Nikolai Korndorf’s Compositions in Alexander Ivashkin’s Repertoire

Abstract

The article is devoted to the musical works by composer Nikolai Korndorf that are part of the repertoire of Alexander Ivashkin, a cellist of world renown. The destiny of the performances of a whole set of Korndorf’s solo, chamber and orchestral compositions, such as Concerto capriccioso, the string trio, the piano trio, the Triptych (Lament, Response and Glorification), and the Passacaglia is connected with the name of this outstanding musician. Special attention in this article is given to the last of the mentioned compositions, which bears the authorial dedication to Ivashkin. In the context of the overall questions dealing with the poetics of the titles and the genre form of Korndorf’s compositions, clarification is given of the peculiarities of the composer’s interpretation of the historical genre of the passacaglia. Closely adjoining the musical and verbal elements, Korndorf brings into the musical text of the Passacaglia fragments from Dante’s The Divine Comedy, which are read out loud by the performer in the language of the original text. One of the important aspects in comprehending the artistic meaning of Korndorf’s cello compositions is connected with musical symbolism. In the textural, intonation and harmonic tendencies manifested in the Passacaglia it is possible to observe both the semantic connections with the abundant world of Dante’s images and the associative parallels within the extensive musical intertextual domain.

Keywords: Alexander Ivashkin, Nikolai Korndorf, 20th century Russian music, Korndorf’s Passacaglia, Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, musical symbolism