Description

ANDREI LABINSKY (TOBOLSK, RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 20 AUGUST, 1871 – MOSCOW, SOVIET UNION, 8 AUGUST, 1941)

 

 

 

 

He was born into a large family. His childhood years were spent in Siberia, as his father had been exiled on suspicion of involvement in a group of Polish nationalists. From 1881, he sang in the church choir of the Sophia Cathedral in Tobolsk. After moving to Tyumen, Labinsky became a soloist of the choir at the Znamenskaya Church. He graduated from the local Alexandrovsk Real School, after which he became a soloist of the Synodal Choir. In 1899, he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied solo singing under Professors S. Gabel and V. Samusya (stage performance class of F. Paleček).

He possessed an even, flexible voice of a pleasant, soft timbre and a wide range (reaching the F of the third octave). From 1896, he sang in the choir of the Mariinsky Theatre. From 1899 to 1912 and again from 1919 to 1924, he was a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre; from 1926 he served at the Bolshoi Theatre of the USSR.

In 1920–1922 and 1923–1924, he taught at the Moscow Conservatory and at the Institute of Musical Drama. From 1941, he was a vocal instructor at the Bolshoi Theatre. Among his students were N. F. Kemarskaya and V. N. Prokoshev.

He toured in Japan, France, Germany, and Italy.

He was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1924.

His best operatic roles included Lensky, Hermann, Almaviva, Faust, José, Raoul, Bayan, Lykov, Sadko, Radamès, Lohengrin, and Luciano in the opera Francesca da Rimini by E. Napravnik, among others.

Among A. M. Labinsky’s stage partners were F. I. Chaliapin and A. V. Nezhdanova. He was an understudy to L. V. Sobinov. The composer S. Kashevarov dedicated the romance Silence to the singer.

He enjoyed extraordinary popularity, especially among female opera enthusiasts. Asaf Messerer recalled that Labinsky was “handsome as a playing-card jack.” His admirers, known as “Labinists,” followed him on his concert tours across Russia. According to the Russian Musical Gazette (1905), at chamber concerts with the bass Kastorsky, front-row tickets cost ten rubles—which was a very large sum at the time. The same issue reported a tragicomic incident at one of the concerts: an enraged husband of one of the “Labinists” fired a shot at Labinsky, but fortunately missed.

M. Labinsky lived in Moscow in a wing of the former Ukhanov–Puschina estate at 8 Mokhovaya Street, building 1. He died during a bombing raid in August 1941 together with his family.

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

A Life for the Tsar (Glinka) The bride is waiting… Brothers, into the snowstorm 2-22928, 2-22929, 1120r, 1121r Gramophone, St. Petersburg 1906
A Life for the Tzar (Glinka) The rose which blooms (w. Mikhailova, Nikitina & Sibiryakov) 2-24157 7839L Gramophone St. Petersburg 1908
A may day (Ranushevich) 2-22364 2789K G&T, St. Petersburg 1906
All Souls’ Day (Lassen) 2-22233 2118k G&T, St. Petersburg 1901
Are you coming, love (Bleikhman) 2-22236 2122k G&T, St. Petersburg 1905
Askold’s tomb (Verstovsky) Near the town of Slavyansk 3-22557 490112L Gramophone 1906
At the Cross (Faure) (w. Andreev) 24016 2634 Berliner, St. Petersburg 1901-03
Carmen (Bizet) Duet (w. Pavlovskaya) 8235 8235 R.A.O.G, St. Petersburg
Come to me (Greve-Sobolyevsk) 2-22363 2788K G&T, St. Petersburg 1906
Demon (Rubinstein) Prince Sinodal’s aria 2-22776 2976L Gramophone 1905
Der Engel (Wagner) 3-22536 4923l G&T, St. Petersburg 1907
Dubrovsky O give me oblivion (Napravnik) 22332 2642G G&T St. Petersburg 1901
Es war ein traum (Lassen) 2-22239 2117K G&T, St. Petersburg 1905
Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) How excellent is this day 22436 3011 Berliner, St. Petersburg 1901
Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) I love you Olga 3-22856 7797L Gramophone St. Petersburg 1908

Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Whither, whither 2-22760 2958L Gramophone 1905
Faust (Gounod) Salut demeure 3-22534 4936L G&T, St. Petersburg 1906
Halka (Moniuszko) The wind wails in the hills 3-22862 7796L Gramophone, St. Petersburg 1908
Huguenots (Meyerbeer) Raoul’s Aria 2-22775 2975L Gramophone 1905
I have no strength to forget (Mazurkevich-Taskin) 2-22209 2056k G&T, St. Petersburg 1905
I took twinkling from the bright stars (Borodin) 222312 18722 B2228 Gramophone, 18-12-13
In my blood the fire of desire burns, Romance (Glinka) 22331 2612G G&T 1901
Ivan Susanin (Glinka) Brothers in the snowstrom 2-22929 1121r Gramophone 06-1906
Love (Wrangell) 22338 2609 Berliner, St. Petersburg 1901
North Star (Glinka) 22430 2998G G&T, St. Petersburg 1901
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Ridi, Pagliaccio 24345 Pathé, St Petersburg 19111912
Poet (Krotkov) Aria of Luiidy 2-22745 2821L Gramophone 1905
Prince Igor (Borodin) Vladimir’s cavatina 3-22830 7794L Gramophone St. Petersburg 1908
Rigoletto (Verdi) La donna e mobile 2-22790 2978L G&T St. Petersburg 1905
Rigoletto (Verdi) Questa o quella 2-22802 442x G&T St. Petersburg 1905

Romance (Donaurov) 2-22210 2058K G&T, St. Petersburg 1905
Rusalka (Dargomyzhsky) Unwillingly to these sad shores… Everything here reminds me 2-22926 1118r, 2-22927 1119r Gramophone 06-1906
Sadko (Rimsky-Korsakov) Song of India 3-22863 7798L Gramophone St. Petersburg 1908
Serenade (Gota) RSS-997 Lyrophon, 1908
Serenade (Night descended on the earth) 3-22556 4994L Gramophone 1906
She was thine (Grechaninov) 2-22709 2742L G&T, St. Petersburg, 1905
Si vous l’aviez compris (Denza) D6044 35077 Columbia
Snow Maiden (Rimsky-Korsakov) So full of wonders 3-22855 7795L Gramophone St. Petersburg, 1908
The cry of the snow-white seagull (Grodzki) (w. Kastorsky) 24033 2973a Berliner St. Petersburg 1901
The night is warm and magically shines the moon (Kochetova) 22251x 2877 Berliner, 01-02-1901
The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky) Forgive me, heavenly creature 8215 8215 R.A.O.G, St. Petersburg
The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky) What is our life 22337 2608 Berliner, 1901
The seafarers (Our unfriendly sea) 24096 379z G&T, St. Petersburg 1902
The sweet scent of lilac (Plotnikov) 22249 2648½G G&T, St Petersburg 1901-03
The Varangian (Cui) 2-22237 2123K Gramophone St. Petersburg, 1905

Torna (Denza) 22059 292z G&T, St Petersburg 1902
Tranquility (Kashevarov) 2205 2205 R.A.O.G, St. Petersburg
Traviata (Verdi) Dei miei bollenti spiriti 22494 192 G&T, 6-01
Traviata (Verdi) Parigi, o cara (w. Pavlovskaya) 8236 8236 R.A.O.G, St. Petersburg
Trovatore (Verdi) Ai nostri monti (w. Nosilova) X-64444 4935l Zonophone
Trovatore (Verdi) Di quella pira 22369 2880 Berliner St. Petersburg 1901
Wanderers Nachtlied Op. 48 No. 5 (Rubinstein) 24037 2874 NB Berliner, St. Petersburg 1901
We have parted (Dlussky) 24044 200 g Berliner, 6-01
We were alone in the garden (Grodszky) 2-22235 2121K G&T, St. Petersburg 1905
What a Night! (Wrangell) 22408 2869 Berliner, St. Petersburg 1901
When I was a boy (Jacobson) 222301 18691b Gramophone, 1919
With the sweet scent of lilac (Plotnikov) 2-22207 2054K G&T, 1905
Yolanda (Yuferov) Aria 22357 2996a G&T, 7-01
You are my morning (Vrangel) 22250 2605G Berliner, St. Petersburg 1901-03
Your eyes (Meyer-Helmund) 222311 18717b Gramophone, Moscow 18-12-1913