Nina Koshetz ( uk, Ніна Павлівна Кошиць; russian: Нина Павловна Кошиц; née Poray-Koshetz (
:uk:Порай-Кошиці); 30 December 1891 – 14 May 1965) was a Russian-Ukrainian, later American opera soprano, recital singer and actress, and the niece of
Alexander Koshetz
Alexander Koshetz (12 September 1875 – 21 September 1944) was a Ukrainian choral conductor, arranger, composer, ethnographer, writer, musicologist, and lecturer. He helped popularize Ukrainian music around the world. His name is sometime ...
.
Early life and career
![Nina Koshetz - Dec 1922 Shadowland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Nina_Koshetz_-_Dec_1922_Shadowland.jpg)
Nina Koshetz was born in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
, then moved to Moscow and became an opera singer. Her father, opera singer
Pavel Koshetz ( uk, Павло Олексійович Кошиць; ru: Павел Алексеевич Кошиц; 1863 - 2 March 1904), committed suicide in 1904, when Nina was 12 years old. From 1908–13 she studied in
Moscow State Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...
with
Konstantin Igumnov
Konstantin Nikolayevich Igumnov (russian: Константи́н Никола́евич Игу́мнов; , 1873 – March 24, 1948) was a Soviet and Russian pianist and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1946).
Biography
Igumnov studie ...
and
Sergei Taneyev
Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Тане́ев, ; – ) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author.
Life
Taneyev was born in Vladimir, Vladimir Governorate, Russia ...
, among others.
Having received voice lessons in France from the retired dramatic soprano
Felia Litvinne, she sang leading roles in opera and performed in principal opera houses across Russia and Europe. In the late 1910s she performed at the
Petrograd Conservatory and was accompanied by then-unknown
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of al ...
. She had initially resisted being accompanied by the unknown student, but afterward insisted only he could accompany her there; she subsequently programmed some of Horowitz's songs.
In 1920 Koshetz joined
Ukrainian Republic Capella co-founded and led by her uncle
Oleksandr Koshyts on their European Tour. After which she emigrated to the US and joined the
Chicago Opera Association where she sang in the premiere of Prokofiev's ''
The 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 librett ...
'' (1921).
Nina Koshetz later performed for the Russian Opera Company in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and on tour in South America. At the end of the 1920s she was active in France, where she appeared in the French premiere of
Sadko
Sadko (russian: Садко) is the principal character in a Russian medieval epic '' bylina''. He was an adventurer, merchant, and '' gusli'' musician from Novgorod.
Textual notes
"Sadko" is a version of the tale translated by Arthur Ransome ...
. Known for her overly-extravagant life style, her vocal powers declined in the 1930s and in 1940 she retired to Hollywood where she made a living as a voice teacher and restaurateur (a venture that ended in bankruptcy in 1942). She appeared in bit parts in several
Hollywood movies. She died in
Santa Ana, California in 1965.
Nina's daughter
Marina Koshetz (also known as Marina Schubert; 1912–2001) was an operatic soprano.
Relationship with Rachmaninoff
She had a working relationship with composer
Sergei Rachmaninoff during the 1910s, and he composed a cycle of six romantic songs dedicated to her (opus 38).
[Scott. "Rachmaninoff" (see further reading)]
Recordings
*The Nina Koshetz Edition - 1916-1941
Songs by
Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
,
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
,
Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
,
Gretchaninov
Alexander Tikhonovich GretchaninovAlso commonly transliterated as ''Aleksandr/Alexandre'' ''Grechaninov/Gretchaninoff/Gretschaninow'' ( rus, Алекса́ндр Ти́хонович Гречани́нов, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɡrʲɪtɕɐˈnʲin ...
, Varlamov, Rachmaninoff,
Anton Arensky,
Martini
Martini may refer to:
* Martini (cocktail)
* Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth
* Martini (surname), an Italian surname
* Martini (automobile company), a Swiss automobile company
* Automobiles Martini, a French manufacturer of racing cars
* M ...
,
Ponce,
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
, and
Chopin etc.; arias from ''
Sadko
Sadko (russian: Садко) is the principal character in a Russian medieval epic '' bylina''. He was an adventurer, merchant, and '' gusli'' musician from Novgorod.
Textual notes
"Sadko" is a version of the tale translated by Arthur Ransome ...
'', ''
The Demon'', ''Dobrynia Nikititch'', ''
The Fair at Sorochyntsi
''The Fair at Sorochyntsi'' (russian: Сорочинская ярмарка, ''Sorochinskaya yarmarka'', '' Sorochyntsi Fair'') is a comic opera in three acts by Modest Mussorgsky, composed between 1874 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The compo ...
'', ''
Pique Dame'' and ''
Prince Igor
''Prince Igor'' ( rus, Князь Игорь, Knyáz Ígor ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the Ancient Russian epic '' The Lay of Igor's Host'', which re ...
''. CD released 1993 (Opal/Pavilion Records, 9855)
*Nina Koshetz – Complete Victor and Schirmer recordings 1928/29 and 1940 ''(and Odarka Trifonieva Sprishevskaya – Victor recordings)''
Songs and arias by
Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin ( rus, link=no, Александр Порфирьевич Бородин, Aleksandr Porfir’yevich Borodin , p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr pɐrˈfʲi rʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bərɐˈdʲin, a=RU-Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.ogg, ...
, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel, Ponce, Martini, Chopin, Gretchaninov, Rachmaninoff, Arensky, Tchaikovsky. (Nimbus Prima Voce CD NI 7935-36)
Film roles
She appeared as "Countess Vorontsov" opposite
Ivan Mozzhukhin
Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin ( rus, Иван Ильич Мозжухин, p=ɪˈvan ɨˈlʲjitɕ mɐˈʑːʉxʲɪn; —18 January 1939), usually billed using the French transliteration Ivan Mosjoukine, was a Russian silent film actor.
Career in Ru ...
in the silent film ''
The Loves of Casanova
''The Loves of Casanova'' or ''Casanova'' is a 1927 French Historical drama film directed by Alexandre Volkoff and starring Ivan Mozzhukhin, Suzanne Bianchetti and Diana Karenne. The film portrays the life and adventures of Giacomo Casanova ( ...
'' (1927), and as "Fatme" in ''
Secrets of the Orient
''Secrets of the Orient'' (german: Geheimnisse des Orients) is a 1928 German- French silent drama film directed by Alexandre Volkoff and starring Nikolas Kolin, Iván Petrovich and Dimitri Dimitriev.Bock p. 237 It was made at the Babelsberg S ...
'' (1928). After her retirement from the operatic and concert stage, she appeared in bit parts in talkie films such as ''
Algiers'' (1938), ''
The Chase'' (1946), ''
Captain Pirate'' (1952), and ''
Hot Blood
''Hot Blood'' is a 1956 American CinemaScope Technicolor musical film starring Jane Russell and Cornel Wilde and directed by Nicholas Ray.
Plot
Marco Torino, king of the gypsies in southern California, is terminally ill. He wants his younger ...
'' (1956).
Further reading
*Scott, M (1979), ''The Record of Singing II'', pp 23–25
*Scott, M (2008), "Rachmaninoff" (The History Press. Gloucester, 2008.) pp 109–110;
*Steane, J B (1992), 'Koshetz, Nina' in ''The
New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', ed. Stanley Sadie (London);
References
External links
*
Musicweb review of Koshetz recordings released by Nimbus RecordsNina Koshetz with her daughter Marinaat
Getty Images
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koshetz, Nina
1891 births
1965 deaths
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century Russian women opera singers
Sopranos from the Russian Empire
White Russian emigrants to the United States
20th-century American women opera singers
Musicians from Kyiv