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Leokadiya Kashperova

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{family name hatnote|Aleksandrovna|Kashperova|lang=Eastern Slavic}}

Leokadiya Aleksandrovna Kashperova ({{langx|ru|Леокадия Александровна Кашперова}}; 16 May 1872 – 3 December 1940){{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1Tg6t6YxdxyYmKykSfWp9cs/the-women-erased-from-musical-history|title=Breakfast - The women erased from musical history - BBC Radio 3|website=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=4 February 2018}} was a Russian pianist and Romantic composer. She was the piano teacher of composer Igor Stravinsky.

Life

=Early life and education=

Leokadiya Kashperova was born in Lyubim, near Yaroslavl in 1872.{{cite web|url=https://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main?composerid=100317&ttype=BIOGRAPHY |title=Leokadiya Kashperova |work=www.boosey.com |access-date=13 December 2022}} She graduated first in 1893 from the St Petersburg Conservatoire at the culmination of her studies in Anton Rubinstein’s piano class, and a second time, in 1895, after studying composition with Nicolai Soloviev, conducting her cantata Orvasi.{{cite web|url=https://ahrc.ukri.org/research/readwatchlisten/features/kashperova/ |title=Forgotten Women: International Women's Day in Russia, 1917|date=8 March 2017|publisher=Arts and Humanities Research Council|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20211223120454/https://ahrc.ukri.org/research/readwatchlisten/features/kashperova/|archive-date=27 December 2022}}

=Professional musical life=

Over the following years, she composed works which included a symphony, a piano concerto, choral works, chamber music, piano solos and art-songs. Her works received public recognition, for example, The Russian Musical Gazette noted in 1912: "Her gifts as a composer are a most welcome phenomenon of St Petersburg’s musical life". For some time, she hosted regular musical evenings at her apartment in St Petersburg on Tuesdays.{{cite web|url=https://donne-uk.org/author/kashperova-leokadya-2/ |title=KASHPEROVA, Leokadiya |work=donne-uk.org |access-date=13 December 2022}}

In 1907 she undertook concert tours, to Berlin and twice to London. The Times (London, 1907) observed that "Mlle Kashperova’s music shows a decided talent, very attractive in its tunefulness, grace and Russian fitfulness of mood".

=Bolshevik revolution and later life=

In 1916, Kashperova became a teacher at the Smolny Institute; there she met Sergei Andropov, who was her student and a Bolshevik Leader, and in the same year they married.

However, when the February Revolution began, the Smolny Institute was being used as the headquarters for the revolution, so to save themselves from being arrested the couple left Petrograd to Rostov-on-Don. From 1918 to 1920 she moved to Moscow (due to the Bolshevik success), but rarely performed until her final solo recital, an all-Beethoven programme, was given on 30 November 1920.{{notetag|According to expert Dr Graham Griffiths who had researched into the life of Kashperova since 2002, he said that there is "no evidence of Kashperova giving any concerts between 1916 and 1920".}}

From then to her death, she composed in secret and became forgotten by the Soviet public. By the time she died she was mostly remembered by Stravinsky who called her "antiquated and a blockhead".{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1Tg6t6YxdxyYmKykSfWp9cs/the-women-erased-from-musical-history|title=The women erased from musical history|date=8 March 2018|access-date=28 December 2022|website=bbc.co.uk|publisher=BBC Radio 3}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkR3EAAAQBAJ&dq=leokadiya+kashperova&pg=PA368|title=On This Day She|page=368|author1=Jo Bell|author2=Tania Hershman|author3=Alisa Holland|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|access-date=27 December 2022|date=15 October 2022|isbn=9781538164570}}

Selected compositions

  • 2 Sonatas for piano & cello Op 1 (in G, op 1 no 1, and in E minor, op 1 no 2){{cite web|url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009100371.html |title=The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service Kashperova, Leokadii︠a︡ Aleksandrovna, 1872-1940 |work=id.loc.gov |access-date=16 December 2022}}
  • Evening & night chorus a cappella
  • In the midst of nature (suite for piano solo)
  • Trio Violin, Violoncello Piano a-Moll{{cite web|url=https://viaf.org/viaf/91107512/#skos:Concept |title=VIAF Virtual International Authority File Kashperova, Leokadii︠a︡ Aleksandrovna, 1872-1940 |work=viaf.org |access-date=16 December 2022}}
  • Sredi prirody ("Amidst Nature")
  • Vecher i nochʹ ("Evening and Night ")
  • Piano Concerto in A minor op. 2{{cite web|url=https://www.boosey.com/cr/catalogue/ps/powersearch_results?composerid=100317 |title=Your search for 'Composer: Leokadiya Kashperova' |work=www.boosey.com |access-date=16 December 2022}}
  • Songs of Love: 12 Romances soprano and piano
  • Symphony in B minor op. 4 full orchestra
  • The Eagle and the Snake: Ballad for low voice and piano

Legacy

In January 1910 Kashperova recorded seven piano rolls for the reproducing piano Welte-Mignon, six pieces by Mily Balakirev and one with own piano pieces.Gerhard Dangel and Hans-W. Schmitz: Welte-Mignon Reproductions. Complete Library Of European Recordings For The Welte-Mignon Reproducing Piano 1905-1932. Stuttgart 2006. {{ISBN|3-00-017110-X}}. p. 462

In 2002, while doing his Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford, Graham Griffiths found Kaspherova's name while researching Stravinsky. Soon, she became his main focus of research. He gave an interview to the BBC about Kashperova of which, after a lengthy period of neglect of Kashperova's music, during International Women’s Day 2018, BBC Radio 3 broadcast the final movement of Kashperova's Symphony in B minor (1905).{{notetag|This broadcast was performed by Jane Glover and the BBC Concert Orchestra who gave the symphony a full performance during a concert}} Leokadiya Kashperova was featured as BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week for the week commencing 12 December 2022.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fwzn |title=Tutored by Rubinstein - Composer of the Week - Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940) Episode 1 of 5 |work=www.bbc.co.uk |access-date=13 December 2022}}

Kashperova's symphony was subsequently published by Boosey & Hawkes. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of her birth day, Boosey & Hawkes released five short video documentaries regarding Graham Griffith's research into and revival of her music.{{cite web |title=In Search of Kashperova: five video shorts rediscovering the lost Romantic composer |url=https://www.boosey.com/cr/news/_In-Search-of-Kashperova_-five-video-shorts-rediscovering-the-lost-Romantic-composer/101885&LangID=1 |website=Boosey & Hawkes |access-date=8 April 2024}} With renewed interest in Kashperova's works, more orchestras have performed her Symphony in B minor, such as:{{cite web |title=Performances |url=https://www.boosey.com/cr/calendar/perf_search |website=Boosey & Hawkes |access-date=8 April 2024}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

;Notes

{{reflist|group=note}}

External links

  • {{IMSLP|id=Kashperova, Leokadiya}}
  • [https://www.sophie-drinker-institut.de/kaschperowa-leokadia Biography by Freia Hoffmann, at Sophie Drinker Institut] In German
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQ_BswMUC4&list=PLkL241i99-M66i6VVNt9gxpRPhK1FOpdh A playlist created by Dr. Graham Griffiths about Leokadiya Kashperova, uploaded by Boosey & Hawkes]

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Category:1872 births

Category:1940 deaths

Category:Classical composers from the Russian Empire

Category:Pianists from the Russian Empire

Category:Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni

Category:Igor Stravinsky

Category:Russian classical pianists

Category:Russian women pianists

Category:Russian women classical composers

Category:Russian music educators

Category:Russian women music educators

Category:Women classical pianists