Description

DMITRI SMIRNOV (MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 19 NOVEMBER, 1882 – RIGA, LATVIA, 27 APRIL, 1944)

 

 

 

 

Smirnov sang in his youth in church choirs. As a young law student, he sang with an untrained voice in a semi-professional group that actually produced operas from time to time. This led him to undertake serious vocal studies with Madame Pavlovskaja, and to take part in a competition at the Bolshoi in 1904, as a result of which he was given a two-year contract. He made his debut as Bayan, the Bard, in Glinka’s Ruslan and Ljudmila and continued his career singing Jontek in Halka, the Duke, Alfredo, Faust, Prince Sinodal (The Demon) Lensky in Eugene Onegin and, on 11 January 1906, created the role of Dante in Rachmaninov’s Francesca da Rimini, with Nezhdanova and Baklanov and with the composer conducting. He made his first appearance at the Mariinsky in a guest performance as the Duke in Rigoletto, and in the autumn of the same year joined a group of Russian conductor-composers: Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov and Glazounov, the pianist, Josef Hoffmann, and singers like Felia Litvinne and Chaliapin, who gave concerts in Paris, organized by Serge Diaghilev, presenting Russian Music “through the ages”. The following year, he again joined the Diaghilev company in Paris, and sang the false Dmitry in Boris Godunov at the Opera on 19 May 1908, with Chaliapin, Alchevsky, who sang Shuisky, Kastorsky (Pimen), Sharonov (Varlaam), Mme Ermolenko-Juzhina (Marina) and others. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, on 30 December 1910, as the Duke in Rigoletto, but his success there was limited and he remained for little more than a month. He was a member of the Mariinsky troupe from 1910 to 1917, with guest appearances in three continents, including a series of performances of Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night organized by Sir Thomas Beecham in the summer of 1914 at the Drury Lane Theatre, London. After 1919 he sang widely in Europe and, between 1926 and 1930, his concert tours took him on several occasions into the Soviet Union. His last years were spent chiefly in teaching.

 

Chronology of some appearances

 

1910  Montevideo  Teatro Solis Rigoletto (Duca)

1910 Montevideo  Teatro Solis Boheme (Rodolfo)

1910  Montevideo  Teatro Solis Mefistofele (Faust)

1910 Buenos Ayres  Teatro dell’Opera Mefistofele (Faust)

1910 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Rigoletto (Duca)

1910  New York  Teatro Metropolitan Boheme (Rodolfo)

1911  New York  Teatro Metropolitan Boheme (Rodolfo)

1912  Madrid  Teatro Reale Mefistofele (Faust)

1912 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Rigoletto (Duca)

1912 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Boheme (Rodolfo)

1914 San Pietroburgo  Narowni Doma Boheme (Rodolfo)

1920 Montecarlo  Grand Theatre Tosca (Cavaradossi)

1921  Montecarlo  Grand Theatre Boheme (Rodolfo)

1922  Roma  Teatro Costanzi Boheme (Rodolfo)

1926 Parigi  Champs Elysees Rigoletto (Duca)

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Pêcheurs de perles (Bizet) Mi par d’udir ancora 052417 2856c Gramophone, St Petersburg 1913-10-14

Pescatori di perle (Bizet) Mi par d’udire ancora 022143x 434s Gramophone, St. Petersburg 1909-11

Pique Dame (Tchaikovsky) What is our life DA569 Bb 3336 HMV, London 1923-08-21

Prince Igor (Borodin) Cavatina of Vladimir Igorevich – Daylight slowly fades 2-022025 Cc 3212-2 Gramophone, 04 7 1923

Prince Igor (Borodin) Daylight is fading away 022216 2473c Gramophone, 9-10-11

Prince Igor (Borodin) Daylight is fading away 022271 2543c Gramophone 1920-10-11

Rigoletto (Verdi) La donna è mobile 4-22402 17235u Gramophone, Paris 28-05-1912

Rigoletto (Verdi) La donna è mobile 4-22861 18813b Gramophone, Petrograd 03-12-1914

Rigoletto (Verdi) La donna è mobile 7-52175 Bb100-2 HMV, London 1921-04-29

Rigoletto (Verdi) La donna è mobile 022132 431s Gramophone, St. Petersburg 11-1909

Rigoletto (Verdi) Questa o quella 2-52852 17825b Gramophone, St Petersburg 1913-08-19

Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) L’amour, l’amour… Ah, lève-toi, soleil 2-032065 Cc110-1 HMV, London 1921-04-29

Romeo et Juliette (Massenet) Ah! leve-toi, soleil 022133 428s Gramophone, St. Petersburg 1909-11

Rusalka (Dargomizhsky) Unwillingly to these sad shores 022357 2854c Gramophone, 14-10-13

Ruslan and Ljudmila (Glinka) There is a desert country 022334 2853c Gramophone, St. Petersburg 1914-10-13

Sadko (Rimsky-Korsakov) Hindu song 2-022003 Cc87-2 HMV, London 1921-04-22