Career
Markevitch gained recognition in 1929 when he was discovered by Serge Diaghilev, who commissioned a Piano Concerto from Markevitch and desired him to collaborate on a ballet with Boris Kochno. In a letter to the London Times Diaghilev hailed Markevitch as the man who would put an end to 'a scandalous period of music ... of cynical-sentimental simplicity'. The ballet project came to an end with Diaghilev's death on 19 August 1929, but Markevitch's works were accepted by the publisher Schott and he continued to produce at least one major work per year during the 1930s, being rated among the leading contemporary composers. He started being hailed as "the second Igor" — the first Igor being Igor Stravinsky.
Markevitch collaborated on a ballet, Rébus with Leonid Massine (1931) and another, L'envol d'Icare (1932) with Serge Lifar; neither was staged, though both scores were performed as concert works. L'envol d'Icare, based on the legend of the fall of Icarus, which Markevitch himself recorded in 1938 with the Belgian National Orchestra, was especially radical, introducing quarter-tones in both woodwind and strings. (In 1943 he recomposed the work under the title Icare, eliminating these, rescoring and simplifying the rhythms.) Béla Bartók once described Markevitch as "...the most striking personality in contemporary music..." and cited him as an influence on his own composing. An independent version of L'envol d'Icare for two pianos and percussion, which Bartók heard, is believed to have influenced Bartók's own Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion.
Markevitch continued composing as war approached but not long after completing his last original work, the Variations, Fugue and Envoi on a Theme of Handel for piano, in October 1941 he fell seriously ill. After recovering, he decided to give up composition and focus exclusively on conducting. His last compositional activities were the revision of L'envol d'Icare and arrangements of other composer's music, of which the version of The Musical Offering by J. S. Bach is especially notable.
Markevitch made his debut as a conductor at age 18 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; after leading the Dutch premiere of Rébus he took some conducting lessons with Pierre Monteux and Hermann Scherchen. As a conductor, he was well respected for his interpretations of the French and Russian repertory and of twentieth-century music. He settled in Italy. During the Second World War he was active with the partisan movement. In 1947 he married and settled in Switzerland. His musical career as a conductor brought him all over the world. He was permanent conductor of the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris, and in 1965 he worked for the Spanish RTVE Orchestra. He was also the permanent conductor of the Monte Carlo orchestra.
In 1970, after ignoring his own compositions for nearly 30 years, he conducted often his own music and thereafter a slow revival of his original works began. He died suddenly from a heart attack in Antibes on March 7, 1983.
Read more about this topic: Igor Markevitch
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