The creation of this library has been, I might say, the greatest dream of my life.
It all started in my third year of Gorky Conservatory when I was assigned the first movement of the Brahms violin concerto to be performed at the juries. With considerable difficulty, I managed to get the only copy of music from the conservatory’s library. After I performed the concerto, I committed my only "crime": I stated that I lost the copy while, in fact, I kept it for myself.
After that incident, I would immediately visit all local music stores wherever I went. At first, I bought the music that I was about to perform. Somehow, the acquisition of violin music became a vital necessity for me with time. Of course, having purchased the Brahms concerto (I think in Moscow on Neglinnaya Street), I returned the library’s copy. But the habit of collecting violin music had not only remained with me but became strictly obligatory.
Upon graduation, as it was the custom at the time, I was sent to work in another city. In my case, it was the city of Taganrog in Rostov county, Russia, which was historically associated with Anton Chekhov and Peter the Great, and also had a great drama theatre. There, I met with a very pleasant surprise. In the town with only one music school for children and the newly opened musical college, there happened to be a lot of music lovers who, as in the old days, liked gathering in the evenings to make music in small ensembles. They, too, had lots of printed music for the violin and other instruments and different ensembles.
Since it became known that I was the only string player in town with the conservatory degree, people started coming to the college where I taught and bringing me violin music, much of which was printed by very well-known publishers. Thus, upon making my acquaintance with the town’s musicians, I found another source of replenishment of my growing library. And when I was moving to Kharkov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) in 1978 and my wife and I were packing our belongings, we realized that our music took up a lot of space!
While working in Kharkiv, I continued to increase and replenish my musical archives. On one of his visits and while helping me with the music, my son Anton suggested making the library available to a much wider circle of musicians by creating its online version. Clearly, that was not a task for one person. Anton approached my students for help. They took up the challenge and worked very hard. And now the work is finished.
It is with enormous gratitude that I list the names of the students who did all the preparatory work:
S. Lani, N. Zemlina, M. Dyk, N. Kovaleva, E. Stetsenko, A. Pasechnik, A. Beskorovainyi, I. Uspenskaya, E. Gorelik, A. Golubova.
Всю техническую работу по организации сайта блестяще проделал С.Лани.
I am also grateful to Julia Bushkova, Professor at the University of North Texas, for the English translation and recommendations.
Lastly, I want to give special thanks to my son, Anton Kholodenko. He gave me the idea to share the library online and spent countless hours organizing the project, scanning the scores, directing the students, and uploading the files to the portal.
I trust that this library will greatly benefit all lovers of violin music.
L.A. Kholodenko, Honored Artist of Ukraine, Professor
03.02.2022