21 Facts About Igor Markevitch

Igor Borisovich Markevitch was an avant-garde Ukrainian Russian Empire-born composer and conductor who studied and worked in Paris and became a naturalized Italian and French citizen in 1947 and 1982 respectively.

Igor Markevitch was commissioned in 1929 for a piano concerto by impresario Serge Diaghilev of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

Igor Markevitch was married twice and had three sons and two daughters.

Igor Markevitch was born in Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine but at that time part of imperial Russia, to an old family of Cossacks starshyna who were ennobled in the 18th century.

Igor Markevitch's great-grandfather Andrey Markevitch was a Secretary of State at the time of Alexander II of Russia, Actual Privy Councilor in St Petersburg and co-founder of the Russian Musical Society.

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Igor Markevitch advised him at age 14 in 1926 to go to Paris for training in both composition and piano at the Ecole Normale, where he studied piano under Cortot and composition under Nadia Boulanger.

The ballet project came to an end with Diaghilev's death on 19 August 1929, but Igor Markevitch's compositions were accepted by the publisher Schott.

Igor Markevitch produced at least one major work per year during the 1930s.

Igor Markevitch was rated among the leading contemporary composers of the time, even to the extent of being hailed as "the second Igor", after Igor Stravinsky.

Igor Markevitch collaborated on the ballet score Rebus with Leonid Massine in 1931; and L'envol d'Icare in 1932 with Serge Lifar.

L'envol d'Icare, based on the legend of the fall of Icarus, which Igor Markevitch recorded in 1938 conducting the Belgian National Orchestra, was especially radical, introducing quarter-tones in both woodwinds and strings.

Igor Markevitch continued composing as war approached, but in October 1941, not long after completing his last original work, the Variations, Fugue and Envoi on a Theme of Handel for piano, he fell seriously ill.

Igor Markevitch had debuted as a conductor at age 18 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Igor Markevitch settled in Italy, and during the Second World War was active in the partisan movement.

Igor Markevitch married and settled in Switzerland in 1947 following the war.

Igor Markevitch became permanent conductor of the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris in the 1950s, conducted the Spanish RTVE Orchestra in 1965, the London Symphony Orchestra in 1966 and was permanent conductor of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1970, after ignoring his own compositions for nearly 30 years, Igor Markevitch began to conduct his own music frequently, triggering its slow revival.

Igor Markevitch died suddenly from a heart attack in Antibes on 7 March 1983, after a concert tour in Japan and Russia.

Ukrainian Igor Markevitch family is believed to have originated 300 years ago from a common paternal ancestor and his wife.

Igor Markevitch married Kyra Nijinsky, daughter of the great ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and his wife Romola de Pulszky.

Secondly, Igor Markevitch married Donna Topazia Caetani, the only child of Don Michelangelo Caetani dei Duchi di Sermoneta and his wife, the former Cora Antinori.