Leonid Sobinov

Leonid Vitalyevich Sobinov , born and died 14 October 1934) was a Russian operatic tenor. In 1923, he was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR.

Biography

Leonid Sobinov was born in Yaroslavl, into the family of the lower middle-class trade officer Vitaly Vasilyevich Sobinov. Sobinov's mother, who died early, was a keen singer. Leonid, inspired by her, began singing himself. In 1881, he entered a boys' school at the age of nine, graduating in 1890 with a silver medal. As a schoolboy, he played the guitar and participated in a local choir.

He attended university in Moscow, receiving a degree in law in 1894. After university, Sobinov completed his military service and began practicing law. At the same time, he studied singing in Moscow under professors Alexander Dodonov and Alexandra Santagano Gorchakova. In 1897, his professors suggested that he attend an audition at the city's Bolshoi Theatre. Following his audition, he was offered a two-year contract at the company. and would go on to appear in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in operas such as Ruslan and Ludmila, Faust, Manon, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin, Halka, Rigoletto, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser (as Walter von der Vogelweide) and Mikhail Ivanov's Zabava Putyatishna (as Solovey Budimirovich).

While working at the Bolshoi, Sobinov appeared onstage with operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin in 1899. In that same year, he added the parts of Andrei (Mazeppa), Gérald (Lakmé) and Alfredo Germont (La traviata) to his repertoire. After going through the score of Carmen, he declined to take on the role of Don José, insisting that its dramatic nature would be too taxing for his voice.

As Dubrovsky in Dubrovsky (1914)In order to enlarge his operatic repertoire (having already added to it the tenor leads in Martha, Werther, Mignon and Roméo et Juliette), Sobinov decided to travel to Italy, so that he could experience Italian opera directly.

From 1904 to 1906 and again in 1911 he appeared at Italy's premier opera house, La Scala, Milan. The first opera he performed in here was Rigoletto.

Recordings: CD reissues

Sobinov left a large legacy of recordings made prior to the 1917 Revolution. Many of them have been remastered and reissued on compact disc by various firms. These reissues include:

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 the 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.