Golyscheff, Jefim

Golyscheff, Jefim, Russian composer and painter;b. Kherson, Sept. 20, 1897; d. Paris, Sept. 25, 1970. He studied violin in Odessa. In 1909, in the wake of anti-Jewish pogroms, he went to Berlin, where he studied chemistry as well as music theory; at the same time, he began to paint in the manner of Abstract Expressionism. He played a historic role in the development of the serial methods of composition; his String Trio, written about 1914 and publ. in 1925, contains passages described by him as “Zwolftondauer- Komplexen,” in which 12 different tones are given 12 different durations in the main theme. As both a painter and a musician, he was close to the Dada circles in Berlin, and participated in futuristic experiments. On April 30, 1919, he presented at a Dada exhibition his Anti-Symphonie, sub-titled Musikalische Kreisguillotine, with characteristic titles of its movements: 1, Provocational Injections; 2, Chaotic Oral Cavity, or Submarine Aircraft; and 3, Clapping in Hyper F-sharp Major. On May 24, 1919, he appeared at a Dada soiree with a piece entitled Keuchmaneuver. All this activity ceased with the advent of the Nazis in 1933. Golyscheff fled to Paris, but after the fall of France in 1940 he was interned by the Vichy authorities. His life was probably spared because of his expertise as a chemist; he was conscripted as a cement laborer. In 1956 he went to Brazil, where he devoted himself exclusively to painting. In 1966 he returned to Paris.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire