the average western ear. . [ [http://www.naxos.com/composerinfo/bio16769.htm Naxos] ]

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