Ivan Yevstafyevich Khandoshkin

Ivan Yevstafyevich Khandoshkin was one of the most prominent Russian violinists and composers of the eighteenth century. Born in 1747 and dying in St Petersburg in late March 1804, he trained under Tito Porta, and he is regarded as the finest Russian violinist of his century.

From 1765 he worked as a musician at the Russian court, where he also taught the violin at the Academy of Fine Arts. He later became court Kapellmeister. In 1783 he joined the company of Knipper's Free Theatre in St Petersburg, and two years later Potemkin invited him to direct the music academy he was planning in Yekaterinoslav. The project came to nothing, and in 1789 he returned to St Petersburg, where he continued to perform until his death.

His output includes three sonatas for solo violin inspired by Bach and several sets of variations on Russian folk melodies, in which he displayed a notable virtuoso technique. A viola concerto, published in 1947, was once attributed to him, although it is now considered spurious. His legacy lies chiefly in having brought the Russian folk song into cultivated instrumental music.