Leonid Sobinov
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- For Asteroid 4449 Sobinov 1987 RX3 named after Leonid Sobinov, Russian opera singer, see: Meanings of asteroid names (4001-4500)
Leonid Vitalyevich Sobinov (Russian: Леони́д Вита́льевич Со́бинов, June 7 [OS May 26] 1872, Yaroslavl – October 14, 1934, Riga) was a Russian and Soviet opera singer, and a People's Artist of the RSFSR (1923). His voice can best be described as that of a lyrical tenor.
[edit] Biography
Leonid Sobinov was born into the family of the lower middle class trade officer Vitaly Vasilyevich Sobinov. The period of his childhood was the most happy and calm. Sobinov's memories were always connected with his mother, who died very early, but thanks to her wonderful singing he started to sing himself. In 1881 at the age of 9 he entered into the gymnasium for boys that he graduated in 1890 with the silver medal. As a schoolboy he played the guitar and sang in a local choir.
After leaving school he enrolled in Moscow on a course leading to a degree in law. He completed the course in 1894 and obtained a law degree. After university came military service, and then he began to practice law. He studied vocal singing with Professors Alexander Dodonov and Alexandra Santagano Gorchakova, who in 1897 suggested that he go for an audition at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. This brought him a two year contract, an extraordinary success.
He appeared in operas such as Ruslan and Ludmila, Faust, Manon, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin, Halka, Rigoletto, Tannhäuser (Walter von der Vogelweide) and in Ivanov’s Zabava Putyatishna (Solovey Budomirovich).
Sobinov was impressed by Feodor Chaliapin, who was two years younger than him. They sang together in an opera in 1899. In the same year he added Andrej (Mazeppa), Gérald (Lakmé) and Germont to his repertoire. After going through the score of Don José, he declined to take on the role, claiming that its heavy dramatic nature dramatic would be too taxing for his voice.
The reigning star at the Bolshoi was Nikolai Figner, but Sobinov was his equal in every way. To enlarge his repertoire (having added to it the tenor roles in Martha, Werther, Mignon and Roméo et Juliette), he decided to make several journeys to Italy to hear more of the Italian school.
His performances were accompanied by triumphs and success not only in Russia but all over the world He also sang at:
- St Petersburg opera theatres (mostly at the Mariinsky Theatre),
- Theater La Scala (1905-1911, Milan, Italy),
- Grand Opera (Paris),
- Royal Opera, London, Covent Garden,
- Monte-Carlo in the Opéra de Monte-Carlo,
- Teatro Real in (Madrid).
According to his contemporaries Leonid Sobinov was a person with rare charm. He loved a lot and he was loved a lot. The famous beauties of that time were constantly falling in love with the outstanding singer, such as Elisabeth Sadovskaya, the actress, and Vera Karalli, the ballet dancer and the silent cinema star, and numerous others.
Although his first marriage to Maria Karzhavina, his Philharmonic Society schoolmate, did not last for a long time, for all his life Sobinov loved and took care of his first sons - Boris and George (Yuri). In 1915 Sobinov married Nina Mukhina. She was the famous Soviet sculptor Vera Mukhina's sister, the creator of the "Worker and Collective Farmer" monument. It was a happy marriage. They had one daughter, Svetlana.
In 1917 Sobinov became the first elected director of the Bolshoi Theatre. He undertook a theatrical trip to the Ukraine in 1918 and was cut off from Russia. In 1919 he was assigned as the chairman of the musical committee of the all-Ukrainian division of Arts in Kiev. In 1920 he became a manager of the subdivision of the Arts of Sevastopol division of public education. In 1920 his son Yuri, who served in the white army was killed near Militopol. His another son, Boris Sobinov, a composer (1885-1956), emigrated to Germany.
In 1921 he again became a director of the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1923 he was selected as the deputy of the Moscow City Council. In 1934 he began work at the operatic studio of Konstantin Stanislavsky as the artistic leader.
On the night on October 14, 1934 Sobinov died in Riga in the hotel “Saint Petersburg” from heart attack. His death was instantaneous, and he died in his sleep. His body was transported into Moscow by a special train. On October 19, 1934, he was buried at the Novo-Devichy Cemetery in Moscow.
[edit] Recordings
- The Harold Wayne Collection Vol. 36 - His First Recordings 1901/1904 Symposium
- Leonid Sobinov - Recordings 1910 – 1911 Symposium
- Leonid Sobinov - The HMV Catalogue Recordings Pearl
- Rimsky-Korsakov performed by his Contemporaries Russian Disc
- Singers of Russia 1900 - 1917 / Sergej Levik and Contemporaries Symposium
- Singers of Imperial Russia Vol. 1 Pearl
- La Scala Edition Vol. 1 EMI
- Greatest Voices of Bolshoi Melodiya
- The 30 Tenors Symposium
- The Voices of the Tsar Vol. 1 (1901 - 1915) Minerva
- Mike Richter’s Opera Page: The Record of Singing Vol. 1 CD-ROM
