Frautschi (2008)

FRAUTSCHI is an intimate portrait of one of the most influential (and least known) guitar pedagogues in Russia: Kamill Frautschi (1921-1997). A violinist himself, Kamill taught his son Alexander Frautschi (1954-2008) to play guitar. Alexander Frautschi became the first guitarist from the Soviet Union to achieve international fame. Originally, the Frautschis were a family of Swiss émigrés in Russia. Kamill's father Arthur Frautschi ('Artuzov'), a top-ranking officer of the NKVD (later: KGB), fell victim to Stalinist purges in 1937. As a result, Kamill spent his youth in the Gulag. Through interviews with students, family documents, home videos, and an audio tape he recorded late in his life, this documentary brings Frautschi's ideas on music teaching and performance to any audience interested in music and art.