Sergey Adolfovich Barjansky (russian: Сергей Адольфович Баржанский) ( Odessa,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
) was a Russian virtuoso cellist. Barjansky's cello was a
Stradivarius
A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...
instrument which became known as the
Barjansky Stradivarius
The ''Barjansky Stradivarius'' of c.1690 is an antique cello fabricated by the Italian Cremonese luthier Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737).
Eponym
The ''Barjansky'' is named after Russian cellist Alexandre Barjansky, who played the instrument dur ...
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme.
Early years and education
Julian ...
.
Life
Sergey was born in Odessa, in a wealthy Russian-Jewish family, the son of 1st guild merchant, composer, and pianist Adolf Barjansky (c. 1850 – 1900 Odessa, Russian Empire) and Maria Clara Weisstein (1861
Tarnopol
Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
– 1927
Vienne
Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
Salomon Jadassohn
Salomon Jadassohn (13 August 1831 – 1 February 1902) was a German pianist, composer and a renowned teacher of piano and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory.
Life
Jadassohn was born to a Jewish family living in Breslau, the capital of the ...
, was a composer of classical music for solo piano and chamber music ensembles in the Romantic tradition.
While following his doctorate in mathematics from the Imperial Novorossiya University in his home town, Serge studied the cello at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Leipzig with
Julius Klengel
Julius Klengel (24 September 1859 – 27 October 1933) was a German cellist who is most famous for his études and solo pieces written for the instrument. He was the brother of Paul Klengel. A member of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig at f ...
(1859-1933), famous cellist of the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
. Serge's debut was on 17 February 1906 in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, performing the concertos for cello by Karl Davydov and
Édouard Lalo
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo (27 January 182322 April 1892) was a French composer. His most celebrated piece is the '' Symphonie espagnole'', a five-movement concerto for violin and orchestra, which remains a popular work in the standard repe ...
. He first appeared in London on 28 June 1909 at the St. James's Hall. In 1911 he performed three concertos in one evening with the London Symphony Orchestra and in the 1912-13 season he played the Dvořak Concerto at The Queen’s Hall London with the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...
conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. In the following years, he performed as a soloist with the most important orchestras and conductors in Europe, including the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was f ...
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the
Concertgebouw
The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
.
In 1914 Serge married an Odessa native Elizabeth Trahtenhertz in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. Their son Adolf was born there the following year and daughter Jeanne was born in Odessa in 1918.
Following the Russian Revolution, the family moved to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, where Elizabeth died in 1934. In 1922 he sold the
Stradivarius
A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...
, which he owned since 1909. He later wrote about this period "The war, the Russian revolution, twenty years of life lost in Turkey where musical activity was impossible, and where one had to struggle to obtain the means of bare existence, all combined to retard my work."
In 1936 Serge and his children moved to the United States. He joined the Pittsburg Symphony's cello section in the 1937-1938 season under
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin "Fritz" Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to ...
.
Dr. Barjansky conducted a cello master class in August 1938 at The Pittsburgh Musical Institute, which merged in 1963 with the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
Musical Forecast Index 1937-1941 /ref>
In 1939 Barjansky published "The Physical Basis of Tone Production for String Instrument Players", which was republished 2 years later by Volkwein Bros., Inc.
Family
Serge Barjansky was one of the 6 siblings: Dr. Mikhail Barjansky (1880–1932), Malvina Karassik (1882-1967), Melitta Barjansky (1884-1959), Elizabeth Barjansky (1886-?), Alexey Barjansky (1892-1948).
* Adolf Barjansky (1851—1900) — Serge's father, composer and pianist
* Dr. Mikhail Barjansky (1880—1932) — Serge's brother, pianist and composer. Professor at Conservatoire Serge Rachmaninoff de Paris.
* Igor Karassik (1911-1995) — Serge's nephew, Russian-American engineer.
* (1892-1968) — Serge's cousin, painter, graphic artist.
* Alexandre Barjansky (1883–1961) — Serge's 2nd cousin, virtuoso cellist, was married to sculptor Catherine Barjansky (née Constantinovsky) (1890-1965).