Igor Borisovich Markevich (Markovich) (French: Igor Markevitch; July 27, 1912, Kyiv - March 7, 1983, Antibes) was a French conductor and composer of Ukrainian descent, brother of cellist Dmytro Markevich, father of conductor Oleg Kaetani, and great-great-grandson of Mykola Markevich.
At the age of two, he was taken by his parents to Paris, then the family settled in Switzerland. He received his first music lessons from his father, a pianist, and began composing music from an early age. At the age of thirteen, Markevych performed his piano suite The Wedding in the presence of Alfred Cortot, who began to teach him and helped publish the work. Two years later, Markevych entered the Normal School of Music in Paris, where he studied with Cortot as a pianist and with Nadia Boulanger as a composer. In 1929, the young musician was introduced to Sergei Diaghilev, to whom he played a fragment of a symphony he was working on at the time. Diaghilev approved of the music and commissioned Markevych to write a piano concerto and music for a ballet. The concerto was written that year and performed at the opening of Diaghilev's seasons at the Covent Garden Theater (Markevych himself played the solo piano part), but the ballet project was not realized due to Diaghilev's death.
In 1930, Markevych's cantata, in which he used material from his unfinished ballet, was successfully performed in Paris, and a year later his concerto grosso was equally successful. Markevych's music attracted the attention of Jean Cocteau, Darius Milhaud, and Roger Desormier, and the Schott publishing house offered him a contract to publish his works. Together with Serge Lifar, Markevych works on two ballets, Rebus and Flight of Icarus, and despite the fact that they were never staged, the music of both was performed at the concert. "The Flight of Icarus, performed in 1933 under the direction of Desormier, created a sensation in the musical world. His unusual compositional style, the introduction of new orchestral colors (in particular, the use of quarter-tone intervals) made Markevych one of the most important figures of European musical modernism. Critics called him "Igor the Second" (referring to Stravinsky as the first), and Bela Bartok spoke of the influence of Markevich's music on his own works.
After several years of living in Paris, Markevych left for Switzerland and in April 1935 married Kira Nizhynska, the daughter of a famous dancer in Diaghilev's troupe. They had a son, Vaclav. However, this marriage was short-lived, and soon enough he married for the second time, to the Italian princess Topazia Caetana[it] (1921-1990), from an ancient Italian family that dates back to Pope Boniface VIII in the fourteenth century. Like many other composers in the 1930s, he worked as a conductor and pianist. He had previously conducted privately for Pierre Monte, and successfully conducted the Dutch premiere of Rebus and the first performance of his oratorio Paradise Lost in London in 1935 (replacing the ill Hermann Scherchen, who was to have been at the console). As a pianist during these years, Markevych was tutored by Alfredo Casella, and his work would later have a significant impact on the development of not only Markevych's piano but also his compositional art. He became close to the Italian musical avant-garde and participated in the Musical May festivals, and shortly before the outbreak of war moved to Florence. In 1943, he wrote a new version of The Fall of Icarus, from which all modernist elements were removed, and in the same year he became an active member of the Italian Resistance Movement (later he would be awarded the gold medal "Partisan of Northern Italy").
In 1946, Markevych took Italian citizenship, and since then he has lived in Florence or in his Swiss castle, writing literature in addition to music (one of his books is called Made in Italy). At this time, he almost gave up composing and switched to conducting. He toured extensively as a guest conductor (in 1955 he made his debut in the United States with the Boston Symphony Orchestra), became the chief conductor of the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra (1952-1955), Montreal Symphony Orchestra (1955-1960), Havana Philharmonic Orchestra (1957-1958), and the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris (1957-1961). In 1960, he toured the USSR for the first time. Since 1948, Markevich has been giving master classes around the world, including at the Mozarteum University (Salzburg), and in 1963 he held a seminar on conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. He recorded for the first time a number of works by contemporary composers such as Lili Boulanger, Luigi Dallapicola, Darius Milhaud, and Frederic Mompou, as well as a cycle of all Tchaikovsky's symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra. In 1963, he toured with the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra to help earthquake victims. In the 1970s, he began work on a new edition of Beethoven's symphonies and on his autobiography.
For a long time, Markiewicz avoided performing his music, but when he was asked by the Brussels Philharmonic to conduct Paradise Lost in 1978, he accepted. The concert was a great success, and, inspired by the positive critical response, Markiewicz decided to revive his own works and re-publish them. He also planned to organize international conducting master courses and festivals. In 1982, he again toured the USSR with concerts, and received the most enthusiastic reception in his native Kyiv. A year later, Markevych died of a heart attack, leaving his plans unrealized.
Possible involvement in terrorist activities
Italian law enforcement agencies have declassified some materials related to Igor Markevich. There is evidence of his active assistance to left-wing extremist terrorist organizations called the Red Brigades. They conducted active terrorist activities in Italy, which peaked in the 1970s. The total number of their victims is 311 people. The apotheosis of their activities was the 1978 kidnapping and murder of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro after an impromptu show trial. This kidnapping was the greatest tragedy in the modern history of Italy. According to one of the terrorists, Igor Markevich was directly involved in the interrogation of the Prime Minister and may have ordered his execution. Even more suspicious is the fact that during his lifetime the composer did not hide his left-wing radical political views.
Main works
Vocal works
Cantata for soprano, male chorus and orchestra (1929-1930)
Psalm for soprano and small orchestra (1933)
"Paradise Lost, an oratorio based on his own text for soprano, mezzo-soprano, mixed choir and orchestra (1933-1935)
"Lorenzo the Magnificent for soprano and orchestra (1940);
Orchestra
Symphony in F-dur (1928-1929);
Concerto for piano and orchestra (1929);
Concerto grosso (1930);
Partita for piano and small orchestra (1931);
Suite from the ballet Rebus (1931);
Suite from the ballet The Fall of Icarus for two pianos and percussion (1932; second orchestral version - 1943);
"Hymns" for small orchestra (1936);
Small Suite based on Schumann for small orchestra (1933);
"Love Song" (1936);
"The New Age (1937);
"Blue Danube" (1944, after I. Strauss);
Chamber works
"Wedding" for piano (1929)
Serenade for violin, clarinet and bassoon (1931)
Gallop for chamber ensemble (1932)
"Stefan the Poet" for piano (1939-1940)
Variations, Fugue and Message on a Theme by Handel for piano (1941)
Orchestrations of works by Mussorgsky (songs), Glinka (Overture on Russian Themes), and Bach ("Musical Offering")
New edition of Beethoven's symphonies (1982)
