Yevgeniya Konstantinovna Mravinskaya (russian: Евгения Константиновна Мравинская), better known by her stage name Yevgeniya or Evgenia Mravina (russian: Евгения Мравина; – )Russia was still using

old style dates Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...

in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source and therefore are in the same style as the source from which they come. was a Russian

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

, a half sister of revolutionary

Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist the ...

and the aunt of conductor

Yevgeny Mravinsky Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Мрави́нский) (19 January 1988) was a Russian conductor, pianist, and music pedagogue; he was a professor at Leningrad State Conservatory. Biog ...

Life

Born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Mravina studied there with Ippolit Pryanishnikov, then in Berlin with

Désirée Artôt Désirée Artôt (; 21 July 1835 – 3 April 1907) was a Belgian soprano (initially a mezzo-soprano), who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany. In 1868 she was engaged, briefly, to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who may h ...

and in Paris with

Mathilde Marchesi Mathilde Marchesi (née Graumann; 24 March 1821 – 17 November 1913) was a German mezzo-soprano, a singing teacher, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method. Biography Marchesi was born in Frankfurt. Her father's last name was Graumann; ...

. She made her debut in the role of Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had co ...

'' at Vittorio Veneto in August 1885 and was principal soloist at the

Mariinsky Theater The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

between 1886 and 1897. Mravina quit the Saint Petersbuirg stage in 1900 over a conflict with the Direction of the Imperial Theaters; from 1900 to 1903 she toured extensively in Russia.Saint Petersburg Encyclopedia. Accessed 1-29-2010.
/ref> She made three European tours—in 1891–1892, 1902–1903 and 1906—but by the last tour her voice and health were already deteriorating. She gave her final concert in Saint Petersburg in 1906, and died in

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

in 1914.Garden, ''New Grove (2001)'', 17:351.

Roles

Mravina was noted particularly for roles which required virtuoso singing and conveyed a good deal of her characters' ardent natures. Concerned with the stage presence of her roles, she frequently consulted with N.F. Sazamov, the Alexandrinsky Theater's star actor, on issues of dramatic creativity, and took rhythm and dancing lessons from ballet dancer A.D. Chistayakov. Her best-known parts included Antonida in Mikhail Glinka's opera '' A Life for the Tsar'', Lyudmila in Glinka's ''

Ruslan and Lyudmila Ruslan may refer to: * ''Ruslan'' (film), a 2009 film starring Steven Segal * Ruslan (given name), male name used mainly in Slavic countries, with list of people * Antonov An-124 ''Ruslan'', large Soviet cargo aircraft, later built in Ukraine and ...

'', Tatyana in

Pyotr Ilyich 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 pop ...

's ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...

'' and Oxana in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's '' Christmas Eve''; the last named role was considered especially suited for Marvina's acting ability, tonal purity and musical intelligence. She also sang in operas by

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

, Giacomo Meyerbeer and

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. Tchaikovsky envisioned Mravina in the role of Liza in '' The Queen of Spades'' but bowed to tenor Nikolay Figner's preference to cast his wife Medea in that role for the premiere. Later, when Medea Figner was to be replaced by Mariya Sionitskaya, Tchaikovsky regretted that Mravina could not sing the role.Brown, ''Final Years'', 308.

Footnotes

Notes

References

* Brown, David, ''Tchaikovsky: The Final Years, 1885–1893'' (New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1991). . * Garden, Edward, "Mravina ravinskaya Yevgeniya Konstantinova". In ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition'' (London: Macmillan, 2001), 29 vols., ed. Stanley Sadie. .

External links

Saint Petersburg Encyclopedia article on Mravina. Accessed 1-29-2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mravina, Yevgeniya 1864 births 1914 deaths Women singers from the Russian Empire Russian operatic sopranos Singers from Saint Petersburg 19th-century women opera singers from the Russian Empire