__NOTOC__ Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela-Vrubel (russian: Надежда Ивановна Забела-Врубель in

Kovno Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Traka ...

– 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 ...

) was an

Imperial Russian The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. Th ...

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 ...

singer, the niece of the Russian sculptor Parmen Zabela. Vocally, she is best described as a lyrical (

coloratura Coloratura is an elaborate melody with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar virtuoso-like material,''Oxford American Dictionaries''.Apel (1969), p. 184. or a passage of such music. Operatic roles in which such music plays a prominent part, ...

)

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& ...

, with a particularly high

tessitura In music, tessitura (, pl. ''tessiture'', "texture"; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or less frequently, musical instrument, the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characte ...

. In 1891 she graduated from the

Saint Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

, having been in the class of Natalia Iretskaya. She also studied 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 sang her debut in 1893 at the I. Setov operatic troupe in

Kiev 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. Ky ...

. In the season 1894–95 she sang in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

, in 1895–96 in the St Petersburg Private opera, and in 1896–97 in

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

. During 1897–1904 she was a leading soprano in Savva Mamontov's Private Russian Opera. In 1904–11 she became the soloist of the

Mariinsky Theatre 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 ...

in St Petersburg. In 1896 she married the Russian artist

Mikhail Vrubel Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various med ...

, who created a series of her portraits.

Roles

Her roles include: *Gorislava in ''

Ruslan and Ludmila 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 ...

''; *Tatiana in ''

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 ...

''; *Maria in '' Mazeppa''; *Volkhova in '' Sadko''; *Swan Princess in '' The Tale of Tsar Saltan''; *Snegurochka in '' The Snow Maiden''; *Marfa in ''

The Tsar's Bride ''The Tsar's Bride'' (russian: Царская невеста, translit=Tsarskaja nevesta) is an historical verse drama in four acts by Lev Mei from 1849.Golub (1998, 951). Fifty years later Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov used the play as the basis for ...

''; *Princess in '' Kashchey the Deathless''; *Fevronia in ''

Kitezh Kitezh (russian: Ки́теж) is a legendary and mythical city beneath the waters of Lake Svetloyar in the Voskresensky District of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in central Russia. Reference to Kitezh appears for the first time in ''Kitezh Chronicle ...

''; *Margarita in ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

''; *Nedda in '' Pagliacci''; *Desdemona in '' Otello'', and many others.

Gallery

Image:Wrubel Portrai of N. I. Zabela-Wrubel-1898.jpg,

: Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel – Artist's wife in a stage dress 1898 Image:Zabela-Vrubel as Volkhova by Mikhail Vrubel.jpg,

: Vrubel as Volkhova in '' Sadko'', 1898 Image:Michail Alexandrowitsch Wrubel 002.jpg,

: Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel – 1900 Image:Tsarevna-Lebed (cropped).jpg,

: Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel – as the Swan Princess 1900 Image:Portrait of Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel 1904.jpg,

: Portrait of Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel, 1904

Quotations

*"Always so reasonable and sober-minded, Rimsky-Korsakov fell head over heels in love with Nadezhda. Marriage was out of the question, though, because he had a talented and very intelligent wife and growing up kids in St.Petersburg and Nadezhda was married to the outstanding Russian artist

. For many years Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel and her inimitable voice inspired the composer to write a whole constellation of beautiful arias that immortalized Rimsky-Korsakov’s name and also that of the woman he loved so much..." ''(Musical Tales)''

Bibliography

* Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Pимский-Корсаков Н.А., Летопись моей музыкальной жизни, 7 изд., М., 1955 *Rimsky-Korsakov, A. N. – Pимскии-Коpсаков А. Н., Н. А. Римский-Корсаков. Жизнь и творчество, вып. 4, М., 1937. с. 117-23, 153-70; *Yankovsky, M.. – Янковский М., Н. И. Забела М.- Л., 1953.

References

External links

Musical Tales: ''Cherchez la Femme''.
* ttp://www.intofineart.com/htmlopus/painting-31263.html Mikhail Vrubel Portrait of Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel. br>Belcanto: Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zabelavrubel, Nadezhda 1868 births 1913 deaths Russian operatic sopranos Ukrainian operatic sopranos Musicians from Kaunas 19th-century women opera singers from the Russian Empire Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Nadezhda