Opera singer Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev: biography

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

Outstanding Russian opera singer Sergei Lemeshev, whose biography is filled with work, fame, love, lived an interesting, eventful life. His path is the path of a purposeful person. Despite the obstacles, he was able to develop his gift and reach heights. Lyric tenor Lemeshev is one of the best domestic singers of the 20th century.

Childhood and family

Lemeshev Sergey Yakovlevich, whose biography began in the most ordinary way, not foreshadowing anything outstanding, was born on June 27, 1902 (according to the old style) in the village of Staroe Knyazevo, Tver province. There was a legend in the family of the peasant Yakov Lemeshev that their surname came from the nickname of an ancestor who found an iron plowshare in the field, which was a great success at that time, and became very rich after that. But this did not affect the prosperity of Sergey's parents.

Yakov secretly married a girl Akulina and therefore was left without a parental blessing and without an inheritance. Yakov, in order to feed his family, worked for a long time incity, but he died early when Sergei was only 10 years old. Akulina was left alone in her arms with her sons. Everyone in the family was very musical and had good voices, but singing was never considered a serious occupation in the village.

Sergey worked hard since childhood to help his mother, who worked as a scrubber in a manor house. From the age of 7, the boy began to go to school, and the teacher often praised him, advising his mother to send him to study in the city. When Sergei was 12 years old, she followed the advice and sent her son with her brother to Petrograd. There Lemeshev studied shoemaking and enthusiastically observed the life of the capital, he visited the circus, the theater, but his career as a shoemaker was prevented by the coup of the 17th year, after which the young man had to return to the Tver province.

Finding a calling

Sergey Yakovlevich Lemeshev is an example of a person who stubbornly pursued his calling. The biography for the children of this singer can be an illustrative example of the stubborn pursuit of his dream. He showed a craving for singing when he was little, he went to the forest for firewood, mushrooms and berries and sang there with pleasure. Lemeshev's mother also had a good voice, with an unusual timbre, she often sang sad folk songs, which Sergey fell in love with forever. Once he and his brother, who also had a good voice, already being young men, grazed horses in the field and sang songs with might and main. Engineer Nikolai Kvashnin was passing by, who drove up to them and said: "Yes, you are a tenor! Come to my wife to study." Older brotherAlexey did not take this idea seriously, and Sergey took advantage of the offer and began to learn the basics of vocals. Also at this time, he begins to read a lot, get acquainted with world culture, thanks to the intelligent Kvashnin family.

Years of study

The first lessons were given to him with great difficulty. Lemeshev recalled that vocal technique was very difficult for him, but he firmly decided to become a singer and worked with all his might. Later, while studying at a trade school, he studied musical notation and continued to learn how to use his voice. When he was 17 years old, the future singer traveled 37 miles to Tver to sing on the stage of a local club, and the next day he walked the same way back. In 1920, he received a referral from the Komsomol to study at the conservatory. In 1921 he entered the Moscow Conservatory, in the class of the famous professor N. Raisky. In those days, many famous masters taught at this educational institution. The very first lesson showed that Lemeshev had big problems with the production of his voice, he had very little command of his voice and breathing. Therefore, he had to study very hard. In his last year, he simultaneously studies at the opera studio at the Bolshoi Theater under the direction of K. Stanislavsky. It was there that he first performed Lensky's aria from "Eugene Onegin" by P. Tchaikovsky. At the final exam from the conservatory, Lemeshev brilliantly performed the parts of Vaudemont from Iolanthe and Lensky from Eugene Onegin.

Professional path

In 1926, Sergey Yakovlevich Lemeshev, whose biography was now forever associated with opera, began his professional career. The times were not easy, but the singer rushed into a new life with interest. He enters to serve in the Sverdlovsk Opera House, but worked there for only a year. After that, Lemeshev travels to Harbin, where he performs as a soloist of the Russian Opera at the Chinese Eastern Railway. In 1929 he again changed his place of residence, now he is a soloist of the Tiflis Opera. In these theaters, Lemeshev gains experience and gains some fame.

Bolshoi Theater

In 1931, the tenor was invited to trial performances at the Bolshoi Theater. For audition, he chose the part of Berendey from "The Snow Maiden" and Gerald from "Lakme". Already the performance of the first aria decided his fate, the lyrical tenor and endless artistic charm opened the way for him to the main theater of the country. Lemeshev Sergey Yakovlevich, whose biography will be associated with the Bolshoi for many years, is rapidly gaining popularity. He has a whole army of fans who relentlessly follow him everywhere, throw flowers and declare their love. His vocal style was distinguished not only by the voice of an amazing timbre, but also by the deep content of the performance. He was a very soulful and charming singer, which provided him with such success. Lemeshev worked as a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater for 25 years, he performed all the parts written for his voice, and left a bright mark on the history of Russian opera.

Repertoire and famousparty

All the best tenor parts have found their place in Lemeshev's repertoire. He sang more than 30 operas, 23 outstanding productions with him were in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater for many years. The most famous, his "signature" party, was Lensky. It fully revealed the inner content and artistry of the singer. In total, Lemeshev performed this part 501 times, and each time it was a dizzying success. Also, the glory of his talent was made up of such operas as The Snow Maiden, Romeo and Juliet, La Bohemia, La Traviata.

The outstanding tenor Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev, whose biography is closely connected with opera, also performed a lot of folk songs and romances. His performance was distinguished by a cordiality that penetrated the soul of the listener and conquered him forever.

Lemeshev and Kozlovsky

At the Bolshoi, Lemeshev had a serious rival - Ivan Kozlovsky. Both were lyric tenors, both had great fame and popularity, and, naturally, a rivalry arose between them, which was greatly fueled by the confrontation between the fan clubs of the singers. Fans constantly competed with each other, sometimes it even came to clashes. Both singers performed the same parts and strove to “re-sing” the opponent. This is especially noticeable in the performance of Lensky's part. Each of the singers got his own character: more mocking and harsh in Kozlovsky, more lyrical and soulful in Lemeshev. In terms of the number and speed of receiving awards, Kozlovsky was clearly ahead of Lemeshev, but he succeeded much longerto work on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. Lemeshev Sergey Yakovlevich, whose photo often appeared in newspapers and magazines, had a larger number of fans due to the fact that his appearance was more attractive to women. In 1958, the great rival tenors took the stage together at the anniversary of O. Chekhova-Knipper.

Director's work

In 1951, the opera director Sergei Lemeshev appeared in the country, he made his debut with the production of the play "La Traviata" at the Leningrad Maly Opera Theater. Already at the end of his vocal career at the Bolshoi, he staged J. Massenet's opera "Werther" there and sang the title role himself. Opera director Sergei Lemeshev, whose biography is still more connected with vocals, was distinguished by a special ability to “reveal” the beauty of the soloists’ voices and his own special one. In Werther, he managed to demonstrate the uniqueness of his talent.

Life outside the Big One

While still working as a Bolshoi Theater soloist, Lemeshev began directing and teaching. Since 1951, for ten years he led the vocal group at the Moscow Conservatory, headed the department of opera training.

In 1940, Lemeshev appeared before the audience in the cinema, he starred in the film "Musical History" as a taxi driver Petya Govorkov. For several years he hosted music programs on all-Union radio. In the early 60s, the singer took part in the creation of television versions of the opera performances "Dubrovsky", "Demon", "Eugene Onegin".

In 1968, Lemeshev released his autobiographical book “The Way toart”, in which he spoke about how difficult it was for him to be famous and successful. And of course, throughout his life he gave many concerts, performing not only the operatic repertoire, but also pop songs by Soviet composers.

Awards

Sergey Yakovlevich has received many awards in his life. At 35, he became an Honored Artist of the RSFSR, at 48 - a People's Artist of the USSR. He was awarded the Stalin Prize for achievements in vocal art, had three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and many medals, including for work in propaganda teams in wartime. But he never received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, unlike I. Kozlovsky, which he secretly regretted.

Memory

Opera singer Sergei Lemeshev has remained in Russian culture in many records, and videos of his performances have been preserved, which are now watched by conservatory students and opera lovers. Unfortunately, the country does little to honor the memory of its national heritage. So, only a music school in one of the districts of Moscow was named after Lemeshev.

Private life

Lemeshev Sergey, whose personal life has become a real legend, showed his magical effect on the female sex very early. Already at the age of 15 he met Grushenka, whom he wanted to marry. And a year later, the daughter of his first benefactors, the Kvashnins, passionately fell in love with himself. Galina Kvashnina was ready to secretly marry Sergei, but her father categorically forbade them to see each other. But all her subsequent life she loved the singer, dedicated poetry to him.

Lemeshev Sergey, personalwhose life was extremely turbulent, was officially married five times. The singer's first wife was Natalya Sokolova, daughter of a conservatory professor Lemeshev, but the relationship quickly fell apart.

Second wife Alisa Korneva-Bagrin-Kamenskaya was several years older than the singer, he was very educated and taught the young man from the provinces secular manners, developed his aesthetic taste. But this marriage did not last long, unable to withstand the many betrayals of the tenor, Alice left him.

The third wife of the singer was the actress Lyubov Vazer, but one day after returning from the tour, she found Lemeshev with a new lady - this is how the marriage ended.

The tenor's fourth wife was his stage partner, opera singer Irina Maslennikova. From this marriage, Lemeshev had a daughter, Maria, who also became a singer.

Only the fifth marriage of Lemeshev became long. With Vera Nikolaevna Kudryavtseva, an outstanding opera singer, they lived happily for 25 years, and after the death of the tenor, she did a lot to preserve and popularize his creative heritage.

The singer died on June 26, 1977, was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Interesting facts

Sergey Lemeshev, whose life facts amaze with the scope of his creative talent, is known not only as an opera performer, he performed all one hundred romances by P. Tchaikovsky, from which five vocal programs of the singer were formed.

Tenor fans became the reason for the emergence of a new word in the musical field, they were called "cheeses". The origin of the word is due to the fact that the fans guarding the singer near his house ranbask in the shop "Cheese". Subsequently, this word began to denote all fans of opera performers.

In 1978, an asteroid named "4561 Lemeshev Sergey" appeared. Interesting facts from the singer's life are often associated with his pathological concern for his he alth. He categorically did not want to go outside in the rain, afraid of catching a cold. He also never sang in the halls where the cleaners had just washed the floor, believing that the humidity would have a bad effect on his voice.