There is so much to discover in Kashperova's Op.1 No.1! Sandra and Alyssa will be using this blog to chat about some of the things they found along the way, as well as some theories they've compiled from the evidence available.
Birdsong, subversion, intrigue, political commentary and feminism, oh my!
Grab yourself a cuppa and enjoy unravelling the mysteries...
For all the biographical information included in these blog posts, we are indebted to Dr. Graham Griffiths's book, “Leocadiya Kashperova: Biography, ‘Memoirs’ and ‘Recollections of Anton Rubinstein’”, published by Cambridge University Press, 2023 link
If you'd like to follow along in the score with us, it's available for free at IMSLP – we are in the process of putting together an annotated score with our discoveries, but you'll have to use Kashperova's original for now, and count the bars yourselves.
Mar 23, 2026
From Sandra
Allusions to war in the Andante?
“...my first independent composition was a Sonata for piano and cello, dedicated of course to Verzhbilovich. I wrote it in the summer and wanted to show it to him in the autumn…
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Feb 25, 2026
From Sandra
To B or not to B
In his book, Leokadiya Kashperova: Biography, ‘Memoirs’, and ‘Recollections of Anton Rubinstein’ , Graham Griffiths notes that Kashperova seemed to attach meaning to a sequence of 4 pitches (B-A-C-B), quoted from her…
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Feb 20, 2026
From Alyssa
The other thing I noticed, even before Sandra and I read through the sonata, was that it was Opus 1.
Opus 1 was for piano and cello??? Most composers don't even attempt writing for cello and piano until…
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Feb 15, 2026
From Sandra
On noticing “wrong” notes
The director of the St. Petersburg Music School, where Kashperova had taught, once warned the composer Balakirev not to include Kashperova in an upcoming concert because “she does not recognise any leadership and …..will…
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Feb 1, 2026
From Alyssa
Even before sitting down to read through the Sonata for the first time, something already stood out when we downloaded the score from IMSLP – the title. Contrary to common practice, these were not two cello sonatas, or even two sonatas for cello and piano, they were two sonatas for piano and cello. Putting the piano first had to be a deliberate decision, but why?
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Jan 18, 2026
From Sandra
When Alyssa and I started looking at Kashperova’s Sonata for piano and cello in G major, we had no idea what to expect. It felt like a bit of a curious adventure….to explore a piece written by a…
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