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. He died during a bombing raid in August 1941 together with his family.

TRACKLIST

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