Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev
Encyclopedia
Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev (1900—1942) was a Russia
n bell ringer, composer, and musical theorist.
The son of the conductor and violinist Konstantin Saradzhev
, K.K. ("Kotik") Saradzhev was strongly affected by hearing a powerful church bell
at the age of seven and became a musician specializing in bells (though he also played the piano). He was known for "his superhuman aural acuity: between two adjacent whole tones, he perceived not just one half tone but a half tone flanked on either side by a hundred and twenty-one flats and a hundred and twenty-one sharps" and "could distinguish all four thousand of Moscow's church bells" by their unique frequencies. He composed "bell symphonies" making use of the microtonal complexities of Russian bells, but was unable to realize them to his satisfaction in Russia. When Harvard University
invited him in 1930 to help install at Lowell House
the Danilov Monastery
bells Charles R. Crane had bought from Russia, he thought he would be able to perform his works there; disappointed in this and encountering suspicion aroused by his eccentric behavior, he became distraught and was sent back to Moscow, where he wrote a book Muzyka-kolokol ("Music-bell") that has since disappeared and is believed to have died in an insane asylum in 1941. Marina Tsvetaeva
's sister Anastasia published a memoir about his life in 1977.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n bell ringer, composer, and musical theorist.
The son of the conductor and violinist Konstantin Saradzhev
Konstantin Saradzhev
Konstantin Saradzhev was an Armenian conductor and violinist. He was an advocate of new Russian music, and conducted a number of premieres of works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian...
, K.K. ("Kotik") Saradzhev was strongly affected by hearing a powerful church bell
Church bell
A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...
at the age of seven and became a musician specializing in bells (though he also played the piano). He was known for "his superhuman aural acuity: between two adjacent whole tones, he perceived not just one half tone but a half tone flanked on either side by a hundred and twenty-one flats and a hundred and twenty-one sharps" and "could distinguish all four thousand of Moscow's church bells" by their unique frequencies. He composed "bell symphonies" making use of the microtonal complexities of Russian bells, but was unable to realize them to his satisfaction in Russia. When Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
invited him in 1930 to help install at Lowell House
Lowell House
Lowell House is one of the twelve undergraduate residential houses within Harvard College, located on Holyoke Place facing Mount Auburn Street between the Harvard Yard and the Charles River...
the Danilov Monastery
Danilov Monastery
Danilov Monastery, in full Svyato-Danilov Monastery or Holy Danilov Monastery , is a monastery on the right bank of the Moskva River in Moscow, Russia...
bells Charles R. Crane had bought from Russia, he thought he would be able to perform his works there; disappointed in this and encountering suspicion aroused by his eccentric behavior, he became distraught and was sent back to Moscow, where he wrote a book Muzyka-kolokol ("Music-bell") that has since disappeared and is believed to have died in an insane asylum in 1941. Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva was a Russian and Soviet poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russian literature. She lived through and wrote of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Moscow famine that followed it. In an attempt to save her daughter Irina from...
's sister Anastasia published a memoir about his life in 1977.
Sources
- Elif Batuman, "The Bells," The New Yorker, April 27, 2009
- Reminiscences of K.K. Saradzhev (in Russian)
- Anastasia Tsvetaeva, Skaz o zvonare moskovskom (Memoir about Saradzhev; in Russian)