Arkhipova Irina Konstantinovna: biography, photo, personal life, husbands. Vladislav Piavko and Irina Arkhipova

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Irina Arkhipova - opera singer, owner of a wonderful mezzo-soprano, People's Artist of the Soviet Union, teacher, publicist, public figure. She can rightfully be considered the national treasure of Russia, because Arkhipova's brilliant singing gift and the global scale of her personality are limitless.

The main events that Arkhipova Irina Konstantinovna experienced in her life, the husbands of the singer, her achievements in music and in social activities - today is our story about this outstanding woman. By what internal principles did the opera queen of the Soviet Union live, and why did she quarrel with the great Galina Vishnevskaya? The reader will find answers to all these questions in our article.

Childhood memories

Irina Arkhipova is a singer whose biography began in Moscow. The girl was born in January 1925 in a family of intelligent and very musical people. Her father - engineer Konstantin Vetoshkin - was an incredibly creative person, he played four musical instruments - the piano, balalaika, guitar, mandolin. This commitment to music stretchedsince ancient times of the Vetoshkin family. Once in the family of Konstantin Ivanovich's parents there was a whole family orchestra. Arkhipova's mother - Evdokia Efimovna Galda - sang at the Bolshoi Theater. Irina Konstantinovna recalls: “Mom had a very beautiful voice with a soft timbre, dad always admired her talent. Parents loved to attend concerts, opera performances, ballet. Live music constantly sounded in the parental home, Irina heard it from childhood.

Parents tried to instill a versatile education and, of course, a love for music in their daughter. I must say that Irina was a gifted child in many things - she showed the ability to draw, sang well. They decided to send her to study at the music school at the conservatory in Moscow in piano. However, the education had to be interrupted - the girl suddenly fell ill and could not attend classes. Later, Irina again made an attempt to get closer to the world of music - she entered the school named after the Gnessin sisters and began studying with Olga Fabianovna Gnesina. Simultaneously with piano lessons, Irina Konstantinovna sang in the school choir.

Choice of profession

Parents, of course, understood that their daughter had a musical talent, but were of the opinion that singing is not the best thing to do well in life. Whether it's the profession of an architect, for which Arkhipova had not hefty abilities. In addition, Irina Konstantinovna always admired the works of famous women sculptors A. S. Golubkina, V. I. Mukhina and seriously thought aboutto connect your life with architecture.

The war made a choice for Irina Konstantinovna. The Vetoshkin family was evacuated to Tashkent. There, the future opera diva entered the Architectural Institute, which, by a great coincidence, also ended up in Tashkent, in evacuation. In parallel with her studies at the university, Arkhipova Irina Konstantinovna studied at the vocal studio at the institute. Her teacher was Nadezhda Malysheva, who opened the world of music to the student, introduced her to the art of opera. According to Irina Arkhipova herself, it was Nadezhda Matveevna who initially led the student to the correct interpretation of musical works, taught her to feel form and content, and introduced her to romance and opera literature.

The first performance of Irina Arkhipova before the public took place within the walls of the Architectural Institute. It must be said that music and theater were highly respected both among teachers and university students, and such concerts were an important part of students' lives.

In 1948, Irina Arkhipova defended her graduation project with an “excellent” degree and was assigned to an architectural workshop that de alt with Moscow projects. With the participation of Irina Arkhipova, residential buildings were created on the Yaroslavl Highway. According to her project, the Moscow Financial Institute was built.

Singing career. Home

In 1948, evening classes became available at the Moscow Conservatory, and Irina, without leaving her job as an architect, entered the first year of the educational institution in the class of the artist of the RSFSR Leonid Savransky. In 1951, the singer made her debut on the radio. In 1954 Irina ArkhipovaI switched to full-time education, for which I took a vacation at my own expense. She sincerely believed that after graduation she would definitely return to architecture, but this did not happen. Irina Konstantinovna brilliantly defended her thesis, passed state exams with honors and entered graduate school. Unfortunately, she did not pass the audition for the Bolshoi Theater troupe.

In 1954, Irina Arkhipova left for Sverdlovsk, where she worked for a year at the opera house. The first popularity came to the singer when she won the International Vocal Competition. Having taken the Grand Prix in a musical competition, Irina Arkhipova decided not to stop there. The biography of her creative development continued with concert activities in the cities of Russia. Two years later, the future opera diva ended up in Leningrad. She performed very successfully on the stage of the Maly Theater, after which she was offered to stay in the cultural capital. However, unexpectedly for everyone, by order of the Ministry of Culture, Arkhipova was transferred to Moscow. Since March 1956, Irina Konstantinovna was officially a member of the Bolshoi Theater troupe.

Work at the Bolshoi Theater

On April 1 of the same year, Irina Arkhipova made her debut at the Bolshoi Theater - she performed with great success in Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. Her stage partner was the Bulgarian dramatic tenor Lubomir Bodurov. Of course, in the career of a young and aspiring artist, this was a sharp turn. Irina Arkhipova, whose biography of creativity began several years ago, did not have time to work at the Bolshoi Theater even for a year. Andnow she has already received the main part in the great opera.

As Irina Arkhipova herself recalled about that period of time: “All my thoughts were occupied with only one thing - to prepare and perform well in the play. In my youth and ignorance of life, I did not even imagine that it was not at all the first appearance on the stage to be afraid. It was necessary to beware of the debut appearance on it as a soloist in the production of Carmen. It seemed to me then that this was a simple pattern - the first time in the Bolshoi and immediately in the lead role. I never thought that this was an exceptional case.”

In May 1959, another important event took place in the career of Irina Arkhipova - she performed one of her favorite roles in the play "Khovanshchina" by Mussorgsky - the part of Martha.

Global recognition

In June 1959, a tour of Italian tenor Mario Del Monaco was organized in the USSR. The opera singer took part in the play "Carmen", becoming Irina Arkhipova's stage partner. His arrival in the Soviet Union was an incredible event that had a public outcry. The duet with a world star was the culminating event in the creative career of Irina Arkhipova, which opened the door to world popularity for her. Television and radio broadcasts of the performance in European countries contributed to the instant recognition of the talent of the Russian opera queen. Arkhipova Irina Konstantinovna, whose photo now did not leave the covers of Soviet magazines, did not have time to accept numerous job offers from abroad.

She was to perform joint performances with Mario Del Monaco in the cities of Italy. By the way, this was the first performance of a Russian singer on the Italian stage in the history of all Soviet opera art. Irina Arkhipova was a pioneer in promoting the Russian opera school in the West. Soon the first internship of young Soviet singers in Italy became possible - Milashkina, Vedernikova, Nikitina and others.

Meet Woostman and Caballe

In the summer of 1963, Irina Arkhipova went to Japan, where she gave 14 concerts in many cities of the country. In 1964, the singer performed on the stage of La Scala in performances: Boris Godunov (part of Marina Mnishek), War and Peace (part of Helen Bezukhova), The Queen of Spades (Polina). Irina Arkhipova also managed to go overseas - she had several performances in the USA. In New York, the singer met John Woostman, a famous pianist, with whom they recorded a disc with works by Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky at the Melodiya company. The joint work was awarded the Golden Orpheus Grand Prix in France. By the way, John Wustman became a creative friend for Arkhipova for many years.

Thanks to the festival held in the south of France, Irina Konstantinovna met Montserrat Caballe and was incredibly surprised at the dignity of the world star. “During our work in the play “Il trovatore”, Montserrat never allowed herself “royal” whims. She was always attentive to her colleagues on the stage, not overwhelming any of them with her fame. Her behavior confirms the immutable truth - the great artistthere is nothing to boast about - his art speaks for him, his own talent and great ability to work.”

Private life

Active creative activity did not become an obstacle to the personal happiness of the singer. The opera diva tried several times to start a family. The husbands of Irina Arkhipova belonged to different professional circles. The first husband of Irina Konstantinovna was Evgeny Arkhipov, to whom in 1947 she gave birth to a son, Andrei. However, the marriage soon broke up. The second husband of the singer was her colleague in the shop. Irina Arkhipova and Vladislav Piavko, an operatic tenor, met at the Bolshoi Theatre. Once upon a time, an unhappy ending was predicted for this relationship, but the spiteful critics were mistaken in their predictions.

According to relatives of the Soviet opera diva, she was happily married. The life of Irina Konstantinovna, in addition to creativity, was also filled with female happiness. Vladislav Piavko and Irina Arkhipova lived together for more than forty years. Although the relationship of two talented people began with a loud scandal, which was learned not only in the Soviet Union, but also far beyond its borders. The conflict between Irina Arkhipova and Galina Vishnevskaya - another prima of the Bolshoi Theater - flared up just because of the young and promising opera singer - Vladislav Piavko. The details of this scandalous story became known to the public thanks to the story published by Irina Konstantinovna in the book of her husband (Vladislav Piavko) "Tenor: from the chronicle of lived lives …".

And it all happened like this. When a novice singer just appeared on the threshold of the Bolshoitheater, he immediately began to court Galina Vishnevskaya, but rather not as a man, but as a fan of her great talent. A friend of Vladislav sent him a huge amount of carnations from Riga, which the tenor presented to Galina Pavlovna as a token of admiration and boundless respect. When Irina Arkhipova came to the theater, Piavko suddenly "switched" to her. The singer made it clear to the man that he would not succeed, if only because he is much younger than Irina. However, this did not alienate the fan at all, but only provoked him even more.

The official version of the quarrel between the two opera divas was their dispute over participation in the same performance, but the true cause of the conflict was far from working, but personal. A tough conversation took place between the women, during which Arkhipova spoke out, not embarrassed in her expressions. It got to the point that Galina Vishnevskaya wrote a statement to the party committee against Arkhipov. The woman was summoned to a party meeting with a demand to apologize. Arkhipova offered to apologize only for the form, refusing to apologize for the content. This meeting of the party committee ended everything.

Soon the romance of the prima of the Bolshoi Theater and Vladislav Piavko became known to others. Under the onslaught of the Siberian stubbornness of the man, Irina Arkhipova gave in. And fate certainly played an important role here.

Vladislav Piavko and Irina Arkhipova had a significant age difference of sixteen years. In marriage, the singers did not have common children, but Vladislav was already the father of four. Irina Arkhipova had her only son Andrei. After a while, the grandson Andryusha was born to the opera diva, who later graduated from the conservatory and became an artist at the Bolshoi Theater. Andrei once had a daughter, Irina, named after her famous grandmother. Unfortunately, the great Irina Arkhipova outlived her son by four years.

Community activities

Irina Arkhipova's career as a public figure began with her participation as a jury member in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1966. Then there was the chairmanship of the Glinka Competition, participation in many world forums, for example, the Verdi Voices, the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium, the vocal competition in Paris and Munich, the Maria Callas and Francisco Viñas Competitions in Greece and Spain, respectively.

Since 1986, Arkhipova has been the head of the All-Union Musical Society, later renamed the International Union of Musical Figures. In the 90s, Irina Arkhipova became the chairman of the commission in the Bul-Bul Competition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of this singer from Azerbaijan. In 1993, a special Irina Arkhipova Foundation was created in Moscow, which supports beginning musicians in every possible way. However, Arkhipova's large-scale activities are not limited to the musical sphere. Irina Konstantinovna participates in various international congresses and symposiums that deal with global problems of mankind.

Irina Arkhipova achieved her heights in life thanks to titanic work, perseverance, and love for the profession. This woman is unique. Beyond allof the above activities, she is a great worker.

Arkhipova - Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the State Prize of Russia for enlightenment, laureate of the Moscow Mayor's Prize in the field of literature and art. Her work has been awarded the International Prize of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. In the piggy bank of regalia Irina Konstantinovna has three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland. The singer was awarded the Cross of St. Michael of Tverskoy, the distinction "For Mercy and Charity", the Pushkin Medal. In addition, Irina Arkhipova is a People's Artist of several states at once - Kyrgyzstan, Bashkortostan and Udmurtia. Irina Konstantinovna also holds several honorary titles - "Person of the Year", "Person of the Century", "Goddess of the Arts".

Arkhipova. Who is she?

In the year of her eighty-fifth birthday, Irina Arkhipova gave an interview to izvestia.ru journalists, in which she shared her memories and life guidelines. The singer spoke about the fact that she has experienced a lot in her dizzying musical career. Arkhipova did not always sing what she wanted. Often she had to perform chamber programs in order to keep herself busy. Arkhipova Irina Konstantinovna, whose biography of creativity has a huge number of facts and events, still regrets something. She never got to sing "The Maid of Orleans" from the stage.

By the way, Arkhipova did not have powerful patrons, she was never anyone's favorite. People loved her for her talent, and thisit was quite enough. Irina Arkhipova was often nominated for deputies without her knowledge, in absentia. She did not resist and tried to help her constituents in any way she could. Basically it was necessary to solve the housing problem. By the way, according to the singer herself, she often met decent people in the Supreme Council. Irina Arkhipova organized the construction of a church on Prokhorovsky field, where she invested large sums of money.

A little about myself

The woman declares with confidence that she pulled out a lucky ticket in life. She had wonderful parents, friends, relatives. She always did what she liked; traveled a lot of countries; met with prominent people of her time; felt the love of fans of her work.

And all my life I felt needed. Arkhipova always tried to live according to the principle: “Whatever the age in which you live, there will be no other time for you. So now it is important to do something that will leave a mark in the hearts of people for many years to come.” In addition, Irina Arkhipova also felt like a happy woman. Her personal life developed and was long and full. She is grateful to her partners for everything. From each of them, the woman learned something. Irina Arkhipova and her husbands have always been more than just roommates. They were friends.

At one time, a woman helped her grandson Andrei Arkhipov get into the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater. But not just because it is her relative. The singer really saw in her Andryusha a huge musical talent.

About herself, she said that her character was complex, and not everyone liked him - Arkhipova always had a habit of telling people the truth in person. Because of this, she was often considered harsh. And she was not harsh, but simply quick-tempered. She could break loose and commit a rash act, which she later regretted. Irina Arkhipova died in February 2010 at the age of 85. She was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.