Nikolai Borisovich Obuchov

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Nikolai Borisovich Obuchov

Nikolai Borisovich Obukhov ( Russian Николай Борисович Обухов ; born April 10, jul. / 22. April  1892 greg. In Kursk , Russian Empire ; † 13. June 1954 in Saint-Cloud , Paris ) was a Russian composer who emigrated to France in 1918 . He is one of the pioneers of twelve-tone technology and electronic music .

Life

Obuchow studied at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg with Maximilian Steinberg and Nikolai Tscherepnin . A marriage with Xenia Komarowskaja in 1913 resulted in two daughters. In 1915 his compositions were performed in a new music concert organized by the magazine Muzykal'nyj Sovremennik . In 1918 he emigrated with his family via Constantinople to Paris, where he took lessons from Maurice Ravel . Ravel stood up for him and made the printing of some compositions possible.

Together with Pierre Dauvillier and Michel Billaudot, Obuchow developed an electronic musical instrument called " Croix Sonore " in the shape of a cross from 1926 , which he used from then on in many of his works. The pianist Marie-Antoinette Aussenac-de-Broglie , his pupil and later collaborator, was the first interpreter of this instrument, which has a functional principle similar to the theremin and is played without contact (the preserved, no longer playable instrument is in the Musée de l'Opéra in Paris kept).

Philosophically influenced by the ideas of Alexander Scriabin , Obuchow turned to Christian mysticism while emigrating to Paris. In 1949 Obuchow was the victim of a robbery and was barely able to compose afterwards.

plant

The influence of Alexander Scriabin can be seen in Obuchov's early works (songs and piano pieces). As early as 1914 he postulated the equality of all 12 semitones and used twelve-tone complexes in his compositions (i.e. nine years before Arnold Schönberg published his twelve-tone technique). In a form of notation he developed himself, he replaced all semitone accidentals with crosses in the space of the corresponding notehead. He laid down his concept of total harmony in his 1947 Traité d'Harmonie Tonale, Atonale et Totale (to which Arthur Honegger contributed a preface).

From around 1915 Obuchov's main creative focus was on the composition Le Livre de Vie ( The Book of Life ), inspired by the Revelation of John . 825 closely inscribed pages of the composition that remained in the torso have been preserved and are kept in the Paris National Library. It provides for a line-up for solo voices, choir, 2 pianos and Croix Sonore (one orchestration was not carried out). The work was to be performed as a liturgical ritual and total work of art with scenic elements to be celebrated during Easter week in a specially constructed building (similar to Scriabin's Mystery Project, but even more exaggerated). Obuchow did not see himself as a composer, but, thanks to divine providence, as the “discoverer” of the work, whose handwriting partly makes use of symbolistic representations and panels. Due to the use of experimental techniques and the extreme range of the solos, the composition presents considerable execution problems. In 1926 an orchestrated version of the introduction ( Préface du Livre de Vie ) was premiered under Kussewitzki's direction . In 1991 the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra gave the German premiere of Préface du Livre de Vie .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Detlef Gojowy:  Obuchov, Nikolaj Borisovič. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 12 (Mercadante - Paix). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1122-5  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Jonathan Powell:  Obouhow, Nicolas. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. ↑ Information on Obuhov, Nikolaj in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France , accessed on August 29, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Obuchow, Nikolai Borisovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Обухов, Николай Борисович (Russian); Obukhow, Nicolas; Obouhov, Nicolas; Obuchov, Nikolai
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Kursk , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1954
Place of death Paris