Description

LEONID SOBINOV (YAROSLAVL, RUSSIA, 7 JUNE, 1872 – RIGA, LATVIA, 14 OCTOBER, 1934)

 

 

 

 

He was born in Jaroslavl in 1872, a town about 170 miles north-east of Moscow. His father was a sales representative in flour. His son did very well academically. Interest in music was satisfied by playing the guitar and singing in a local choir. After leaving school he enrolled in Moscow on a course leading to a degree in law. He completed the course in 1894, but by this time he made considerable expererience in a student choir. This included some appearances as its soloist. Nevertheless, his singing did not prevent his academic abilities. He obtained a law degree. After university came military service, compulsory at that time in Russia, and then he began to practice law. He studied with a tenor (Professor Dodonov) but he felt that this teacher was not suceeding in helping over certain problems. He took additional lessons from Alexandra Santagano Gorchakova. Sobinov still the law as his career. His teacher had other ideas and she made him go for an audition at the Bolshoi Theatre. This was in 1897 and brought him a two year contract! He soon was admired for his breath control, mezza-voce and enunciation. He appeared in operas such as Ruslan and Ludmila, Faust, Manon, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin, Halka, Rigoletto, Tannhäuser (Walter von der Vogelweide) and in Ivanov’s Zabava Putyatishna. Sobinov was very much impressed by Feodor Chaliapin who was two years younger than him. They sang together in an opera in 1899. In the same year he added Andrej (Mazeppa), Gérald (Lakmé) and Germont to his repertoire. After going through the score of Don José he declined taxing the role too dramatic for his voice. The reigning star at the Bolshoi was Nikolai Figner but Sobinov was his equal in every way. To enlarge his repertoire (he added the tenor roles in Martha, Werther, Mignon and Roméo et Juliette) he decided to make several journeys to Italy to hear more of the Italian school. At the end of 1903 he sang an acclaimed Nadir in Les Pêcheurs des Perles opposite the great Antonina Nezhdanova . In 1904 he made his debut at La Scala as Ernesto (in Italian) receiving great praise from the critics. After a short time as a reservist in the army (Russian-Japanese war in 1905) he first appeared in Manon and Fra Diavolo. At the end of 1906 he sang in Monte Carlo. Lohengrin and Werther were the next roles. He appeared with triumphant success in Madrid and Berlin. His first Lohengrin at the Bolshoi was enthusiastically received, while in St Petersburg the critics compared him to the superb Ivan Ershov. Singing in Londonand Paris in 1909 he added Levko in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night and changed the role of Bayan to Finn in Ruslan and Ludmila. After many years of travelling he became a producer (1911). In 1912 he once more appeared at la Scala opposite Lucrezia Bori in Roméo et Juliette, conducted by Tullio Serafin. In the months before the outbreak of Worldwar I Sobinov appeared in a new role, Cavaradossi. Conscripted for military service again in 1914 his contract with the Imperial Opera lapsed. He was charged with organizing concerts for the wounded and for charity. The Revolution gave him a second chance of moving into management. Unlike other Russian artists like Chaliapin, Kuznetsova, Medtner, Rachmaninov and Davidov he elected to stay. When the Red Army gained control, he was given an administrative cultural post in Sevastopol. His last appearance in a concert was in 1921. In the same year he was appointed Director of the Bolshoi but after a view months he resigned to return to a life of opera and concerts. He died of a heart attack in 1934. He was decorated many times: Imperial Court Singer (1910), People’s Artist of the Union of Soviet Republics (1923), Officer of the Red Army (1925) and the Red Labour Banner (1933).

 

Chronology of some appearances

 

Demon (Sinodal) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 24 April 1897

Ruslan and Ludmila (Bayan) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 4 September 1897

Prince Igor (Vladimir) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 19 January 1898

Yevgeny Onyegin – Moscow, Bolshoi, 13 April 1898

Faust-Moscow, Bolshoi, 16 April 1898

Tannhäuser (Walter) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 4 September 1898

Halka (Yontek)- Moscow, Novi Teatr, 6 September 1898

Pyesn Torzhetvuyuschey Lyubvi (Fabiy) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 26 October 1898

Rigoletto – Moscow, Novi Teatr, 8 November 1898

Zabava Putyatishna (Solovyey) – Moscow, Novi Teatr, 3 January 1899

Ribaki (Yannik) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 23 February 1899

Rusalka (Prince) – Odessa, Gorodskoy Teatr, 7 June 1899

Mazepa (Andrey) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 9 September 1899

Lakmé – Moscow, Bolshoi, 9 November 1899

La Traviata – Moscow, NoviTeatr, 14 November 1899

Le Cheval de Bronze (Yang) – Moscow, Novi Teatr, 30 January 1900

Yudif (Judith) (Vagoa) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 10 February 1900

Printsyessa Gryeza (Ruydel) – Moscow, Novi Teatr, 1 October 1900

Snegurochka (Berende) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 19 December 1900

Andzhelo (Angelo) (Gondolyer) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 4 January 1901

Boris Godunov (Dimitri) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 13 April 1901

Sin Mandarina (The Mandarin’s son) (Muri)-Moscow, Novi Teatr, 11 November 1901

Roméo et Juliette – Moscow, Bolshoi, 25 October 1902

Mefistofele – Moscow, Bolshoi, 3 December 1902

Mignon – Moscow, Conservatoire, 19 March 1903

Les Pêcheurs de Perles – Moscow, Novi Teatr, 3 December 1903

Marta – Moscow, Conservatoire, 16 February 1904

Werther – Moscow, Conservatoire, 12 March 1904

Don Pasquale – Milano, Scala, 21 (western calendar) December 1904

Fra Diavolo – St. Petersburg, Novi Letny Teatr, 13 November 1905

Manon – Milano, Scala, 11 (western calendar) April 1906

Lohengrin – Moscow, Bolshoi, 10 December 1908

Mayskaya Noch (Levko) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 6 October 1909

Ruslan and Ludmila (Finn) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 18 November 1909

Kavkazskiy Plennik (The Captive in the Caucasus) (Plennik/Captive) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 16 December 1909

La Bohème – Moscow, Bolshoi, 19 January 1911

Orfeo ed Euridice – St. Petersburg, Maryinski, 21 December 1911

Dubrovsky (Vladimir) – Moscow, Bolshoi, 27 November 1913

Tosca-St. Petersburg, Teatr A. S. Suvorina, 24 February 1914

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Lenski’s aria 27308 Pathé, St Petersburg 1908

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Whither, whither have you gone 022079 194m G&T, St Petersburg 1904

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Whither, whither have you gone 022140 1986c Gramophone, Moskva 1910-01-2402-06

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Whither, whither have you gone 22274 2664A Berliner/G&T, St. Petersburg 1901 (early)

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Whither, whither have you gone 22523 270b Berliner/G&T, St. Petersburg 1901-06

Faust (Gounod) Salut demeure 022078 195m G&T, St. Petersburg 1904

Fra Diavolo (Auber) Barcarolle 27309 Pathé, St Petersburg 1908

Halka (Moniuszko) The wind howls among the hills 22276 2663A Berliner/G&T, St. Petersburg 1901 (early)

Halka (Moniuszko) The winds howls amongst the hills 022197 2213c Gramophone, St Petersburg 1911-02-1402-27

Halka (Moniuszko) Thought 22261 2666A G&T, St Petersburg 1901 (early)

Lakmé (Delibes) Fantaisie aux divins mensonges 2-22662 1991L G&T, St Petersburg 1904

Lohengrin (Wagner) Das süsse Lied (w. Nezhdanova) 024032 1983c Gramophone, Moskva 1910-01-2402-06

Lohengrin (Wagner) Mein lieber Schwan 022137 1979c Gramophone, Moskva 1910-01-2302-05

Manon (Massenet) En fermant les yeux 022139 1981c Gramophone, Moskva 1910-01-2302-05

Martha (Flotow) Ach so fromm 2-22650 1976L G&T, St. Petersburg 1904

May Night (Rimsky-Korsakov) Sleep my beauty 2-22648 1972L G&T, St Petersburg 1904

May Night (Rimsky-Korsakov) Sleep my beauty 022162 1988½c Gramophone, Moskva 1910-01-2402-06