Andrij Dobriansky ( uk, Андрій Добрянський; September 2, 1930February 1, 2012) was a principal artist with the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
for 30 years where he sang over 60 roles in over 900 performances.
As a
displaced person
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
in
post-war Germany
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...
, he earned a scholarship to study chemistry at
Amherst College,
but later decided to forgo chemistry and pursued a career in
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
.
The
bass-baritone had the longest career with the Met of any
Ukrainian-born artist.
Early life
Andrij Dobriansky was born in 1930 on the outskirts of
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
,
during the
interbellum
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
period of rule by the
Second Polish Republic. His father,
Agaton Dobriansky, was a Ukrainian officer and veteran of both the
Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and the
Ukrainian People's Army
The Ukrainian People's Army ( uk, Армія Української Народної Республіки), also known as the Ukrainian National Army (UNA) or as a derogatory term of Russian and Soviet historiography Petliurovtsy ( uk, Пет ...
, and his mother, Teodora (
née Wynnytsky de Chechil), was a
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist at the
Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet
The Solomiya Krushelnytska Lviv State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet ( uk, Львівський Національний академічний театр опери та балету імені Соломії Крушельницької ...
.
After his parents separated, his mother moved with him and his younger sister,
Zvenislava, to live in the
heart of the city in the same building where
Solomiya Krushelnytska,
a renowned soprano of the early 20th century, lived. The building was known as a haven for
intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
s and artists.
In this environment, the young Dobriansky was exposed several opera singers such as the tenor
Vasyl Tysiak, baritone
Lev Reinarovych, and bass
Ivan Rubchak.
Trapped in Lvov after the Nazi and Soviet invasions of Poland, Andrij, Zvenislava, and their mother managed to stay together until 1944, when 13-year-old Andrij was "
rounded up" ( pl, Łapanka) and sent by train to work as a
labor camp conscript in Germany.
He finished his
secondary education
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...
in a
displaced persons camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peop ...
near
Heidenau
Heidenau is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, 13 km southeast of Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbi ...
.
After the passage of the
Displaced Persons Act
The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 authorized for a limited period of time the admission into the United States of 200,000 certain European displaced persons (DPs) for permanent residence.
This displaced persons (DP) Immigration program emerged fro ...
, he received a scholarship to
Amherst College and arrived in America in October 1950 aboard the
USS General S. D. Sturgis.
Career
Dobriansky made his professional singing debut with the
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani ...
on November 10, 1964. He performed the role of ''Jake Wallace'', a traveling camp minstrel, in
Puccini's ''
La fanciulla del West
''La fanciulla del West'' (''The Girl of the West'') is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by and , based on the 1905 play '' The Girl of the Golden West'' by the American author David Belasco. ''Fanciulla'' follow ...
''. The following year, he was selected from among 1,300 singers to sing with the
Metropolitan Opera National Company The Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC) was a short lived American opera company that operated from 1965 to 1967 as a second touring company of the Metropolitan Opera that featured American and Canadian artists in their early stages of career ...
. For several years he would tour more than a dozen cities throughout the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
annually, some for engagements of only one night, alongside other up-and-coming singers. Dobriansky made his Metropolitan Opera Company debut in on 11 February 1970 once again in Puccini's ''La fanciulla del West'', this time in the role of the
miner ''Happy''. His repertoire of
comprimario
A comprimario is a small supporting role in an opera (or a singer who sings those roles). The word is derived from the Italian "''con primario''", or "with the primary", meaning that the ''comprimario'' role (or singer) is not a principal role (or ...
roles led to his becoming a staple in the Met roster. His long career at the Met included the Met premieres of ''
Les mamelles de Tirésias
''Les Mamelles de Tirésias'' (''The Breasts of Tiresias'') is an ''opéra bouffe'' by Francis Poulenc, in a prologue and two acts based on the eponymous play by Guillaume Apollinaire. The opera was written in 1945 and first performed in 1947. Ap ...
'' (1981),
Verdi's ''
I vespri siciliani
''I vespri siciliani'' (; ''The Sicilian Vespers'') is a five-act Italian opera originally written in French for the Paris Opéra by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi and translated into Italian shortly after its premiere in June 1855. ...
'' (1974), the world premiere of ''
The Ghosts of Versailles
''The Ghosts of Versailles'' is an opera in two acts, with music by John Corigliano to an English libretto by William M. Hoffman. The Metropolitan Opera had commissioned the work from Corigliano in 1980 in celebration of its 100th anniversary, ...
'' (1991), as well as in new Met stagings of ''
Khovanshchina
''Khovanshchina'' ( rus, Хованщина, , xɐˈvanʲɕːɪnə, Ru-Khovanshchina_version.ogg, sometimes rendered ''The Khovansky Affair'') is an opera (subtitled a 'national music drama') in five acts by Modest Mussorgsky. The work was writt ...
'' (1985), ''
Arabella'' (1983), ''
Prodaná nevěsta
''The Bartered Bride'' ( cz, Prodaná nevěsta, links=no, ''The Sold Bride'') is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the ...
'' (1978), ''
Gianni Schicchi
() is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Pucci ...
'' (1974), ''
La fille du régiment
' (''The Daughter of the Regiment'') is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra ...
'' (1972), ''
Werther
''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel '' Th ...
'' (1971), and ''
Der Freischütz
' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 18 ...
'' (1971). He can be heard on many archived Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and
telecasts, including the company's first
pay-per-view broadcast of its gala performance celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center.
Dobriansky was also an
art song recitalist and
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...
soloist. He performed with many symphony orchestras and opera companies, including the
Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera is an opera company based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as its first general director until 1983. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of ...
, the
Boston Opera, the
Newport Music Festival, the
Berkshire Opera, and the Chautauqua Music Festival. His final operatic performance was on January 6, 1996, performing the role of ''Ivan'' in
Strauss' ''
Die Fledermaus
' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874.
Background
The original li ...
''.
A proponent of
Ukrainian music
Ukrainian music covers diverse and multiple component elements of the music that is found in the Western and Eastern musical civilization. It also has a very strong indigenous Slavic and Christian uniqueness whose elements were used among the a ...
in the United States, he frequently performed and conducted works by Ukrainian composers.
In 1968, he recorded an album of songs composed by the popular Ukrainian musician
Bohdan Weselowsky, entitled ''Andrij Dobriansky with songs by J.B. Wesolowsky''. For decades, he performed as a soloist with the New York-based Dumka chorus and served as artistic director and consultant to many Ukrainian musical productions, including the Ukrainian Composers Series at the
Town Hall and the
Ukrainian Institute of America
The Harry F. Sinclair House is a mansion at the southeast corner of East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The house was built between 1897 and 1899. Over the first half of the 20th century, the ...
,
From 1980 until his death, Dobriansky was a
liturgical
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
cantor
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds.
In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
as well as the
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
of the
Andrey Sheptytsky
Andrey Sheptytsky, OSBM (; uk, Митрополит Андрей Шептицький; 29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure span ...
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
at
Saint George Ukrainian Catholic Church in
New York's Little Ukraine.
A portrait of the artist can be found at the Metropolitan Opera Gallery at the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. His legacy of Ukrainian liturgical singing and community involvement was documented briefly by his children on the
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
series ''Bare Feet in NYC''.
[City of New York ]
Bare Feet in NYC: Season 1: Ep. 7 - Little Ukraine
/ref>
Videography
* '' The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991'', Deutsche Grammophon DVD, 00440-073-4582
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobriansky, Andrij
1930 births
2012 deaths
20th-century Ukrainian male opera singers
Operatic bass-baritones
Musicians from Lviv
Ukrainian baritones
Ukrainian basses
Polish emigrants to the United States
Soviet World War II forced labourers