Handoshkin Ivan Evstafievich

Main article: Music in Russia in the XVIII century

Ivan Evstafievich Khandoshkin is a great composer of the 18th century, the founder of Russian violin performance.

Handoshkin was one of the first to use and brilliantly process Russian peasant and urban folk songs in his works. A talented composer, with a pronounced national talent, the creator of Russian violin literature, a brilliant violinist, conductor and teacher - this is the versatile range of activities of this wonderful artist.

The creative nature of Ivan Handoshkin was very close to the contrast of affects and the tragedy of the Storm und Drang movement. This was most pronounced in the Sonata in G minor for solo violin and in some Russian songs with variations.

Handoshkin is the most important figure in the history of Russian music. Listening to the music of domestic composers of the XIX and XX centuries, we can immediately distinguish it from foreign. The first composer to build the musical fabric of almost all his compositions on the intonations of Russian song was Handoshkin. And if it is customary to lead the modern literary Russian language from Pushkin, then the musical language is undoubtedly from ^[1]

Biography

The surname of Khandoshkin, which exists to this day, apparently belongs to a fairly large number of surnames and nicknames of the southwestern Russian lands, and comes from the Old Slavic verb khandozhit (clean). On the paternal side, Ivan Khandoshkin comes from the serfs Daniel the Apostle (a native of the Greeks who settled in Moldova, the hetman of the Zaporozhsky Army in 1727-34), who received free in 1723 .

The composer's father, Evstafiy (Ostap) Lukyanovich Handoshkin, was born around 1717 in the village of Perevoz, Poltava province, and studied horn. At the end of 1730 he moved to  St. Petersburg and served under a contract with the ensign of the Preobrazhensky regiment Pavel Ivanovich Apostol, grandson of Daniel. Unable to withstand the coercion to hard work and the beating of the ensign, Eustathius Handoshkin in 1740 wrote a complaint to the Senate, which was satisfied.

No later than 1745, the already married Khandoshkin served with Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev  in Moscow as a singer and horn player, also having students. In the early years, a young family often comes to the capital after Sheremetev. Therefore, the place of birth of Ivan Khandoshkin in 1747 remains unknown (the year was established by recording  the musician's death in a metric book in 1804, which says about Khandoshkin's age - 57 years).

In the 1750s, the family finally moved to St. Petersburg. Being born in Moscow or St. Petersburg, the composer will spend his entire life in two capitals, never leaving this center of the Russian Empire.

1755: Training with Tito Porto in the Court Orchestra

Handoshkin entered the court service in 1755 at the age of eight as a student in the court orchestra. The petition of Prince G. A. Potemkin of 1785 to Catherine II with a request for the dismissal of Handoshkin from court service, "with the award of a pension for his long-term service and the awarding of the rank of court uniform," has been preserved. Long-term service at theaters, which at that time gave the right to a pension, was considered a 20-25 year term of work.

Documents preserved in the archive of the Directorate of Imperial Theaters confirm that Handoshkin was among the students of the orchestra and his teacher was the court chamber musician Tito Porto. Later in 1784, in a petition to pay him for pedagogical work on the theater directorate, Porto wrote that "he had the opportunity to train the singer, two singers also for the orchestra of six violinists from whom there is now one and bandmaster Handoshkin." The petition contains a note: "According to the correction made, it is obvious that the pensioner T. Porto really taught the students shown to him and did not receive any awards for that."

As Andrei Penyugin writes, it is possible that Stepan Evstafiev, the performer of the Aurora part in the first performance of Francesco Araya and Alexander Sumarokov's opera "Cephalus and Prokris" (1755), was the brother of Ivan Handoshkin (recall that surnames were often replaced by patronymic at that time).

1764: Violin teacher in the classrooms of the Academy of Arts

In 1760, young Khandoshkin was enrolled in the orchestra of Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich as a student, and after the coup of 1762 - already in the Court Orchestra.

Since March 15, 1764 (at the age of 17) Handoshkin worked for one year as a court musician as a violin teacher in the instrumental classes of the Academy of Arts, where he had 12 students.

In the 1770s, Handoshkin was already a famous musician, as evidenced by his election as an honorary member of the Music Club (the first Russian musical society, which included Ya. Shtelin, I. Dmitrevsky, Dm. Bortnyansky and others). Famous artists and actors were elected honorary members of the clubs (there were only two of them).

In addition to serving in the Court Orchestra and teaching, Handoshkin performs in public concerts, which have only recently entered the cultural life of Russia Andrei ^[2].

Apparently,  the first works of Handoshkin can be attributed to the same time. The first issue of the "Collection of Russian Ordinary songs with notes "by Vasily Trutovsky, released in 1776 , gave rise to a surge of interest in Russian song. It is quite possible that this was the catalyst for the composer's work of Handoshkin, who found the main source of inspiration in Russian songs. Of the 44 Handoshkin works we know , 34 are variations on themes (or, as they said in the XVIII century - voices) of Russian songs.

1781: Publication of two collections of Handoshkin's writings in Amsterdam

Around 1781, the first editions of Handoshkin's works were published. These are the collections "Six Sonatas for Two Violins" and "Two Russian Songs with Variations." Both publications are dedicated to the representative of the famous mining family Nikita Akinfievich Demidov. The notes were collected and printed at the Gummel Publishing House in Amsterdam, at the center of the then noteprint. Thus, Ivan Khandoshkin, the "natural Russian," as indicated on the Sonata title, becomes the first domestic composer whose notes were printed in Western Europe.

1783

Bandmaster and first violinist of both court orchestras

In the early 1780s, Handoshkin was in the court service as a chamber musician and bandmaster, gave concerts at the "German theater." In 1783, Handoshkin, together with the first court actor I.A. Dmitrevsky, accepted Knipper's Free Wind into the treasury. Handoshkin also taught in the orchestra of this theater. Dmitrevsky, when transferring the theater to the treasury, pointing to the measures taken by him to improve the actors and musicians, wrote:... "in the reasoning of the pets entrusted to me, let me say without praise that I applied all measures about their education and moral behavior in what I refer to themselves. They are teachers - Mr. Handoshkina, Rosettia, Mayashtein, Serkov, Anzholinia and myself. "

All this testified to the recognition in the person of Handoshkin of a major musician. The salary he receives also speaks of this: 1100 rubles, except for an apartment and wood-burning ones, is a salary significant in that time, especially for a Russian musician.

Handoshkin also conducted pedagogical work at the Theater Directorate. Of Handoshkin's students in the court orchestra, I.F. Yablochkin became famous.

Publication of the collection "Six old Russian songs with variations for violin and alto viola"

In 1783, the first Russian edition of Handoshkin's music was also published. This is the most famous collection of the composer "Six Old Russian Songs with Variations for Violin and Alto Viola."

1784

In 1784 Handoshkin, along with choreographer Angamini and composer of ballet music Canobbio, was directly involved with the court ballet company, serving as its tutor and, as the first violinist of both court orchestras, conductor of ballet performances. There is also evidence that Handoshkin was a writer of ballets at court.

"They say that he (Handoshkin) played in many ways Paganinievsky in a similar way (Paganini was just born in 1782, approx. TAdviser), played on one string, as well as on building for a convenient work of effects." The last trick of the game was so, apparently, inherent in Handoshkin that after his death, characterizing the political state of European affairs, they wrote:... "the whole of Europe, like the Khantoshkin violin at odds." The enormous skill with which Handoshkin owned the scordature technique is evidenced by the case when at an evening with S. S. Yakovlev he improvised sixteen variations with the most difficult violin setup: sol, si, re, sol.

Handoshkin's widespread use of the scordature technique is characteristic of the connections of his performing arts with the art of folk violinists. Scordature, a technique common to a folk violinist who constantly changes the structure of the violin in accordance with the tone of the song being performed. Thanks to this technique, the violinist gets the opportunity, without leaving the first position, to extract from his instrument combinations of sounds that cannot be extracted with a normal system.

Khandoshkin was especially famous for his inimitable performance of Russian folk songs. The fame of the "first writer and player of Russian songs" indicates that the folk song occupied a dominant place in his performing practice. At the end of the 18th century, interest in folk art and everyday ties with the popular order were strong not only in wide circles of provincial and metropolitan society, but were manifested, in part, in the direct court environment.

"The first place in the performance of Handoshkin was undoubtedly occupied by the people, that lyricism and that warm heart that is so characteristic of the Russian muse." In his game, which was distinguished by a "brilliant impulse," contemporaries noted the characteristic Russian national trait, which was later so figuratively expressed by Pushkin - "then rampant remote, then heartfelt longing." The expressiveness of the performance of this ingenious violinist was so great that, "listening to Adagio Handoshkin, no one was able to resist tears," and the rhythmic strength is such that with "indescribably bold jumps and passages, which he performed with true Russian luck on his violin, so the legs of listeners and listeners themselves began to unwittingly jump."

1785: Potemkin seeks Handoshkin's dismissal from court service and appoints him head of the university in Yekaterinoslav

Since 1785, the name of Khandoshkin has been associated with the name of Prince Grigory Potemkin and the Music Academy organized by him in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). Potemkin was a lover of music and folk song. On October 5, 1784, Prince G.A. Potemkin opened a petition to Catherine II for the foundation of the Academy of Sciences and Arts in Yekaterinoslav, determining the capital amount for maintenance. This was followed by the highest decree on the foundation of the university, in which not only science, but also art should be taught.

Having received the approval of Catherine II, Potemkin attracted Handoshkin as the head of the university. Potemkin became interested in Handoshkin's game, having heard his brilliant improvisation when performing the obligate violin part in one of Giuseppe Sarti's oratorios, written by the latter on the orders of the "lightest." Handoshkin had a remarkable gift of improvisation. He "improvised on whole sonatas" and emerged victorious from the most difficult competitions with foreign virtuosos, playing with them "improvisations in front of Potemkin." Improvisational - a characteristic feature of Handoshkin's performing arts - left an imprint on all his composer's work, being reflected not only in the form and texture of his works, but also in the special instructions often found in them, providing for free improvisation of the performer.

Having obtained from Catherine II the dismissal of Handoshkin from court service, Potemkin wrote to Prosecutor General A.A. Vyazemsky on February 20, 1785:

"Her imperial majesty deigned the court of her imperial majesty, chamber musician Ivan Khandoshkin, to be dismissed for determination to the University of Yekaterinoslav with the awarding of the rank of court sage, which is what I am given to know from the committee established over spectacles and music. And your grace dutifully asks with the delivery of a patent to him for the granted rank. "

On the same day, the entertainment and music management committee fulfilled Potemkin's desire. February 23 was followed by the highest decree to the cabinet on the dismissal of Handoshkin with the "rank and pension," and on April 2, violinist A.M. Syromyatnikov was appointed in his place.

On April 26, Potemkin notified the Yekaterinoslav ruler Sinelnikov about the appointment of Handoshkin "with the awarding of the rank of court mundshenk."

On April 30, at a meeting of the Committee for the Management of Spectacles and Music, the request of the head of the Yekaterinoslav University Ivan Khandoshkin, who asked for the issuance of the salary due to him when he was in this directorate, was considered.

As Andrei Penyugin suggests, Handoshkina in Moscow was detained by the plague epidemic that erupted in Novorossiya.

At the same time, in subsequent years, measures to organize the university continued. On October 6, 1786, Potemkin submitted for approval the projects of the university buildings "coupon with the academy of music or conservatory."

A fragment of Yekaterinoslav's plan with the Academy of Music (marked with the letter H, echoes, judging by the plan, with the building of the Academy of Arts in Petersburg).

Famous musicians were involved in teaching at the first Russian conservatory (its actual seat was the city of Kremenchug): F. Brankino (oboe), A. Delfino (cello), F. Dal'Okka (harpsichord and solfeggio), etc.

In July 1787, an Italian musician, a certain Branca, who served with Potemkin as a member of a small instrumental ensemble that served his household needs, conveyed from Kremenchug to "Mr. Sarti" a list of instruments brought from Italy, on his orders for the "school of the Imperial Philharmonic Academy in Yekaterinoslav."

In August 1787, Potemkin signed a contract with the Italian Daloko to teach the latter harpsichord and solfeggio "at the Imperial Academy of Music in Yekaterinoslav," and in March 1790 with violinist Luciano Joglio about teaching at the "Philharmonic Academy." Activities to organize the Academy were interrupted only with the death of Potemkin.

The head of the University of Yekaterinoslav, Ivan Khandoshkin, at that time lived in Moscow first "in the parish of nine martyrs" in the house of Mr. Nekrasov, and later at the Tver Gate "against the Holy Monastery" in the house of Captain Natalya Grigorieva, did not go to Yekaterinoslav and had nothing to do with the affairs of the "Music Academy."

Handoshkin's situation, for whom the suspension of the Music Academy was probably unexpected, was difficult, otherwise he would hardly have taken up selling violins at a similar price. The mention, in connection with the organization of the Giuseppe Sarti Music Academy, sheds light on such unexpected vicissitudes in the fate of the head of the university, Ivan Handoshkin.

Sarti, who was not only a court composer, but also a cunning and dexterous tzaredvorets who managed to serve Potemkin and his enemy Zubov with the same zeal, probably managed to push Handoshkin out of his post in 1791, after Potemkin's death, he was officially appointed director of the Academy. This institution has not actually been opened yet, since the decree appointing Sarti as director says:... "to produce Sartia a salary from the Cabinet until the amount for the Academy is appointed."

1789: Return to Petersburg

In 1789, Handoshkin moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where in 1790 he lived in the "third part of the Catherine Canal," in the coal wooden house of Colonel Andreevsky.

A half-salary pension received from the empress allowed Handoshkin not to serve. He took part in the musical and public life of St. Petersburg. His talent was highly appreciated by contemporaries who called the brilliant violinist "our Orpheus." During these years, his name is given among the few names of prominent Russian musicians and artists who lived in St. Petersburg. Handoshkin acts as a performer at the court of Paul I, takes part in the musical evenings of Sergei Savvich Yakovlev, the son of the famous rich man and industrialist Savva Yakovlev.

Handoshkin retained the virtuosity of technology until the last years of his life "and at this age he played arpeggia with a short Tartinievsky bow." The latter indicates that Handoshkin used the bow of the Tartini design, shorter than the modern (Turtovsky) with a straight cane, and canneling (longitudinal cutouts at the point of holding the bow for greater convenience of the player).

1804: Demise

Handoshkin died on March 18, 1804, suddenly from paralysis, hearts having come to the Office for a boarding house, 57 years old. Handoshkin's funeral took place the other day on Saturday March 19. The haste of burial can be explained only by the fact that the following days coincided with the church "Great Lent." Many friends and acquaintances did not know about Handoshkin's death, about his burial the next day and were not present at the funeral. They buried him in the Kazan Cathedral. Archpriest Fedor was present when the body was taken out of the cathedral. The day was cloudy, quiet, it was snowing. Handoshkin was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery.

Handoshkin's portrait has not been preserved. The only description of his appearance is given in the records of V.F. Odoevsky: "The growth of the average, dense, beautiful appearance, the eyes are large - he wore a wig."

The life of Handoshkin's widow, Elizabeth, who remained with her young son, was in extreme poverty. In a petition filed in the name of Emperor Alexander I, Handoshkin's wife asks for a pension. She was assigned a half pension from her husband's pension, which she received until 1817. ^[3].

List of essays

Handoshkin's work chronologically falls on the so-called musical classicism of the second half of the 18th century. However, there are a lot of traces of the Baroque era in Handoshkin's works, says Andrei Penyugin. - So, he is completely indifferent to new popular genres: symphonies and quartet. All Handoshkin's writings are written for just two voices, of which the upper one is very often a fixation of typical baroque improvisation. For classicism focused on a new class - the bourgeoisie, Handoshkin's music is perhaps too dark. Even in major compositions, you rarely find the carelessness that is heard in the music of Vienna classics.

In 1988, all the works of Handoshkin, known at that time, were published. They compiled the 12th volume of a wonderful series "Monuments of Russian musical art." Handoshkin's works, published almost in the form of urtext (!), Were accompanied in this collection by articles by  I.M. Yampolsky (biographical essay) and B.V  . Dobrokhotov (review of creativity).

The following list of works by Ivan Khandoshkin was compiled at the request of TAdviser in 2023 by musician and researcher Andrei Penyugin (St. Petersburg Baroque Ensemble). Song titles not listed in the notes are given in square brackets.

Information about available records is collected by TAdviser.

I. Six sonatas for two violins "'

Gummel Publishing House, Amsterdam, until 1781. Dedicated to Nikita Akinfievich Demidov:

1. Sonata in C minor
2. Sonata in E flat major
3. Sonata in E minor
4. Lost
5. Lost
6. Sonata in C major

II. Two Russian songs with variations for violin and bass

Also published in Amsterdam, and also dedicated to Demidov. Reprinted in the 1800s by Dietmar Publishing House in St. Petersburg as op. 4

1. [At valley]
2. [I lose what I love] (Entries: L. Hogan and M. Rastropovich, 1952; A. Reshetin and A. Penyugin)

III. Six old Russian songs with variations for violin and alto viola

Meyer's edition in St. Petersburg, 1783. The collection lacks the names of the songs and on the cover there is a date - 1786. But the number 6 is written by hand. At the same time, a newspaper announcement of 1783 about the sale of this collection was discovered.

1. [Ah on the bridge, bridge] for violin and viola (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, V. Pessin, 1998)
2. [Ah talan is mine, talan] for violin and bass
3. [Ah, well you pigeon do not sit cheerfully] for violin and bass
4. [Ah, what was it, what was it] for violin and bass
5. [Once I stung the strip] ^[4] for violin and bass
6. [Ah, I lived well done] for violin and bass

(Entry: All opus: A. Khitruk, D. Yakubovsky, K. Evtushenko, 2005)

IV. Six Russian songs with variations for two violins, op. 1

Edition of Gerstenberg in St. Petersburg, 1793 Dedicated to Peter Lukich Velyaminov

1. [I will go out on the river] (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
2. [Rise above, carry] (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
3. [I remember I was a young girl] (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1998)
4. [Ah, why aren't you sitting cheerful] (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
5. [There was a birch in the field] (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
6. Variations on unpublished folk motif. [Who could love so passionately] - misattribution

V. Russian songs with variations for two violins, op. 2

Published c. 1796

1. Like two blueberries on a club (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
2. On the cockerel apron
3. Youthful, youthful young
4. Long l I am in boredom to stay
5. Do you remember, angry friend
6. By mountains, by mountains
7. Like on a bridge, a bridge

VI. Three solo violin sonatas, op. 3

Dietmar edition in St. Petersburg

1. Sonata in G minor (Entries: A. Reshetin, 1999; L.Mordkovich, 2009; A. Reshetin, 2024 - listen on the disc "Stronger than Death.")
2. Sonata in E flat major
3. Sonata in D major (G. Feigin, 1984)

Records of the entire opus:

• M. Fedotov, 1988
• E. Denisova, 1996
• A. Khitruk 2005

VII. Handwritten collection (18 Russian songs with variations for violin and bass)

1. With valley (short version II. 1.)
2. Ah, well, you do not sit cheerfully (coincides with III. 3.)
3. Cossack
4. Ah talan is mine, talan (coincides with III. 2.)
5. Like on Mother, on the Neva River (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
6. Molodchik mine (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
7. [?]
8. What was lower was the city of Saratov
9. Ah, I lived well (with minor changes coincides with III. 6.)
10. Kosari
11. I lose what I love (coincides with II. 2.)
12. [?]
13. Don't rage, the winds are riotous
14. Ah over the bridge, the bridge (repeats III with another bass. 1.)
15. My dear guest (no bass part) (Entry: A. Reshetin, S. Filchenko, 1999)
16. Ah bored me (missing bass part)
17. Dear you are my mother (missing bass part)
18. Young, young young (missing bass lot, not matching V. 3.)

VIII. Handwritten collection (3 Russian songs with variations for violin and bass)

Around 1805

1. [At valley] (coincides with II. 1.)
2. [I lose what I love] (coincides with II. 2.)
3. Kosari (partially coincides with VII. 10., But here the bass is written out in all variations, not only in the topic)

IX. Sonata for Violin and Bass

Autograph

Mystifications

Goldstein Mikhail Emanuilovich in the middle of the twentieth century passed off his own works as works of Russian classics. One of these hoaxes includes the so-called. Concerto for viola and orchestra in C major, which Goldstein attributed to Handoshkin. Under this legend, the composition was recorded, among other things, by Rudolf Barshay.

Under Handoshkin's name, "Sensitive Aria" was also published for the viola solo of the same Goldstein.

Family

In the list of theatrical dancers of the court stage for 1768, Stelin mentions Martha ^[5]. Probably, we are talking about the first wife or sister of violinist Ivan Khandoshkin.

The researcher Fesechko in his monograph on Handoshkin mentions his son, who served as a translator in the 1790s.

Records

• Handoshkin. First violin. Album with sonatas by Ivan Khandoshkin, recorded by the St. Petersburg Baroque Ensemble in 2025 World Premiere.

Publications

• Fesechko Grigory Fedorovich - "Ivan Evstafievich Khandoshkin," Leningrad: Music. Leningrad branch, 1972

Grigory Fesechko

Шаблон:XVIII Century Music CD

Notes