Igor Markevitch
Igor Markevitch (Russian Игорь Борисович Маркевич, Igor Borisovich Markevitch, Ukrainian Ігор Маркевич, Ihor Markewytsch; * 14.jul / July 27 1912greg in Kiev, .. † March 7, 1983 in Antibes ) was an Italian, and French composer and conductor Ukrainian origin.
Life
The family of Markevitch moved to France in 1914, later to Vevey in Switzerland. Markevitch studied piano and composition at the Conservatoire de Lausanne and was a pupil of Alfred Cortot, Vittorio Rieti and Nadia Boulanger at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He became famous for a piano concerto, which he composed in 1929 on behalf of Diaghilev. In the 1930s, he was one of the leading Russian composers in France. In 1936 he married his first wife, Kyra, the daughter of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Since 1940 he lived in Italy, where he in 1942 joined the Resistance the resistance movement. In 1946 he received the Italian citizenship.
After the Second World War, he began a career as an international conductor. He was a pupil of Hermann Scherchen. Initially he worked as an opera conductor at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino ( Florence May Festival ), but from the late 1940s, he worked primarily as a guest conductor in international concert halls. He made recordings in the 1950s with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the German Grammophon (Mozart, Schubert, Berwald, Wagner). From 1952 to 1954 he was chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1956 to 1960 he was principal conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. From 1957 to 1958 he led the Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana. From 1957 to 1961 he took over as chief conductor of the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris. With this formation also created outstanding recordings ( Beethoven: Pastorale; Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust and Jeux d' enfants; Mozart: Coronation Mass; Debussy: La Mer, etc.). In the U.S., he often conducted the Symphony of the Air Orchestra (New York), which had worked closely earlier than NBC Symphony Orchestra Toscanini. Here also composed significant productions: Beethoven's Eroica and the Symphony No. 1 by Johannes Brahms ). For Philips Markevitch took in the 1960s in the USSR plates, including the Alto Rhapsody by Brahms and Kodaly Psalmus Hungaricus. The recordings were made by the German Grammophon under the title Igor Markevitch: published Un véritable artiste again. From 1965 to 1969 he was chief conductor of the Radio Orchestra and Madrid from 1968 to 1973, he led the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and was conductor at the Opéra de Monaco. In 1973 he took over the management of the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He taught from 1947 to 1953 at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and from 1955 to 1956 in Mexico; his students include Wolfgang Sawallisch, Herbert Blomstedt, Milan Horvat and Daniel Barenboim. He also held a professorship at the Moscow Conservatory.
Markevitch composed a Sinfonietta, a piano concerto and other orchestral pieces, chamber music, choral works and piano pieces. His works were, inter alia, Listed by Hans Rosbaud. His son Oleg ( b. 1956 ) was also a conductor.
Works
- Noces, Suite, 1925
- Sinfonietta, 1928-29
- Piano Concerto, 1929
- Cantata for soprano, male chorus and orchestra ( text by Jean Cocteau ), 1929-30
- Concerto Grosso, 1930
- Cinéma Overture, 1931
- Rébus, Ballet, 1931
- Partita for piano and chamber orchestra, 1931
- Sérénade for three instruments, 1931
- Gallop for eight or nine players in 1932
- L' envol d' Icare, Ballet, 1932
- Hymnes, 1932-33
- Psalm for soprano, female choir and orchestra, 1933
- Petite Suite d'après Schumann, 1933
- Le Paradis Perdu, oratorio by John Milton 1934-35
- Trois poèmes, 1935
- Hymne à la mort, 1936
- Cantique d' amour, 1936
- Le nouvel age, Sinfonia concertante for orchestra and two pianos, 1937
- La Taille de l' Homme for 12 instruments and soprano, 1938-39
- Stefan le Poète: Impressions d' enfance, 1939-40
- Lorenzo il magnifico, Sinfonia concertante for soprano and orchestra, 1940
- Variations, Fugue et Envoi on a Theme by Handel, 1941