Pyotr Spiridonowitsch Agafozhin

Pyotr Spiridonovich Agafoschin ( Russian Пётр Спиридонович Агафошин ; born December 17 ^{. Jul} / 29. December  1874 ^greg. In Pirogovo , Ryazan Governorate ; † 1. July 1950 in Moscow ) was a Russian guitarist and music teacher . He was the most famous guitarist in Moscow at the beginning of the 20th century.

Life

Agafoshin was born into a peasant family. He received guitar lessons from his father and received help from teachers in Moscow (e.g. music editor Valerian Russanow ). From 1898 to 1908 he was a soloist in the Moscow Society for Mandolin and Guitar and from 1912 in the Maly Theater . He was on friendly terms with artists such as the painter Vasily Surikow . He accompanied several singers on the guitar (including Fyodor Chalyapin , Dmitri Smirnow and Titta Ruffo ). In 1916 he worked on the opera Don Quixote by Jules Massenet in the Bolshoi TheaterWith. In 1927 he learned from Andrés Segovia (1893–1987). From 1930 to 1950 he taught guitar at the Moscow Conservatory . He contributed significantly to the spread of the 6-string guitar in Russia.

Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoi (1912–1973) is one of his students .

Web links

• Biography of Pyotr Agafozhin (Russian)