SOUNDS AND VIEWS: Premieres to remember (09/22/96)

SOUNDS AND VIEWS

Premieres to remember

PART II

Ukraine has been rightly called a "singing nation." Even the Russian diva Galina Vishnevskaya was quoted as saying that "the greatest basses come from Ukraine." She also said on another public occasion that the best cellists hail from Russia, something her husband Mstislav Rostropovich did not dispute, as he stole a glance at his own, first-in-the-land cello to make sure it was still within reach.

Ukraine's pride in its basses extends, likewise, to her tenors. They come in various shadings from the gentle, lyrical type to the flashy, dramatic or heroic format. Let us take a look at what they contribute to this survey.

Youthful sweetness

He was reputed to be one of the best representatives of the Italian school of ''bel canto"4 and enjoyed the friendship of Gioachino Rossini and other famous figures of the age. Usually billed Nicola Ivanoff, his real name was Mykola Kuzmych Ivanov (1810-1880).

As a child Ivanov sang in the Imperial Court Choir in St. Petersburg, conducted at that time by Dmytro Bortniansky. There he attracted the attention of composer and music activist Mikhail Glinka, who took him to Italy in 1830, where Ivanov perfected his musical erudition. Although he appeared in France and England with complete success, it was Italy that witnessed his performances in two world premieres.

On March 19, 1842, Bologna heard the first reading of Rossini's sacred "Stabat Mater," conducted personally by Donizetti. One of the leading voices at that premiere was the sweet-toned lyric tenor of the young Ivanov. While engaged at Palermo, Ivanov sang the part of Riccardo in the world premiere of Giovanni Pacini's opera "Maria, Regina d'Indhilterra." At the zenith of fame, Ivanov was considered the sole competition for Rubini, the singer of the century.

Ivanov's voice lost its blossom unusually early and he retired in 1852 at the age of 42 after a brief but sensational career.

Ivanov's career became the subject of numerous publications in several languages save Ukrainian. H. Panofka's "Voix et Chanteurs" (Paris, ca.1870) and S. Smolensky's "The Tenor Ivanov, Companion of Glinka in Italy" (St. Petersburg 1904, in Russian) are the oldest and most interesting. There are newer sources from Florence, Naples and London, plus a sprinkling of English references from New York.

Phenomenal tenor

Unlike Ivanov the next singer to be considered has been blessed by an excellent biography in Ukrainian,5 and the information supplied here will be detailed. Like Ivanov, his career ended early due to death at the age of 41.

A number of world premieres featured Ivan Alchevsky (1876-1917), billed as Altchevsky in the West. All these performances took place in the years 1909-1914. Alchevsky was a powerful dramatic singer with an international reputation, known not only in Ukraine and Russia, but enjoying star status in Paris, London, and New York. He sang opposite Caruso, Chaliapine, Battistini, Nezhdanova (the list is endless), projecting a voice described by some as phenomenal.

Like Ivanov before him, Alchevsky personally knew several composers of note, especially in France. The tenor's sister, poetess Khrystia Alchevska, recalled that when Camille Saint-Saëns heard her brother in the part of Samson (in Saint-Saën's "Samson et Dalila"), he sent the singer his photograph with the following inscription:

"I worship your talent and am grateful for the delight you (have) provided me, wishing only that I could reciprocate better. I would like to hear you in all my works. How wonderful you would be... 'Helene' with you in my opera would be striking... I wish you luck and success, although such a wish is redundant: you never lacked them... Lucky are those that can applaud you." (August 28, 1910)

Alchevsky's triumphant premieres started with a part in the lyric drama "Monna Vanna" by Henri Fevrier (1875-1957) based on Maurice Maeterlinck's play and produced at the Paris Grand Opera on January 13, 1909. According to David Ewen,6 this premiere made the French composer "internationally famous."

French-Italian pianist and composer Gabriella Ferrari (1851-1921) wrote an opera just for Alchevsky. The one-act work "Le Cobzar," in spite of the title, dealt with Romanian village life. It premiered at Monaco's Monte Carlo Theatre on or about February 16, 1909. Alchevsky led the cast in the title role of the kobzar Stan (a traveling troubadour).

"Le Cobzar" gathered excellent reviews from its premiere in Monaco. The Parisian publication "Theatra" (February 18, 1909) noted that "Alchevsky displayed much finesse and striking energy," while New York's "Musical America" (April 3, 1909) noted that the title role was "sung and acted with rare passion and dramatic power."

On the strength of such notices, Alchevsky was chosen to premiere "Seven Songs" Op.15 by the then young Romanian composer Georges Enesco (Enescu).7 Written in 1908 to French texts by Clement Marot, the songs were first performed during the 1909-1910 season in the "Palace d'Art" in Paris. (I can only give the year as the exact date is unknown.)

The Paris press really celebrated the premiere of the opera (lyric drama) titled "Scemo" (Monster) by Alfred Bachelet (1864-1944) to the libretto by Charles Mere. Taking place May 6, 1914, at the Grand Opera, the work featured Alchevsky in the title role of Scemo or the Corsican shepherd, Lazarro.

In the May 29, 1914, issue of Paris "Temps," noted composer and musicologist and "Temps" critic Pierre Lalo wrote:

"Mr. Alchevsky, who created a stunning image of Lazarro, touched and enchanted us. His interpretation had sincerity, plasticity, depth of singing; his feeling for the role had magic and it seemed that before us stood not an actor but the real and suffering Scemo."

Up until the premiere of his opera, Bachelet was an obscure composer. Even contemporary sources still write about "Scemo"; e.g., Thompson's "International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians," 10th edition by Bruce Bohle (New York, 1975, p.113) noted that it was a "powerful work that aroused much discussion."

Attempts to revive this opera after Alchevsky's death in 1917 failed, but the composer captured the Prix de Rome for his cantata "Cleopatra."

According to Ivan Lysenko, the Kyiv authority on the singer, Alchevsky supposedly also premiered (created) leading parts in operas by Jean P. Rameau and Ernest Reyer.8 Available evidence is inconclusive.

Alchevsky's voice can be heard on acoustical discs, but his unique presence was not to be captured by the technology of his day. The same holds true of so many others, especially soprano Solomiya Krushelnytska.

4 Literally "good singing," a method favoring careful and loving delivery with beauty of line and sound paramount.

5 Much of the data cited is from Ivan Lysenko's in his collection "Ivan Alchevsky: Memoirs, Materials and Letters" (Kyiv, 1980). The text by Saint-Saëns appears on pp. 42-43.

6 See Ewen's "Encyclopedia of the Opera" (New York, 1955) p. 152.

7 One of the reasons for the stupendous success of the Moiseyev Dance Company from the USSR was the inclusion into each program of Enesco's "Romanian Rhapsody" No. 1. The music is simply irresistible and it enhanced the choreography considerably. Moiseyev realized early that Enesco was good box-office.

8 See Ivan Lysenko's articles on Alchevsky in "Zhovten" (Lviv, No. 7, 1977) and "Vitchyzna," (Kyiv, No. 1, 1977).

PART II

Premieres to remember: an addendum