Victor Ivanovich Nikitin,(

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Виктор Иванович Никитин), was a Soviet

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

soloist of the

Alexandrov Ensemble The Alexandrov Ensemble ( rus, Ансамбль Александрова, r=Ansambl' Aleksandrova; commonly known as the Red Army Choir in the West) is an official army choir of the Russian armed forces. Founded during the Soviet era, the en ...

, born in

Syzran Syzran ( rus, Сызрань, p=ˈsɨzrənʲ) is the third largest city in Samara Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of Saratov Reservoir of the Volga River. Population: History Founded in 1683 as a fortress, Syzran grew into an important ...

12 February 1911 and died in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

6 January 1994.Information from Liudmila Gurkova, daughter of Victor Nikitin. He is notable for being the first Mr Kalinka, and for being called "Ambassador Kalinka" by Erich Mückenberger after singing at the 1948 Berlin peace concert. He was buried at Pyatnitskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Early career

He was a machine engineer in 1938, and joined the

in the same year.Another version says that he joined the Ensemble in 1935. This may mean that he joined the choir in 1935, then became a soloist of the ensemble in 1938. He had possibly started recording by 1936. He was already known as "Mr Kalinka" before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

.Information from Leonid Kharitonov, soloist of the Alexandrov Ensemble.

World War II and 1948 Berlin peace concert

Apparently when he sang to entertain the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

troops at the Eastern Front in

, the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

on the other side stopped shooting to listen. The German appreciation of Nikitin did not end there. At the

August 1948 Peace Concert, he sang encores of Kalinka and received high praise for his singing. Before the concert he had bought a book of 10 German

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

, and then persuaded

Boris Alexandrov Boris Viktorovich Alexandrov (russian: Борис Викторович Александров; November 13, 1955 — July 31, 2002) was a Soviet and Kazakh professional ice hockey player. Boris Alexandrov competed for Torpedo Ust- ...

and the

commanders to let him sing some of them in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. This would be seen by the German audience as a great commitment to peace. In a photograph taken from the back of the choir at the time, you can see some of the 30,000-strong audience with the destroyed city as a backdrop. You can just see the flowers along the front of the stage, and to the left of the photo, standing in front of the

balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...

players is a young soloist, perhaps waiting for Boris to indicate the start of his song. This is the scene which Nikitin, the choir and the orchestra saw on that day in 1948. A 1985 Radio DDR recording (named ''Auf gutem Weg Mit Guten Freunden'') exists of part of this 1948 Berlin concert. Nikitin sang ''Im Schönsten Wiesengrunde'', ''Ich Freue Mich Ihnen Mein Lied Zu Singen'' (a spoken introduction by Nikitin to ''Kalinka'', recorded in 1988) and '' Kalinka''. In connection with this, Nikitin was made Honoured Citizen of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

. In 2007, Nikitin was still remembered by Leonid Maleev, director of the Ensemble, as the earliest "Mr Kalinka".

Return to choir

It has been rumoured that Nikitin was in disgrace after singing in German in 1948, and that this eventually ended his career in 1952; however it is now said that he simply returned to the Ensemble choir in 1952, by his own choice, due to a strained or tired voice. He continued to be popular with

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, who used to wave to him in a friendly manner at concerts. Nikitin could not have returned to the choir without Stalin's approval; however many relevant source-documents from this era have been destroyed.

Discography

With the

from 1938 to 1952 he recorded ''Meeting with the chief'' (music: A. Alexandrov; lyrics: P. Herman), ''Cold waves lapping'' (music: F. Bogoroditsky; lyrics: Ya Repninsky 1950), ''Samovary-samopaly'' (or ''Military samovars'') duet with S. Tibaev (recorded 1941), ''Red Fleet sailors'' (recorded 1943) (music A. Alexandrov; lyrics N. Labkovsky 1943), '' Smuglyanka'', duet with N. Ustinov (recorded 1945), ''Kalinka'', ''Alas nothing to please me'' (1946) Prague, ''Come to me young laddie'' (1946) Prague, ''Nightingales'' (music: V. Soloviev-Gray; lyrics: A. Fat'yanov) (recorded 1946), ''Alas nothing to please me'' (1948) Moscow, ''Come to me young laddie'' (1948) Prague, ''Troika'' (1948) Prague, ''Im schönsten Wiesengrunde'' (1948) Berlin, ''Kalinka'' (1948) Berlin, ''Heidenröslein'' (1948) Dresden, ''Evening on the waterfront'' solo and as duet with V.N.Katerinsky, ''Winter evening'' (1951) Prague, ''Down by Mother Volga''. He recorded ''Song of my country'' (1951 and 26 October 1952) Prague.

References

External links