Lemeshev Levko, May Night (Rimsky-Korsakov) 1948 Nebolsin

Sergei Lemeshev: Act II May Night (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Rare information from younglemeshevist:
Unfortunately, there are no sites where you could find detailed information on Lemeshev, especially in English. O.Fyodorova wrote an article, it is not too precise though:
http://www.vor.ru/English/Music_Portraits/Music_Portraite_07.html

Lemeshev was already popular by the time The Musical Story was made (it's here on YT). He sang in the Stanislavsky opera studio in 1924-1926 and then in theaters of Sverdlovsk (now Samara), Harbin (Manchuria) and Tbilisi (Georgian republic). The Musical story and The Leningrad concert hall ( he sang the Duke)1941, were the last films where Lemeshev was perfectly healthy. In October 1941 The Bolshoi company left Moscow, but there was such panic during the evacuation, that many people missed the train. Lemeshev was among them. He spent many hours at the station, the weather was bad and he fell ill with pneumonia complicated with pleurisy . Four months later he fell ill again with the same combination of pneumonia and pleurisy. This resulted in tuberculosis of the right lung. The only effective treatment in those years in the USSR was an artificial pneumothorax (collapsing of the lung). Vishnevskaya refused from pneumothorax and survived because streptomycin appeared in 1948. Lemeshev sang ( 26 performances a month) with one collapsed lung from 1942 to 1948 and made almost all his recordings of complete operas (The Snowmaid, Mozart and Salieri, Lakme, The Pearlfishers). His lung was not removed and though he recovered from tuberculosis, it could not function properly. Besides, his voice started to deteriorate and Lemeshev began to drink heavily. He had the ability avoid scandals when drunk, so his reputation was not damaged. At that period he recorded Romeo and Juliet and La Boheme. ( There was only one complete opera recorded when Lemeshev was in his top form - Onegin 1936 with Nortsov and Nebolsin). In 1951 he managed to stop drinking. The next nine years he worked a lot, recorded May Night, Onegin with Khaikin and Vishnevskaya, sang Fra Diavolo and Werther; he tried as director to stage a Traviata in Leningrad and Werther at the Bolshoi. In 1958 he even became a Vice Director of the Bolshoi (Chief Manager in Russia is called Director) for two years. He officially retired in 1965, though he continued to give concerts. In 1968 he had a massive heart attack, complicated with the lung dysfunction; at the end of the 1969 he started to work, though had two small heart attacks in 1969 and 1973. In 1972 sang Lensky for the last time.

As a person Lemeshev was nice, charming and very easy to work with, as almost everyone says. He was also famous for his love of women; was married six times ( not to mention numerous affairs . It was impossible for him to conceal any fact of his personal life because his fans stalked him day and night; all his wives and mistresses were stalked too and almost everything was documented. Even his relationship with his fan-girls.(Some of his fans published their memoirs). Kozlovists often portray him as a libertine, who had too much joy in life; as some kind of a rock star. It was not absolutely true, because in the USSR rock star behavior with scandals was inappropriate., but in real life Lemeshev was not as melancholic as he looks on the famous photo ( as Lensky). In general, his life was not sad, though difficult.
His drinking in the end of the 1940s worsened during his divorce from Irina Maslennikova; it was difficult for him to leave his daughter Maria. At age 16 Maria moved to Sergei's and lived with him and his sixth wife Vera Kudryavtzeva for several years. Maria became a singer, studied in her mother's class. Lemeshev lived with Vera for 28 years, until the day he died. Vera is still alive ; she is 97 now.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sergei lemeshev
• rimsky-korsakov
• may night
• nebolsin

[sagalat]

Mayskaya Noch', Gogol's prose: The young Cossack Levko, his father the village Mayor, the love of Ganna (warm, earthy mezzo), the high soprano of Pannochka the drowned girl (the mysterious world of the mermaid.) BRAVO, Maestro!

[vstasov]

Thank you for your enthusiasm. I agree, bravo!

[petrof4056]

WONDERFUL my Lemeshev!! WONDERFUL!!

[saiga72]

господи, как Лемешева слушаю, так плакать начинаю...

[dilvishselar]

This is wery good record with Lemeshev.  thankyou)))

[vstasov]

Hay una muy hermosa grabación de Fedoseyev, que es incluso mejor que con la Lemeshev Nebolsin. Me han publicado algunos extractos.

[sagalat]

Mayskaya Noch', Gogol's prose: The young Cossack Levko, his father the village Mayor, the love of Ganna (warm, earthy mezzo), the high soprano of Pannochka the drowned girl (the mysterious world of the mermaid.) BRAVO, Maestro!

[65attila]

Magnificent - Thank you.

JOHN R.