Sacha Votichenko

File:Votichenko, Sacha, Mr., portrait photograph.jpg

File:Tympanon (instrument de musique).jpg

Sacha Votichenko (c.1888 – 22 October 1971) was a Russian musician of the tympanon, a French version of the hammered dulcimer.

Votichenko was born in c.1888. He was educated in England.{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/56932713|title=Hopes To Play In Vatican Chapel|date=8 February 1950|work=The Morning Bulletin via Trove|accessdate=9 February 2024}} He claimed to have first performed as a conductor at the age of 9, at the house of Leo Tolstoy. He played the 'Tympanon Royal' which dated from 1705, made by Pantaloon Hebenstreit for Louis XIV. Votichenko was a descendent of Hebenstreit. Votichenko recorded on Diamond Disc in 1920, it was never issued commercially. In the late 1910s Votichenko was a regular performer at the Hotel des Artistes in New York City.{{cite news|url=https://ny.curbed.com/2015/6/3/9954510/how-new-york-city-artists-invented-a-new-mode-of-urban-living|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230327072241/https://ny.curbed.com/2015/6/3/9954510/how-new-york-city-artists-invented-a-new-mode-of-urban-living|title=How New York City Artists Invented a New Mode of Urban Living|date=3 June 2015|work=Curbed|accessdate=9 February 2024|archivedate=27 March 2023}} The Court Circular reported that and his wife dined with the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark, and her husband Rear Admiral Ioannides and Prince Dolgorouki at London's Hotel Cecil in June 1923.{{cite news|title=Court Circular|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS252122275/TTDA?u=wes_ttda&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=92d3b135|accessdate=9 February 2024|work=The Times|issue=43331|date=3 May 1923|page=15}}

He played his tympanon for Queen Mary and her royal guests during her visit to the exhibition of 'Royal and Historic Treasures' at 145 Piccadilly on 10 July 1939.{{cite news|title=Queen Mary At No. 145, Piccadilly|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS320550122/TTDA?u=wes_ttda&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=8966dc1f|accessdate=5 February 2024|work=The Times|issue=48353|date=10 July 1939|page=12}} He claimed to be the only soloist who had performed for three different British kings. Votichenko taught the tympanon in New York. In 1950 he said his life's ambition was to perform in the Sistine Chapel.

Votichenko died in Scottsdale, Arizona on 22 October 1971.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/31/archives/sacha-votichenko-83-dead-expert-on-royal-tympanon.html|title=Sacha Votichenko, 83, Dead; Expert on Royal Tympanon|date=31 October 1971|work=The New York Times|accessdate=9 February 2024}} He was survived by his son, Terry, and his three grandsons. Votichenko's great-grandson is the Phoenix underground DJ Alex Votichenko (known as Djentrification).{{cite news|last=Jansen|first=Steve|url=https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/analog-roll-6404521|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220813154635/https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/analog-roll-6404521|archive-date=13 August 2022|title=Analog Roll|date=23 August 2007|work=Phoenix New Times|accessdate=9 February 2024}} The Votichenko family has an autographed photograph of Sacha Votichenko with Leo Tolstoy.

Votichenko wrote the Last Days of Imperial Russia, a symphony of seven movements. Maurice Ravel said to Votichenko that his "Bells of Moscow" made him "forget the 'Belles of Venice' ... Only for one moment, though".

Votichenko's correspondence with Ol'ga Tissarevskaia is preserved in Tissarevskaia's papers in the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco.{{cite web|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt3f59p4wr/dsc/|title=Online Archive of California: Tissarevskaia (Ol'ga) papers|publisher=Online Archive of California|access-date=9 February 2024}} A 1916 portrait photograph of Votichenko by Arnold Genthe is part of the Genthe Collection of the Library of Congress.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2018709428/|title=Library of Congress: Votichenko, Sacha, Mr., portrait photograph|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=9 February 2024}}