Andrey Osipovich Sychra (1773–1850) was
born in Vilnius in 1773. As a nobleman, he
was well-educated and played the guitar,
harp, violin and piano masterfully. Sychra
concentrated most of his creative energy
on developing a playing technique and
a repertoire for the seven-string guitar
(tuned to a G major chord), which became
known as the Russian guitar. No later
than 1810, Sychra moved to St Petersburg,
where he found fame and left a mark on
history as the patriarch of the Russian
guitar. In 1817–1845, when Sychra was
at his most prolific, he created his masterpieces
Four Exercises, Grand Fantasia
on Motifs from the Opera Der Freischütz,
Fantasia Dedicated to Count Lunin and
Variations on the Russian Folk Song
“Amidst the Flat Valley”, among others.
Another important contribution Sychra
made to the seven-string guitar repertoire
was through his transcriptions of
widely popular Western European and
Russian music by Mozart, Pleyel, Haydn,
Beethoven and etc.
These played an important role in
the creation of the general concert
repertoire in 19th-century Russia. Sychra’s
transcriptions for ensembles with
guitar were very popular among
amateur musicians. The second section
of this programme mainly contains
Sychra’s transcriptions for various
instrumental ensembles. Ensembles of
two identical guitars, and those with
violin or flute, were most popular in
Italy, Austria, Germany and other
European countries of the 19th century.
Sychra’s contribution was that he also
introduced guitars tuned up by a second,
minor third (terz) and fourth (quart),
which then became a guitar consort
commonly used by Russian performers
and composers.
Today, the uniquely rich Russian culture
of the 19th century is an integral part of
the cultural heritage of modern civilisation,
in which the Russian seven-string
guitar occupies its well-deserved place.
The rich and diverse legacy of A.O. Sychra,
as part of this culture, largely reflects
artistic trends of his time, while his personal
influence on the history of the guitar
in Russia was as significant and important
as the artistically valuable repertoire that
he created for the seven-string guitar.
Recorded in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia
Booklet in English contains liner notes
by Aynur Begutov and profiles of the
musicians
Aynur Begutov plays seven-string
guitars by Ivan Krasnoshekov (1855),
Fedor Arhuzen (1890, 1891), Michail
Eroshkin (1909) and Igor Budantsev
(2021)