Sobinov, Leonid (Vitalievich)

Sobinov, Leonid (Vitalievich), celebrated Russian tenor; b. Yaroslavl, June 7, 1872; d. Riga, Oct. 14, 1934. He was an offspring of a middle-class family with peasant roots (his grandfather was an emancipated serf). He studied law at the Univ. of Moscow, where he also sang in a student choir. In 1892 he began to study voice with Dodonov and appeared professionally in a traveling Italian opera company in Moscow without interrupting his univ. study (1893–94); he graduated in law in 1894, and was appointed asst. advocate to a Moscow lawyer. Turning decisively to singing, he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow in 1897, and retained his connection with it during almost his entire career. In 1901 he also joined the Imperial Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. His successes on the European stage were no less outstanding; he sang at La Scala in Milan (1904–06); from 1909 he also appeared in London, Paris, and Berlin. He was eloquent in the roles of Alfredo in La Traviata, Des Grieux in Manon, and Faust in Gounod’s opera. His performance of Lensky in Eugene Onegin remained an unsurpassed model of Russian operatic lyricism. In his solo recitals he could squeeze the last fluid ounce out of Tchaikovsky’s melancholy songs. No wonder that he was idolized by Russian audiences, particularly among the young and famale; a whole tribe of “Sobinovites” appeared, and long queues formed before his concerts, willing to stand in line for hours in the hope of obtaining scarce tickets. He served as director of the Bolshoi Theater in 1917–18. In 1918–19 he gave recitals in and around Kiev, N. Slonimsky serving occasionally as his accompanist. He retired from the stage in 1924.

Bibliography

M. Lvov, L. S. (Moscow, 1951).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire