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1939
             
In Moscow, the Bolshoi Opera produced A Life for the Tsar, a patriotic opera written by the great 19th century Russian composer Mikhail Glinka. Before the 1917 revolution, the first Russian classical opera, written back in 1836, was extensively performed across the country, but now that the Romanovs' had been executed, the Russians hated any memory of the deposed monarchs. A Life for the Tsar recounted the heroism of a royal steward Ivan Sussanin who died at the hands of the Polish invaders saving the life of the first member of the Romanov dynasty.
At the Bolshoi, they decided to rewrite the original libretto written by Baron von Rosen. In the new version, Ivan Sussanin appeared as an ordinary peasant who sacrifices his life not for the Tsar but to save Moscow and the rest of the country. They also changed the opera's name to Ivan Sussanin. The new libretto was by Sergei Gorodetsky.
The main part was assigned to Maxim Mikhailov, a former archdeacon who boasted a truly unique bass. Ivan Sussanin became one of the best parts ever sung by Mikhailov who had joined the Bolshoi Opera several years before and performed all the lead parts in Russian operas. Maxim Mikhailov sung Sussanin's part more than 400 times!
The whole country was preparing to celebrate the centennial birthday of Pyotr Tchaikovsky falling in May of the following year. Gone were the days when Tchaikovsky's music was being frowned on and dismissed as "decadent, bourgeois and overly pathetic" by the ideologically vigilant members of the Proletarian Art Association. Tchaikovsky was now touted as the greatest national classic and his music was being extensively performed both live and on the radio. Each performing artist was supposed to make a personal contribution to the upcoming celebration.
The Bolshoi's leading tenor Sergei Lemeshev undertook to learn and sing all the 100-plus love songs ever written by the great composer. A real challenge indeed, because it was the first time anyone dared to sing not only the tenor pieces but also the ones written with other vocal ranges in mind. Lemeshev's first concerts came in the fall of 1939 and were a deafening success… Meanwhile, the national competitions were bringing in an ever growing number of young musicians playing different instruments. In 1939 there finally came the turn of musicians playing Russian folk instruments. Hundreds of accordion, balalaika and mandolin players took part in the 1939 event which was won by the 27 year-old guitarist Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoy.
First appearing in Spain, the guitar had long been a household name in Russia. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was very popular with all segments of the Russian society but it wasn't until Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoy that the guitar finally earned the status of a solo instrument played on stage.
Ivanov-Kramskoy made a brilliant career playing in the country's biggest venues, performing abroad and teaming up on stage with the foremost violinists, pianists and singers of his time. The musical critics dubbed him the Poet of the Guitar...
The 1939 competition also propelled to national prominence the 20 year-old psaltery player, Vera Gorodovskaya.
One of the ancientmost Russian musical instruments and a must companion of the medieval traveling musicians and bards, the psaltery had always been a purely male instrument. Vera Gorodovskaya broke that age-old tradition making it sound warm and tender…
Shortly after the competition, Vera Gorodovskaya joined the Ossipov orchestra of Russian folk instruments and she has been playing there for nearly 60 years now…
In December they were holding a national competition of variety artists in Moscow. More than 700 reciters, dancers and singers, all under 35 years old were taking part, the most populous category being the singers of operas, operettas and popular songs.
The highest award went to the 34 year-old Debora Pantofel-Nechetskaya, a coloratura soprano from Sverdlovsk in the Ural mountains. Her richly textured voice was like a perfectly-cut diamond and for many years was a highlight of countless gala concerts attended by top Soviet officials.
Another eye-opener of the competition was the 33 year-old Klavdiya Shulzhenko, whose warm and tender voice and one-of-a-kind singing manner had already endeared her to the listeners.
Indeed, there was nothing special about her voice and she was certainly not the one to boggle a listener's mind with roller-coaster passages, but her soft, almost speaking manner, immediately made people believe the sincerity of the message she was trying to get across to the listener…
For many decades Klavdiya Shulzhenko was one of the best-loved Soviet singers and to this very day the Russian crooners are painstakingly honing their skills, paying much attention to detail, just the way the inimitable Klavdiya Shulzhenko always did…
In autumn, Ivan Pyryev released his hugely popular film, The Tractor Drivers, to the music by the prominent composer Dmitry Pokrass. The movie is about young village boys, who one day are drafted into the Red Army. Tractor drivers all, they quickly master the high-speed tanks and, brimming with optimism, are sure they can beat all their enemies.
The Second World War was already raging across Europe, but with Hitler's attack still two years away, the Soviet people were confident that the invincible Red Army would take just a few days to rout any invader. The film's title song about the jolly tank crew was very consonant with the general euphoria that reigned in the years immediately preceding the bloodiest war ever fought by man…
 
THE RUSSIAN MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY is prepared for you by Olga Fyodorova.


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