Sergey Lemeshev is a famous Russian and Soviet opera singer, lyric tenor. In 1950 he received the title of "People's Artist of Russia", a few years before that he became a laureate of the then honorary Stalin Prize. For many years he was a teacher and opera director.
Singer biography
Sergey Lemeshev was born in 1902. He was born in a village called Staroe Knyazevo in the territory of the Tver province. His parents were poor peasants, his father died very early.
In 1914 Sergei Lemeshev graduated from the parochial school. At the same time, he began to master vocals from gramophone records. He received his first lessons in singing and musical notation at an arts and crafts school, where he began to participate in his first concerts and performances. When the hero of our article studied at the exemplary courses of the Komsomol composition, he received a referral to the conservatory. This was in 1920.
Music education
In 1925 he received a diploma of a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. A year before that, Sergei Lemeshev began performing inopera studio, organized at the Bolshoi Theater, which was directed by Stanislavsky himself. He became famous for the role of Lensky in Tchaikovsky's classical opera based on Pushkin's novel of the same name "Eugene Onegin".
In the future, she became his crowning role, which he performed more than five hundred times during his career. The part of Lensky performed by the singer Sergey Lemeshev has become legendary. He performed it exactly 501 times. In 1965, after his 500th performance, he officially left the opera stage. And in 1972, at a gala evening dedicated to his 70th birthday, he sang it for the last 501st time.
On the opera stage
There were many opera scenes in the biography of Sergei Lemeshev. In 1926, he made his debut at the Opera and Ballet Theater in the Urals, then for three years he sang at the Russian Opera, which was organized under the so-called Chinese Eastern Railway. All this time he mainly lived in Harbin. Then he collaborated with the Opera House in Tiflis.
In 1931 he was again invited to the Bolshoi Theater, where he made his debut in the opera The Snow Maiden, performing the part of Berendey. Until 1957, he was officially considered one of the most famous tenors of the Bolshoi Theater along with Ivan Kozlovsky. Intermittently performed on this stage until 1965.
In 1939 he made his film debut. True, this role has remained the only one. He played the chauffeur Petya Govorkov in the comedy by Alexander Ivanovsky and Herbret Rappaport "Musical History", who, unexpectedly for everyone around him, became an opera singer.
During the warfought against the Nazis at the front along with creative teams. During one of these concerts, he caught a bad cold in the middle of winter, the doctors diagnosed him with pulmonary tuberculosis. Only surgical intervention saved the life of the opera singer.
In addition to performing at opera houses, he paid much attention to the chamber repertoire. He was proud that he had all one hundred romances by Pyotr Tchaikovsky to his credit. As a pop singer, he performed the most famous compositions by Khrennikov, Blanter, Novikov, Mokrousov, Bogoslovsky.
In 1947 he performed on the stage of the Berlin State Opera, performing his signature part of Lensky in the opera Eugene Onegin.
As an opera director, he first showed himself in 1951, staging Verdi's opera "La Traviata" on the stage of the Maly Opera Theater in the city on the Neva. Six years later, he was entrusted with a production at the Bolshoi Theater - it was Massenet's opera Werther. He himself performed the part of the title character in it.
Many people remember Lemeshev as a teacher. Since 1951, he taught for ten years at the Department of Opera Training, then worked at the Moscow Conservatory, since 1959 he directed the opera studio there, staged several performances with students.
Lemeshev not only performed himself, but also popularized the art of opera. He hosted a program on the All-Union Radio on the topic of culture, wrote a book called "The Path to Art", which was published in 1968.
The cause of Sergei Lemeshev's death was heart failure. Hedied in 1977 at the age of 74. Buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Private life
Lemeshev was married five times in his life. His very first chosen one was Natalya Sokolova, who was four years younger than him. But this marriage, concluded at an early age, was short-lived.
For the second time, Lemeshev married Alisa Korneva-Bagrin-Kamenskaya, who, on the contrary, turned out to be five years older than him. But the couple did not manage to get along for a long time. His third wife was Lyubov Varzer, and the fourth was a famous opera singer, whose name was Irina Maslennikova. In 1957, she became the People's Artist of the RSFSR.
In 1944, their daughter Maria was born, who left her father's surname after her parents divorced. She followed in the footsteps of her father and mother, becoming an opera singer. In 2007 she was awarded the title of "People's Artist of Russia".
For the last fifth time, Lemeshev married another opera singer, Vera Kudryavtseva. Together they lived until the death of the hero of our article, only 27 years old.
