Nadezhda Andreyevna Obukhova (russian: Наде́жда Андре́евна Обу́хова, 1886–1961) was a Russian

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

. She was awarded the title

People’s Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significa ...

in 1937. Pianist Heinrich Neuhaus said that "he who even once hears her voice, will never forget it...".

Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

9914 Obukhova is named for her.

Childhood

Obukhova came from an artistic family. Two of her uncles were professional singers, one of whom was the opera director of the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

. Her grandfather was a noted pianist, and her great-grandfather

Yevgeny Baratynsky Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (russian: Евге́ний Абра́мович Бараты́нский, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈbraməvʲɪtɕ bərɐˈtɨnskʲɪj, a=Yevgyeniy Abramovich Baratynskiy.ru.vorb.oga; 11 July 1844) was lauded by Alexan ...

was a poet of Pushkin circle. Her family had some wealth, and would often spend summers in Nice, France, where Obukhova received her first singing lessons from Eleanora Lipman. In 1907, she was enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory, where she was instructed by Umberto Masetti.

Career

After her graduation, she found work singing in various concerts around Russia, but she did not make her operatic debut until 1916. Her operatic debut was in the role of Pauline in Tchaikovsky's '' The Queen of Spades'' at the Bolshoi. She quickly became a popular singer, appearing in a number of other productions including ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'', ''

Dalila Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label=Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved b ...

'', '' The Tsar's Bride'' (as Marfa and as Lyubasha), '' The Snow Maiden'', '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (as Fricka), ''Marina'' (by Emilio Arrieta), ''

Love for Three Oranges ''The Love for Three Oranges'', Op. 33, also known by its French language title ' (russian: Любовь к трём апельсинам, links=no, ''Lyubov' k tryom apel'sinam''), is a satirical opera by Sergei Prokofiev. Its French libretto w ...

'' and '' Sadko''. She was a performer in the first radio concert in the Soviet Union, which took place in 1922. She sang Pauline's aria from '' The Queen of Spades''. She gave other radio concerts, including the first broadcast from the Bolshoi Theatre, a production of ''The Tsar's Bride'' with

Antonina Nezhdanova Antonina Vasilyevna Nezhdanova (russian: Антони́на Васи́льевна Нежда́нова, – 26 June 1950), was a Russian and Soviet coloratura soprano. Nezhdanova was born in , near Odesa, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire. ...

Leonid Speransky Leonid (russian: Леонид ; uk, Леонід ; be, Леанід, Ljeaníd ) is a Slavic version of the given name Leonidas. The French version is Leonide. People with the name include: *Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919), Russian playwright an ...

and Vasily Petrov. Increasingly through the 1920s and 1930s, she began to incorporate popular songs into her concert repertoire. In 1937 she made her first studio recording, of pieces from ''The Queen of Spades''. Obukhova retired in 1943. After her retirement, she continued to give occasional concerts and radio performances. She died in the Crimea in August 1961, two months after giving her last concert.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obukhova, Nadezhda 1886 births 1961 deaths Operatic mezzo-sopranos Mezzo-sopranos from the Russian Empire People's Artists of the USSR Soviet women opera singers