SOUNDS AND VIEWS: Premieres to remember (09/15/96)

SOUNDS AND VIEWS

Premieres to remember

Written on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the birth of tenor Modest Menzinsky, whose firsts should never be forgotten.

Roman Sawycky has submitted this series to mark the 20th anniversary of the column "Sounds & Views" which first appeared in The Weekly in July 1976.

PART I

Although the world of music still echoes with such great masters as Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, the 20th century can be called the age of the superstar performer rather than the composer.

The classical music of Ukraine experienced a similar development. Such creative entities as Berezovsky, Bortniansky or Barvinsky, seldom to be encountered in later times, were gradually replaced by re-creative forces the likes of which just did not perform before on the Ukrainian scene. After all, household names such as Paul Plishka, Lydia Artymiw, Oleh Krysa or the late Mykola Malko speak for themselves.

In short, the renaissance of the Ukrainian performing artist, which started some 100 years ago, ought to be logged before this century is out.

Festive occasions

World premieres or first public performances are often grand and festive occasions of the musical and social season. The composers themselves usually take an active part in the preparations for such a significant event, choosing the best performers and monitoring their work. The more important a composer and his creation the more significant and accomplished the performer he/she is likely to engage.

Let us, then, survey numerous (and largely unknown) instances when Ukrainian artists were called upon to perform in world premieres. I do not intend to log first performances of Ukrainian music but, rather, will focus on premieres of works by non-Ukrainian composers, great and not-so-great but, for the most part, of international stature.

Gala bassos

One of the foremost dramatic basses in the history of music was none other than the Ukrainian-born Osyp Petrov (1806-1878). This stupendous singer impressed Taras Shevchenko with his remarkable acting technique and an incredible vocal range of nearly three octaves (from the low B-Flat up to G-Sharp).1

Due, however, to socio-political circumstances, Petrov, like many others, was unable to realize his potential in Ukraine. In the years 1830-1878 he worked at the St. Petersburg Opera, single-handedly creating leading roles for that theater.

Petrov premiered a series of principal parts (usually written for him) in the following Russian operas: Mikhail Glinka's "Ruslan and Liudmila" and "Ivan Susanin," Alexander Dargomyzhsky's "Rusalka'' and ''The Stone Guest,'' Artur Rubinstein's "Demon," Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Maid of Pskov." He was the first to sing the leading part of Mayor in Peter Tchaikovsky's Ukrainian opera ''Vakula the Smith" (based on Gogol's story), which premiered November 24, 1876 at the St. Petersburg opera house (then known as the Mariinsky Theater). That very performance also included another bass of Ukrainian parentage, Fedir Stravinsky, but more about him later.

Petrov sang the part of Varlaam at the world premiere of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov." In fact, Mussorgsky was in the process of writing his Ukrainian comic opera "Sorochyntsi Fair" (based on Gogol's work), with the intention of casting Petrov in a leading role, when suddenly the great bass died. Mussorgsky stopped working and left the opera unfinished, to be completed ultimately by others long after his passing.

The main Russian biographical studies on Petrov include works by Ye. Lostochkina (1950) and Vladimir Stasov (1952). There is some material in Ukrainian but surprisingly little in English.

Fedir Stravinsky (1843-1902) was yet another singer with a distinguished career in St. Petersburg. He was a "basso cantante"2 of Ukrainian descent and the father of Igor Stravinsky, whose role in modern music has been compared to that of Albert Einstein in modern science. Engaged at first by the Kyiv Opera, the basso then joined the principals of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where he held star quality until his death.

Within the scope of his considerable contributions to Russian opera, Stravinsky gave notable performances in roles of Ukrainian characters. These included the Mayor (Holova) in Rimsky-Korsakov's "May Night," which premiered January 21, 1880, and Panas in "Christmas Eve," first presented November 28, 1895 (both operas based on works by Gogol). Tchaikovsky, an admirer of the singer, asked him to sing in the world premiere (November 24, 1876) of "Vakula the Smith" (based on the same Gogol story that inspired Rimsky-Korsakov's "Christmas Eve'').

We have here an interesting situation - two Ukrainian stories by Gogol (Hohol) serve as inspiration for two prominent composers (one of them, part-Ukrainian), who ask a bass of Ukrainian parentage to portray their successful concepts in a high-profile Russian theater...

Like Petrov before him, Stravinsky excelled as both a musical and dramatic talent. In all he appeared in 64 roles to considerable adulation of the public and the critics. There is only one Russian biography on Stravinsky, published in 1951 and there seems to be nothing recent, let alone in English.

Also displaying a wide range3 in his vocal equipment was the impressive bass of Ukrainian stock, Adamo Didur (1874-1946). On March 19, 1913, the Metropolitan Opera staged the American premiere of Mussorgsky's epic "Boris Godunov" under Arturo Toscanini's direction. Didur was not only there; he was the first American Boris.

Didur's career at the Met was bright and very long (1908-1932). The basso's repertoire included Ukrainian folksongs, performed in the original language. A few survive in historical recordings to be admired also for the flawless Ukrainian.

Didur trained many successful singers, among whom are such members of the Ukrainian cultural elite as the late Yevhenia Zarytska, Myroslav Starytsky, Ivanna Shmerykovska (Pryima), as well as the contemporary Lidia Krushelnytska, Ira Malaniuk and Theodore Teren-Juskiw.

At the Met

"Why sure, I always knew that Didur was Ukrainian," replied Paul Plishka (b. 1941) at our first meeting focusing on nationalities and national repertory. Like Didur Plishka has enjoyed a long and very prominent career at the Met filled with popular adulation and critical acclaim. Unlike Didur, however, Plishka has produced over the years a series of unusually successful recordings in several languages including Ukrainian (flawless too).

His opera recordings include world premiere pressings on LP stereo discs of "Le Cid' by Massenet, in which Plishka sang the part of Don Diego opposite Placido Domingo (Columbia 1976). The following year he portrayed Guido in the first recording of "Gemma di Vergy" by Donizetti (Columbia 1977). Since the producers were quite pleased with both issues, perhaps re-releases on CD are already in the wings.

In 1995 bass-baritone Andrij Dobriansky (b. 1930) started his 26th season at the Met, where he is a contemporary of Plishka. Through the years he appeared in over 1400 Met productions. When aptly costumed his figure took on some resemblance to the late Tyrone Power. This, combined with Dobriansky's solid vocal values, made good theater as well as good gate at the Met.

In 1991 the singer took part in the successful world premiere of the opera "Ghosts of Versailles" by John Corigliano (b. 1938). Dobriansky also lent his services to a special program celebrating the 25th anniversary of Lincoln Center in New York. Video cassettes of this gala have circulated throughout the world - certainly a first for Lincoln Center and its latest achivement.

1 "Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera" by Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack (London 1964). Much of the data on the Russian operas has been culled from "Slovar oper" (Dictionary of Operas, Moscow, 1962).

2 Paul Plishka is a good example of a contemporary "basso cantante," i.e., a fully "singing bass" rather than a very deep one.

3 It seems that bass voices reaching into baritone scope is a Ukrainian trait. Hulak-Artemovsky, Petrov, Didur as well as Plishka all have this wide range in common.

PART I

Premieres to remember: an addendum