By Olga Fyodorova
In the summer of 1974 Galina Vishnevskaya and her husband,
the world-famous cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, were leaving
the Soviet Union ending months of official persecution for hosting the
dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The Soviet officialdom retaliated
by canceling all their concert dates and, to survive, Vishnevskaya and
Rostropovich decided to emigrate. Shortly before departure, Galina Vishnevskaya
paid her last visit to the Bolshoi…
“I put on one of my best dresses as if I was having a date with someone
I knew and loved a long, long time,” she wrote in her memoir. “I walked
out on stage, and, as I moved between the scenes, it seemed to me that
my characters, Tosca, Aida, Violetta, Madame Butterfly, Liza, Tatyana and
others were all moving behind my back… All the operas that I had ever sung
in, nearly a thousand in all, were floating one by one in my mind…
No, I can’t just leave! I want to tell you, Bolshoi, my best-kept secret
for I came to curse you and now that I’m here, I cannot do it! I feel neither
hatred nor anger – all I feel is pain, unbearable pain… I will lie face
down on the floor, press myself hard against the planks and say the words
I have never said to anyone in my whole life. I’m madly in love with you,
you’ve been everything to me – my husband, my brother, my lover. I’ve never
given anyone so much love and passion, taking them away from my children
and my husband. I gave you all I had – my youth, my beauty, my energy.
And you took it all, insatiable you… No, I have no hard feelings about
it because, in exchange for my being so madly in love with you, you made
me famous, you gave me a career one can only dream of, you made me a celebrity
admired everywhere… And now… goodbye…”
Galina Vishnevskaya joined the Bolshoi Opera in 1952. They signed her on
even though she had no formal music education all thanks to her perfectly
modulated voice and her private teacher of many years. Back then she was
a budding operetta singer and one had to work real hard to get rid of the
operetta clich?s Galina had mastered so well. Bright and hardworking, Vishnevskaya
quickly prepared several extremely difficult operatic parts and wowed the
Bolshoi jury with an absolutely brilliant performance of a scene from Aida
by Giuseppe Verdi…
“At the Bolshoi they sent me right to Alexander Melik-Pashayev who was
their chief conductor then… For 12 happy years this outstanding musician
was my friend and my tutor steering me through my very best operas, Aida
being the most memorable of all…”
At the Bolshoi she also partnered with their artistic director Boris Pokrovsky
who produced everything she ever sang there…
“Working with him was sheer euphoria, even though he sometimes hollered
and poured abuse on me calling me a “stupid cow” and things like that.
There was no use taking offence because I saw how much he wanted it all
to work out well…”
Her colleagues called her “the Queen” and not only because she looked so
good but also for the way she acted on stage. Hence the problems she had
finding equal partners. Sergei Lemeshev was her all-time favorite. She
thus explained her flair for the famous tenor:
“Lemeshev was the ultimate romantic hero. Some lacked his talent, others
his skills, still others – his looks. I felt that my partners were a little
scared of me. Some even asked my permission to put their arm around my
waist. Lemeshev was different… He was king himself and generously shared
his passion, jealousy and tenderness with the audience. A perfect partner…”
Her other steady partner was her husband, Mstislav Rostropovich. They got
married without ever hearing each other on stage. Their first professional
partnership came later when, stunned by his wife’s talent, Rostropovich
started accompanying her on the piano or conducting the orchestra.
Always on the road, the maestro had little, if any time, for rehearsals.
“He never had time for me,” Vishnevskaya complained. “We met just a day
or two before shows, quickly got over the program quarreling all the time.
Then, still fuming at each other, we would go and face the music… “I will
never ever sing with this man again!” I swore but the very moment he started
playing I forgot about everything… I never felt so free and inspired on
stage as I did with him. That’s why our spats never lasted long, the sense
of happiness stayed on and I just couldn’t wait to sing with him again…”
Galina Vishnevskaya inspired some of the greatest composers of her time,
including her good old friend Dmitry Shostakovich. Her Katerina Izmailova
in the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was so awash with heart-rending dramatism
that it sent shivers running down one’s spine… She also unveiled several
vocal cycles dedicated to her by the great composer. Small wonder that
Shostakovish was the first one to learn about their decision to leave the
country.
Devastated as he was by the news, Shostakovich gave the couple his blessing
because there was no longer a place for them in the stifling atmosphere
of Soviet life…
Galina Vishnevskaya was 47 years old when, leaving behind all her hard-earned
property, she left for the West. For anyone of her age to start from the
ground up seemed crazy, but Vishnevskaya did it winning kudos at the Metropolitan
Opera, the Covent Garden, La Scala and the Grand Opera…
Soon after, Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich learned that they had been stripped
of their Soviet citizenship. It was a terrible blow! They thought it was
just a temporary departure before the dust settled around them and the
disgraced Solzhenitsyn. There was no coming back now… Only after Mikhail
Gorbachev took the reins in the Kremlin did the situation change meaning
that the couple was now free to return…
During that first comeback, Galina Vishnevskaya just couldn’t make herself
enter the Bolshoi again. She just stood there under those huge columns
recalling the good and bad things and left. Only in 1992 did she finally
walk out on her beloved stage again, but this time without makeup and stage
dress (she last sang in opera in Paris in 1986…)
Since then Vishnevskaya has been a frequent guest in Russia devoting herself
wholly to charitable work. She and her husband have set up a fund
building hospitals, fitting out orphanages, holding music contests
and giving out scholarships to talented young musicians.
Always a trailblazer, Galina Vishnevskay has tried her hand as a stage
and film actress and has written a talented autobiography, which has already
been translated into many languages.
She is still slender and good looking, witty and ironical, the way she
always was. Asked to divulge the secret of her “eternal youth” she says:
“Eat less, work hard, don’t be envious and never regret anything”
– the four maxims she has stuck to all her life…
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