By Olga Fyodorova
July 1919. The office of the Ermitazh Theater in Moscow.
“It’s a catastrophe! After all we’ve done to sign up Fyodor Chaliapin
we have Nezhdanova calling in and saying she’s ill. Where on earth can
I find someone to sing Rosina exactly halfway through summer?”
“Don’t they have anyone at the Bolshoi to fill in?”
“I was there, of course I was, but the season’s over and the doors
are all closed. I tried to talk with some of their lead singers but they
are all out of town… It’s summer, you know…”
“Look, a couple of days ago I was at the Bat cabaret and there was
a great young singer performing there! They told me she’s studying at the
conservatory and dreams of someday becoming an opera singer. She
sings at the cabaret just for money. How about trying to find her? Who
knows, maybe she can sing Rosina’s part?”
“I’m afraid we just have no other choice… Let’s give it a try…”
That’s how Valeria Barsova made her debut in opera…
When an agent from the Ermitazh Theater came running to her asking
to sing in Il Barbieri di Seville, Valeria’s immediate reaction was breathless
happiness because opera was her lifetime dream. Cooling off a bit, however,
she almost turned down the proposal because the performance date was only
a few days away and, above all, she wasn’t sure she was prepared enough…
And still she said “yes” spending the next few days working hard preparing
for her the much-awaited operatic debut… When the fateful day finally arrived,
she proved a resounding success!
Valeria Barsova was born in Astrakhan, a small town in southern Russia.
Her father worked at a print shop and died early leaving the family to
the care of Valeria’s elder sister who was already a well-known singer
in town and a fine teacher too. Appreciating her younger sister’s musical
talent, she found her a good piano teacher. Even though she had very small
hands, which is not good for piano playing, Valeria was progressing fast,
her workaholic attitude and resolve working miracles!
Hard work and perseverance stood her in very good stead when she
later moved on to singing under the careful tuition of her sister who prepared
her for entrance examinations to the Moscow Conservatory where the much-endowed
Valeria studied in the class of the famous Italian teacher Umberto Mazetti.
Studying by day and earning her daily bread singing at a Moscow Art
Theater cabaret by night, Valeria spent a year singing at a private opera
and in 1920 she was invited to join the Bolshoi Opera company…
Making do with small and shallow cameo parts they initially entrusted
her at the Bolshoi, Valeria was lucky to eventually catch the eye of the
great Konstantin Stanislavsky who had just set up an operatic studio of
his own at the Bolshoi. The beginner singer learned immensely from the
larger-than-life Maestro gaining confidence and picking up many stage secrets,
which determined her entire career at the Bolshoi as an impeccable singer
and actress...
In 1924 Valeria Barsova joined the list of the Bolshoi’s lead singers
with a rousing rendition of the part of Lyudmila in Mikhail Glinka’s opera
Ruslan and Lyudmila. She was at once soft and feminine, na?ve and
coquettish, always finding the right nuances to underscore her character’s
feelings…
Lyudmila was one of the 25 characters Valeria Barsova performed during
her 28 year-long stint at the Bolshoi, among them Jilda, Cio-Cio-San, Violetta,
Lacme and Juliet to name just a few. She easily sailed her way through
the intricate maze of coloratura passages never loosing hold of the underlying
character. Her performances were a perfect school for budding singers who
thronged the Bolshoi’s “gods” each time Barsova came out on stage.
Small wonder that after quitting in 1948, Valeria Barsova devoted
herself wholly to teaching at the Moscow Conservatory and occasionally
singing in concerts.
She liked concerts almost as much as she loved singing in operas.
Her first concert came when she was 15 serenading the wounded during World
War One. She later sang at workers’ clubs and prestigious concert
venues her repertoire always suiting the tastes of her listeners. They
say that getting tickets to her concerts was a near impossibility.
During the Soviet days, to be successful, a singer or dancer should
also engage in a kind of public activity and that was something Valeria
Barsova never shirked from. For 8 years she was a member of the Soviet
parliament and also sat on the artistic council of the Moscow House of
Artists, was a presiding member of the Soviet Friendship Society and sat
on the juries of a host of amateur art contests. She was also a founding
mother, so to say, of Russian music radio her wonderful voice known and
admired all across the land…
Small wonder that Barsova’s untimely death at the Black Sea resort
of Sochi where she was then recuperating after an illness, came as a severe
shock to millions of her admirers everywhere. She was 65… It was a cold
and windy day in winter with the dark clouds rushing fast over the choppy
waves…
It was 33 years ago but Barsova’s voice can still be heard on the
airways much to the satisfaction of those who know great singing when they
hear it…
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