(b Bezhetsk, 3/15 Jan 1861; d Petrograd, 26 Dec 1918). Russian balalaika player. He was largely responsible for improving the design of the balalaika, domra and gusli, and at the end of 1887 founded in St Petersburg an orchestra of Russian folk instruments. With the orchestra he made successful tours of Russia, Germany, France, England, Canada and the USA. While he did much to awaken the interest of his contemporaries in Russian folk instruments, Andreyev's combination of Russian folk instruments and the Western symphony orchestra was by no means universally acclaimed: Rinsky-Korsakov abandoned the idea of balalaikas in the score of Kitezh after the first rehearsal, Balakirev and Stasov despised the ‘pseudo-Russian’ combination, but Glazunov decided to write for it his Russian Phantasy (1906). Under Andreyev's direction ensembles of folk instruments were established in schools and in the army, and this tradition later made folk orchestras a vital part of official Soviet music. He made many arrangements of folksongs for his orchestra, and composed about 40 pieces, mostly waltzes, for the balalaika or balalaika ensemble. He wrote essays on Russian folk music and folk instruments, and a textbook on the balalaika.
Shkola dlya balalayki s prilozheniyem pesen, aranzhirovannïkh dlya pyati balalayek [A balalaika tutor, with a supplement of songs arranged for five balalaikas] (St Petersburg, 1894)
K voprosu o russkoy narodnoy muzïke [The question of Russian folk music] (St Petersburg, 1899)
Les instruments nationaux en Russie, anciens et perfectionnés (St Petersburg, 1900)
Spravochnik ili kratkoye rukovodstvo dlya oborudovaniya velikorusskogo orkestra [A reference book or short guide to equipping a Russian orchestra] (Petrograd, 1916)
ME (O.A. Vinogradova)
A. Chagadayev: V.V. Andreyev (Moscow, 1948, 2/1961)
B. Granovsky: ‘V. Andreyev i 'ego orkestr’ [Andreyev and his orchestra], SovM (1959), no.7, pp.125–31
V. Andreyev: ‘Iz vospominanii’ [Reminiscences, written in 1917], SovM (1961), no.1, pp.101–6
P.V. Vasilyev: Organizator i rukovodite' pervogo russkogo orkestra narodnïkh instrumentov V.V. Andreyev [Andreyev: the founder and director of the first Russian orchestra of folk instruments] (Irkutsk, 1961)
F. Sokolov: V.V. Andreyev i 'ego orkestr (Leningrad, 1962)
A.S. Ilyukhin: V.V. Andreyev: materialï k kursu istorii ispolnitel'stva na russkikh narodnïkh instrumentakh [Andreyev: materials for the course of performance history on Russian folk instruments], i (Moscow, 1969)
A.D. Pol'shina: Formirovaniye orkestra russkikh narodnïkh instrumentov na rubezhe XIX–XX vekov [The development of the orchestra of Russian folk instruments at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries] (Moscow, 1977)
V.V. Granovsky, ed.: V.V. Andreyev: materialï i dokumentï (Moscow, 1986)
Yu. Baranov: Podvizhnik muzïki narodnoy [A folk music zealot] (Moscow, 1988)
Materialï k 100-letnemu yubileyu russkogo narodnogo orkestra [Documents for the centenary of the Russian folk orchestra] (Moscow, 1988)
Tvorcheskoye naslediye V.V. Andreyev i praktika samodeyatel'nogo instrumental'nogo ispolnitel'stva [Andreyev's heritage and the practice of amateur instrumental performance] (Leningrad, 1988)
JENNIFER SPENCER/MARINA FROLOVA-WALKER