Anatoly Kuznetsov. A soul inspired

Abstract

A book in memory of Anatoly Kuznetsov, an enthusiastic scholar of the life, beliefs and works of the 20th-c. pianist and Christian philosopher Maria Yudina. Referring to her personality as ‘symphonic’ and ‘faithful to sobornost,’ Kuznetsov spent forty years celebrating Yudina’s memory and sparing no effort to collect and preserve her legacy. He searched for and gathered her articles, letters, reminiscences, and diaries, and brought to light her informal connections, discovering her friends of some years and correspondents from all over the world. Yudina exchanged letters with Adorno, Balanchine, Bakhtin, Zabolotsky, Karsavin, Lozinsky, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Suvchinsky, Florensky, Favorsky, Chukovsky, Shostakovich, and Yavorsky. The rich ‘musical score of life’ is accentuated by the symphonic and polyphonic qualities of her letters. Searching for synthesis, Yudina became its true epitome. Supplementing Yudina’s own writings with scholarly essays and reminiscences about her, Kuznetsov succeeds in capturing the vanishing era.