Mark Danilovich (Marek Konrad) Sokolovsky ( Polish Marek Konrad Sokołowski ; April 13 (25), 1818 , Cellar, near Zhytomyr - December 25, 1883 ( January 6, 1884 ), Vilnius ) - Russian - Polish classical guitarist and composer .
| Mark Danilovich Sokolovsky | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mark Danilovich Sokolovsky |
| Date of Birth | April 25 (April 13 ) 1818 |
| Place of Birth | with. Spechintsy , sovr. Pogrebischensky district , Vinnytsia region |
| Date of death | January 6 ( December 25 ) 1883 (65 years old) |
| Place of death | Willy |
| Buried | |
| A country |  Russian empire |
| Professions | composer |
| Instruments | |
Biography
He studied guitar playing independently at the printing schools of Giuliani , Legnani , Merz and other authors. He first performed as a soloist on May 26, 1841 in Zhitomir, in 1846 he made his debut with great success in Moscow and within the next twelve years he gave concerts in many cities of Russia: St. Petersburg , Kiev , Minsk , Vilnius. In Europe, the name of Sokolovsky became famous in 1858, when he visited Vienna with concerts. The outstanding mastery of the instrument brought Sokolovsky great success in all the cities where he toured - Wiesbaden , Paris , London , Brussels , Dresden , Milan , Krakow , Warsaw - and secured him the glory of one of the best guitarists in Europe. Critics of different countries called Sokolovsky “the great artist”, “ Paganini of the guitar”, “the king of guitarists”. Upon returning to Russia, Sokolovsky continued to give concerts (in 1869 - at the Bolshoi Theater ), tried to achieve the opening of a guitar class at the Moscow Conservatory (which, however, was refused). In 1877, the musician gave his farewell concert in St. Petersburg and left for Vilnius, where he spent the last years of his life engaging in private teaching. Sokolovsky is buried in the Rasu cemetery, near the grave of M.K. Čiurlionis .
Sokolovsky is an outstanding guitar player, masterfully mastering the instrument, possessing a melodious sound, vivid emotionality and expressiveness, a wide palette of timbres. His repertoire included the works of Giuliani, Legnani, Carulli , his own transcriptions of music by Chopin and other composers. Among his own numerous works for the guitar, many of which remained unreleased - polonaises, mazurkas, waltzes, fantasies on the theme of the “Venice Carnival”, Russian and Polish folk songs. Since 1856, he regularly performed with a ten-string guitar, specially designed for him by the Austrian master J. G. Scherzer (Johann Gottfried Scherzer, see en: Ten-string guitar ).