Сергей Лемешев

Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev Russian Серге́й Я́ковлевич Ле́мешев Born July 10 O.S. June 27 1902 Staroye Knyazevo Tver District – Died June 26 1977 Moscow Was A Russian Operatic Lyric Tenor. Lemeshev Was Born Into A Peasant Family And His Father Wanted Him To Become A Cobbler. In 1914 He Left A Parish School And Was Sent To Be Trained To Make Shoes In St Petersburg. In 1917 He Graduated From School In Tver Where He Attended Vocal Training. He Began First At A Local Workers' Club And Later Moved To Moscow. Between 1921-1925 He Studied At The Moscow Conservatory With Nazari Raisky 1875-1958 . In 1924 He Sang In The Opera Studio Of Konstantin Stanislavsky. From 1926-1931 He Sang In The Theatres Of Sverdlovsk Harbin And Tbilisi. In 1931 He Was Invited To The Bolshoi Theatre Where He Sang The Roles Of Tsar Berendei The Snow Maiden Lensky Eugene Onegin And Gerald Lakmé . Along With His Friendly Rival Ivan Kozlovsky 1900-1993 He Was The Leading Tenor At The Bolshoi Until 1956. While Lemeshev Was One Of The Leading Tenors Of The Bolshoi Theatre He Was Idolized By Female Fans Who Were Jokingly Called "lemeshistki." The Theatre Lobby Was A Venue For Scuffles Between The "lemeshistki" And The "kozlovityanki" As Kozlovsky's Fans Were Known. 1 Lemeshev's Roles Included Levko In May Night Zvezdochyot The Astrologer In The Golden Cockerel The Indian Guest In Sadko By Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Boyan In Ruslan And Ludmila By Mikhail Glinka Dubrovskiy In The Opera Of The Same Title By Eduard Napravnik And The Duke In Verdi's Rigoletto Among Others. Lensky Was His Signature Role However And He Played It More That 500 Times From 1927 Onwards. He Performed It For The Last Time On His 70th Birthday After Suffering Three Heart Attacks And Having A Lung Removed. Asteroid Number 4561 Received The Name Lemeshev In 1978 A Year After Sergei Lemeshev's Death. read less