Andrei Volkonsky

Russia, 1954–2008

Soviet composer whose Musica stricta (1957) was the first serial work written in the USSR, at a time when the technique was officially proscribed. It opened the way for the Soviet avant-garde that followed.

MusicRoots documents 4 artists who influenced Andrei Volkonsky and 3 artists Andrei Volkonsky influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Andrei Volkonsky?

• Anton Webern — Volkonsky built his pioneering Musica stricta (1957) on Webern's serialism, encountered through smuggled scores — the first twelve-tone work behind the Iron Curtain.
• Arnold Schoenberg — Schoenberg's twelve-tone method — obtained via smuggled scores — was the foundation Volkonsky brought into Soviet music.
• Karlheinz Stockhausen — Stockhausen's post-war avant-garde was among the Western currents Volkonsky absorbed through private listening in the Thaw-era USSR.
• Nadia Boulanger — Volkonsky's early Paris training (with Nadia Boulanger, before his return to the USSR) grounded the craft behind his radical turn.

Which artists did Andrei Volkonsky influence?

• Edison Denisov — Volkonsky's smuggled-in serialism opened the door Denisov walked through — his generation's gateway to Western modernism inside the USSR.
• Alfred Schnittke — Volkonsky's serial breakthrough directly inspired Schnittke's generation — the underground precedent behind his own modernist turn.
• Sofia Gubaidulina — Gubaidulina was among the composers Volkonsky's serial pioneering opened the way for — the Thaw-era gateway to the Western avant-garde she then transformed.