Nikolai Obukhov

Nikolai Borisovich Obukhov was a Russian and French composer, music theorist, and inventor of musical instruments. Born into a family of hereditary musicians in the Kursk Governorate, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory and later at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory under Nikolai Tcherepnin. In 1918, he emigrated to Paris via Constantinople, where he settled for the rest of his life. In France, he was supported by Maurice Ravel, who considered him a genius, and maintained close professional relationships with conductor Serge Koussevitzky and the circle of the *Revue musicale*.

Musically and philosophically, Obukhov was influenced by the late works of Alexander Scriabin and the ideas of Vladimir Solovyov, leading historians to view him as a bridge between Scriabin, Olivier Messiaen, and Charles Ives. His work is often associated with Russian cosmism and theosophy. Notably, around 1914, Obukhov independently developed a concept of 12-tone atonal technique (which he called "Absolute Harmony") and a unique system of musical notation, predating or paralleling the work of Arnold Schoenberg and Josef Matthias Hauer.

Obukhov was a pioneer in the field of organology, creating several electroacoustic instruments including the Ether, Crystal, and Waves. His most famous invention was the "Croix Sonore" (Sounding Cross), created in 1929. This instrument consisted of a glass sphere containing a cross with a diamond at the center; sound was produced by the proximity of the performer's hands, controlling pitch and volume similar to the Theremin. His contemporaries dubbed him the "Stradivari of radio-electronic music."

His magnum opus was the immense and unfinished musical utopia *Le Livre de Vie* (The Book of Life), on which he worked from 1917. While he signed some works under the pseudonym Nicholas l’Extasié, much of his output remains in manuscript form. However, interest in his avant-garde compositions has revived in the 21st century with performances across Europe and the establishment of a music competition in his name in France.

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