Ivan Wyschnegradsky was born in Saint-Pétersbourg on 4 May, 1893. His father was a banker and his mother wrote poetry. His grandfather was a famous mathematician who served as the Russian Minister of Finances from 1888 to 1892. After completing his secondary education, Wyschnegradsky studied mathematics at university. He also studied music theory, composition and orchestration from 1911 to 1915 with Nicolas Sokolov, a professeur at the Saint-Petersburg Conservatory. In 1912, he began studying law.

The first public performance of one of Wyschnegradsky’s works, Andante religioso et funèbre, took place at the Pavlovsk Theatre, under the direction of Aslanov and in the presence of César Cui. At the end of the concert, Cui commended Wyschnegradsky “on his restraint.” In 1916, Wyschnegradsky composed Journée de Brahma, a work which went on to become the Journée de l’Existence, for narrator, large orchestra and mixed choir. In 1917, on the eve of the revolution, Wyschnegradsky concluded his studies of law. In November of that year, his father was arrested. Ivan embraced the ideals of the revolution, as exemplified through his work L’évangile rouge [The Red Gospel], opus 8.

Ivan Wyschnegradsky is a pioneer of ultrachromatism and microtonality. In 1919, he developed his first system for the notation of 1/12th-tone intervals. The following year, he and his family immigrated to Paris. The Maison Pleyel constructed a pneumatically-driven piano for him in 1921, with which he was not entirely satisfied. It was his desire to create a quarter-tone piano, and he felt that this could only be done in Germany. He ordered a quarter-tone, Moellendorf-type harmonium from Straube. In 1922 and 1923, he regularly travelled to Germany, where he met R. Stein, Alois Haba, J. Mager and W. Moellendorf. He ordered a quarter-tone piano from Foerster in 1927. In the same year, the Vandelle Quartet premiered his Prelude and fugue, opus 15. In 1932, his Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony [Manuel d’harmonie à quarts de ton] was published. In 1934, he composed the Twenty-four Preludes, with one in each of the “keys” of the chromatic scale, for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart.

On Monday, 25 January, 1937, he attended the first concert dedicated exclusively to his own music. He met Olivier Messiaen, and later Henri Dutilleux and Claude Ballif. He recorded the slow movement of the his work Ainsi Parlait Zarathoustra [Thus Spake Zarathustra] for four quarter-tone pianos.

In 1942, he was arrested by the Germans and held in Compiègne for two months. His wife, an American citizen, was also arrested and transfered to Vittel. On 11 November, 1945, Gisèle Peyron and Mady Sauvageot, sopranos, Lili Fabrègue, alto, Yvette Grimaud, Yvonne Loriod, Pierre Boulez and Serge Nigg, pianos, presented a concert of works by Wyschnegradsky.

Suffering from tuberculosis, Wyschnegradsky spent a period convalescing at the St Martin-du-Tertre Sanitorium. Meanwhile, André Souris condcuted the Belgian premiere of Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra in Brusells on 14 February, 1947, and Pierre Boulez, Yvette Grimaud, Claude Helffer and Ina Marika premiered the Deuxième fragment symphonique [Second Symphonic Fragment], opus 24 in Paris on 28 November, 1951. In that year, La Revue Musicale published a special edition of Ivan Wyschnegradsky and Nikolai Obouhow.

In 1977, Martine Joste organised a Wyschnegradsky portrait concert at Radio France; In Canada, Bruce Mather did the same. In 1978, Alexandre Myrat, head of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, premiered Journée de l’Existence. In that same year, the DAAD offered Ivan Wyschnegradsky a residency in Berlin which he was unable to accept due to his poor health. Radio France commissioned a String Trio, Wyschnegradsky’s final work. He died on 29 September, 1979.