By Olga Fyodorova
In the spring of 1959 Leningrad Conservatory rector Pavel Serebryakov was
discussing with top faculty members the singers department’s request to
get rid of a professionally hopeless student.
“I’ve always said you’ll never get a decent singer from a choir school
because they keep singing even during the mutation period when the boys
should keep mum. That’s why we are getting all these youngsters where it’s
hard to tell whether they are baritones or basses. Just like this
one here. One day he is a bass, another he is a tenor… And ambitious too,
saying he’s going to be another Mario Lanza! Like hell he will! A lazy
braggart with no voice at all! I want him out!”
“Voice is a unique thing and you know that as well as I do… The choir school’s
director is absolutely rave about this fellow. He says he will make it
big, that’s for sure… What if this Atlantov man is really a tenor? Give
him a try, who knows, maybe some day he will sing like Mario Lanza he’s
so delirious about…”
And sing he did eventually releasing an LP with songs once sung by the
great Italian tenor! The record sold out literally overnight…
When the teachers finally realized that Vladimir Atlantov was really a
tenor, not a baritone, things went so nice and easy that, still in his
fourth year at the conservatory, he was invited to join the venerable Kirov
Opera, now Mariinsky. Atlantov’s powerful tenor filled up the theater’s
huge hall easily reaching out all the way up to the “gods” where his choir
schoolmates usually gathered to sing for someone they once studied with
for so many years… Being the first to appreciate Atlantov’s amazingly beautiful
voice, they admired him like no one else ever did…
With his rare timbre ruling out any second-tier parts, Vladimir Atlantov
started out with the very best, including Jose in Georges Bizet’s opera
Carmen. The part of Carmen’s abandoned lover was one of his favorite ones…
In the summer of 1966 Moscow was hosting the Third International Tchaikovsky
Competition. In a welcome departure from previous practice, singers were
now also taking part in the prestigious musical showcase. Even though the
lineup of contestants was very formidable, Atlantov immediately stood out
from the rest, easily sailing through all the three rounds and wrapping
up his victorious run with a stirring presentation of Hermann’s aria from
Tchaikovsky’s opera Queen of Spades …
His full-time and critically acclaimed debut in the Queen of Spades came
the following year at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Hermann’s part was
one of his all-time favorites. The singer delved deep into the very essence
of his controversial character whose impassionate nature made him easy
prey to the gambling table… It is not money but love, which drives Hermann
when he pleads with the old Countess to tell him the secret of the three
winning cards though... Atlantov’s dramatic art reached almost unbearable
heights when the spirit of the dead Countess appears to him in the closing
scene…
Before long Atlantov was already singing all the dramatic tenor parts they
had at the Bolshoi. He was at his very best singing in operas by Pietro
Mascagni, Ruggiero Leoncavallo and Giacomo Puccini, which gave credit to
the acting side of this great singer.
The part of Cavaradossi in Tosca became a turning point of his whole career
winning him an invitation to sing it in the very birthplace of bel canto.
His debut at Milan’s venerable La Scala Opera was a resounding success
repeating an earlier triumph by Fyodor Chaliapin who also gained international
recognition singing in Italy.
In 1978 Vladimir Atlantov premiered singing Othello in Giuseppe Verdi’s
opera of the same name. Produced by Boris Pokrovsky and conducted by Yevgeny
Svetlanov, it was a wonderful production with the singer benefiting immensely
from that collaboration and his vision of the heartbroken Moor setting
off an avalanche of glowing reviews in the press.
Atlantov’s love for Tamara Milashkina who sang Desdemona, added a lyrical
touch to his work. It was almost impossible not to fall in love with Milashkina
whose warm and inviting voice literally mesmerized her stage partners.
She also got romantically involved with Atlantov and agreed to be his wife.
Their love added a very special touch to the love scenes between Othello
and his beloved Desdemona…
Shortly after that Atlanov was literally heaped with invitations to sing
Othello in Munich, Milan and London. After one such performance at the
Arena di Verona Theater was put on film and shown by the world’s major
TV companies, Atlanov became an international superstar…
Back in Moscow, however, the Bolshoi’s management was getting increasingly
rattled by their leading tenor’s absence. Like any other Russian theater,
the Bolshoi was a repertory one and solo performances on the side were
usually frowned upon. Once reporting ill and not showing up for a Moscow
performance, Atlantov slipped out to sing in the West. The word got out
and he was fired for absenteeism, no less.
Thrown out after 12 years of stellar performance, Atlantov decided to spend
the rest of his life in the West. He moved to Vienna where he was later
joined by his wife. He spent several years singing with the best European
theaters and never returned to Russia. The old insult proved stronger than
the traditional Russian nostalgia…
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