Konyus: between Russia and France

The history of the Konyus family is only a small part of a two-sided topic "Foreigners in Russia and Russians abroad", which attracts researchers from a wide variety of specialties. Entire musical and artistic dynasties lived and worked in Moscow and St. Petersburg: in addition to the Konyus — Benoit-Kavos, Medner-Gedike, Albrecht, Kerzelli, Langer. All of them have contributed their significant share to the creation of Russian culture. Using the Konyus family as an example, one can observe the peculiarities of the existence and activities of "Russian foreigners" who considered Russia their homeland and at the same time maintained their connection with national roots and traditions. In this inevitable split between two homelands, national cultures, where "one’s own" and "another’s" places were complexly and bizarrely reversed, there is a peculiarity of the life behavior and creativity of "Russian foreigners" and the drama of many of them. Representatives of musical dynasties have a "final" nature of activity, as if completing the achievements of their ancestors. This feature, as well as the degree of attraction to different national poles, manifested itself in a peculiar way in the fates of three musician brothers: George, Lev and Julia.