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Stenka Razin on a contemporary English engraving

Stepan (Sten'ka) Timofeyevich Razin (Russian: Степан (Стенька) Тимофеевич Разин, Russian pronunciation: [sʲtʲɪpˈɑn (sʲtʲˈenʲkə) tʲɪmɐˈfʲeɪvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈrɑzʲɪn]; 1630 – June 16 [O.S. June 6] 1671) was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and Tsar's bureaucracy in South Russia.

Early life[link]

He is first noted by history in 1661, as part of a diplomatic mission from the Don Cossacks to the Kalmyks. That same year Razin went on a long-distance pilgrimage to the great Solovetsky Monastery on the White Sea for the benefit of his soul. After that, all trace of him is lost for six years, when he reappears as the leader of a robber community established at Panshinskoye, among the marshes between the rivers Tishina and Ilovlya, from whence he levied tribute from all vessels passing up and down the Volga.

A long war with Poland in 1654-1667 and Sweden in 1656-1658 put heavy demands upon the people of Russia. Taxes increased as did conscription. Many peasants hoping to escape these burdens fled south and joined bands of Razin's marauding Cossacks. They were also joined by many other disaffected with the Russian government, including people of the lower classes as well as representatives of non-Russian ethnic groups, such as Kalmyks, that were being oppressed.

Razin's first considerable exploit was to destroy the great naval convoy consisting of the treasury barges and the barges of the patriarch and the wealthy merchants of Moscow. Razin then sailed down the Volga with a fleet of thirty-five vessels, capturing the more important forts on his way and devastating the country. At the beginning of 1668 he defeated the voivode Yakov Bezobrazov, sent against him from Astrakhan, and in the spring embarked on a predatory expedition into Daghestan and Persia which lasted for eighteen months.

Background[link]

Russia began the 17th century with the Time of Troubles, which lasted from 1598 to 1613. This time marked the end of the Rurik dynasty and the beginning of the Romanov dynasty. Michael Romanov (tsar from 1613 to 1645) and his son Alexis (tsar from 1645 to 1676) both strove to strengthen the power of the tsar in order to stabilize the country after the turmoil of the Time of Troubles. As a result, the Zemsky Sobor and the boyar council, two other bodies of government in Russia, slowly lost influence.^[1] The Russian population went from fifteen years of “near anarchy” to the reigns of two strong, centralizing autocrats.^[2]

In addition, a deep divide existed between the lower peasant class in Russia and the noble class.^[3] Recent changes in the treatment and legal standing of peasants, including the institutionalization of serfdom in the Law Code of 1649 also contributed to the unrest among the peasant class.^[4] The Don Cossacks, a lower class group that lived independently near the Don River and whom the tsar’s government supplied in exchange for defending Russia, led Razin’s rebellion.^[5] Historian Paul Avrich characterizes Razin’s revolt as a “curious mixture of brigandage and revolt,” similar to other popular uprising of the period.^[6] Razin revolted against the “traitor-boyars” rather than the tsar. The Cossacks supported the tsar because they worked for him.^[7]

Departure from the Don[link]

In 1667 Razin gathered a small group of Cossacks and left the Don for an expedition in the Caspian Sea. He aimed to set up a base in Yaitsk (now known as Oral, located in Kazakhstan on the Ural River) and plunder villages from there. However, Moscow learned of Razin’s plans and attempted to stop him.^[8] As Razin traveled down the Volga River to Tsaritsyn, the voevodes of Astrakhan warned Andrei Unkovsky (the voevoda or governor of Tsaritsyn) of Razin’s arrival and recommended that he not allow the Cossacks to enter the town.^[9] Unkovsky attempted to negotiate with Razin, but Razin threatened to set fire to Tsaritsyn if Unkovsky interfered. When he encountered a group of political prisoners being transported by the tsar’s representatives on his way from the Don to the Volga, Razin reportedly said, “I shall not force you to join me, but whoever chooses to come with me will be a free Cossack. I have come to fight only the boyars and the wealthy lords. As for the poor and plain folk, I shall treat them as brothers.”^[10] However, when Razin sailed by Tsartisyn, Unkovsky did not attack (possibly either because Unkovsky felt that Razin posed a threat or the guards of Tsaritsyn sympathized with Razin’s Cossacks). This incident gave Razin the reputation of an “invincible warrior endowed with supernatural powers.” He continued his travels down the Volga and into the Caspian Sea, defeating several detachments of streltsy, or armed guardsmen. In July 1667, Razin captured Yaitsk by disguising himself and some of his companions as pilgrims to pray at the cathedral. Once inside Yaitsk, they opened the gates for the rest of the troops to enter and occupy the city. The opposition sent to fight Razin felt reluctant to do so because they sympathized with the Cossacks’ lower-class background.^[11]

In the spring of 1668, Razin led the majority of his men down the Yaik River (also known as the Ural River) while a small portion stayed behind to guard Yaitsk. However, the government defeated Razin’s men in Yaitsk and Razin lost his base there.^[12]

Persian expedition[link]

Stenka Razin Sailing in the Caspian Sea by Vasily Surikov, 1906.

After losing Yaitsk, Razin sailed south down the coast of the Caspian Sea to continue his pillaging. He and his men took Baku (located on the Absheron Peninsula in present-day Azerbaijan) easily, but at Rasht (in the southwest Caspian Sea in modern Iran) the Persians killed roughly 400 Cossacks in a surprise attack. Razin went to Isfahan to ask the shah for land in Persia in exchange for loyalty to the shah, but departed on the Caspian for more pillaging before they could reach an agreement.^[13] Razin arrived in Farahabad (on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea in Iran) and masqueraded as a merchant in the city for several days before he and his men pillaged the city for two days. That winter the Cossacks with Razin fended off starvation and disease on the Mian Kaleh Peninsula, and in the spring of 1669 Razin built a base on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea and began raiding Turkmen villages.^[14] Then in the spring of 1669 he established himself on the isle of Suina, off which, in July, he annihilated a Persian fleet sent against him. Stenka Razin, as he was generally called, had now become a potentate with whom princes did not disdain to treat.

In August 1669 he reappeared at Astrakhan, and accepted a fresh offer of pardon from tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich there; the common people were fascinated by his adventures. The lawless Russian border region of Astrakhan, where the whole atmosphere was predatory and many people were still nomadic, was the natural milieu for such a rebellion as Razin's.

Open rebellion[link]

Razin's rebels in Astrakhan, a Dutch engraving from 1681.

In 1670 Razin, while ostensibly on his way to report himself at the Cossack headquarters on the Don, openly rebelled against the government, captured Cherkassk, and Tsaritsyn. After capturing Tsaritsyn, Razin sailed up the Volga with his army of almost 7000 men. The men traveled toward Cherny Yar, a government stronghold between Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan. Razin and his men swiftly took Cherny Yar when the Cherny Yar streltsy rose up against their officers and joined the Cossack cause in June 1670.^[15] On June 24 he reached the city of Astrakhan. Astrakhan, Moscow’s wealthy “window on the East,” occupied a strategically important location at the mouth of the Volga River on the shore of the Caspian Sea.^[16] Razin plundered the city despite its location on a strongly fortified island and the stone walls and brass cannons that surrounded the central citadel. The local streltsy’s rebellion allowed Razin to gain access to the city.^[17]

After massacring all who opposed him (including two Princes Prozorovsky) and giving the rich bazaars of the city over to pillage, he converted Astrakhan into a Cossack republic, dividing the population into thousands, hundreds and tens, with their proper officers, all of whom were appointed by a veche or general assembly, whose first act was to proclaim Stepan Timofeyevich their gosudar (sovereign).

After a three-week carnival of blood and debauchery Razin quit Astrakhan with two hundred barges full of troops.^{[citation needed]} His aim was to establish the Cossack republic along the whole length of the Volga as a preliminary step towards advancing against Moscow. Saratov and Samara were captured, but Simbirsk defied all efforts, and after two bloody encounters close at hand on the banks of the Sviyaga River (October 1 and 4), Razin was ultimately routed by the army of Yuri Baryatinsky and fled down the Volga, leaving the bulk of his followers to be extirpated by the victors.

But the rebellion was by no means over. The emissaries of Razin, armed with inflammatory proclamations, had stirred up the inhabitants of the modern governments of Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov and Penza, and penetrated even so far as Moscow and Novgorod. It was not difficult to stir the oppressed population to revolt by promising deliverance from their yoke. Razin proclaimed that his object was to root out the boyars and all officials, to level all ranks and dignities, and establish Cossackdom, with its corollary of absolute equality, throughout Muscovy.

Stepan Razin on the Volga (by Boris Kustodiev, (1918) State Russian Museum in St Petersburg.)

Even at the beginning of 1671 the issue of the struggle was doubtful. Eight battles had been fought before the insurrection showed signs of weakening, and it continued for six months after Razin had received his quietus. At Simbirsk his prestige had been shattered. Even his own settlements at Saratov and Samara refused to open their gates to him, and the Don Cossacks, hearing that the patriarch of Moscow had anathematized Stenka, also declared against him. The tsar sent troops to suppress the revolt. As Paul Avrich notes in Russian Rebels: 1600-1800, “The brutality of the repressions by far exceeded the atrocities committed by the insurgents.” The tsar’s troops mutilated the rebels’ bodies and displayed them in public to serve as a warning to potential dissenters.^[18]

In 1671 he and his brother Frol Razin were captured at Kaganlyk, his last fortress, and carried to Moscow, where, after tortures, Stepan was quartered alive in the Red Square at the Lobnoye Mesto. However, the rebellion did not end with Razin’s death. The rebels in Astrakhan held out until November 26, 1671, when Prince Ivan Miloslavsky restored government control.

Implications[link]

Razin originally set out to loot villages, but as he became a symbol of peasant unrest, his movement turned political.^[19] Razin wanted to protect the independence of the Cossacks and to protest an increasingly centralized government. The Cossacks supported the tsar and autocracy, but they wanted a tsar that responded to the needs of the people and not just those of the upper class. By destroying and pillaging villages, Razin intended to take power from the government officials and give more autonomy to the peasants. However, Razin’s movement failed and the rebellion led to increased government control. The Cossacks lost some of their autonomy, and the tsar bonded more closely with the upper class because both feared more rebellion. On the other hand, as Avrich asserts, “[Razin’s revolt] awakened, however dimly, the social consciousness of the poor, gave them a new sense of power, and made the upper class tremble for their lives and possessions.”^[20]

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In Russian culture and folklore[link]

	Volga, Volga mat' rodnaya Folksong about Stenka Razin performed by Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Razin is the subject of a symphonic poem by Alexander Glazunov, a cantata by Shostakovich, a novel I Have Come To Give You Freedom (ru:Я пришёл дать вам волю) by Vasily Shukshin.

Stenka Razin is the hero of a popular Russian folk song, Ponizovaya Volnitsa, better known by the words Volga, Volga mat' rodnaya. The words were written by Dmitri Sadovnikov (Дмитрий Николаевич Садовников) in 1883; the music is folk. The song gave the title to the famous Soviet musical comedy Volga-Volga. The melody was used by Tom Springfield in the song "The Carnival Is Over" that placed The Seekers at #1 in 1965 in Australia and the UK.

The lyrics of the song were dramatized in one of the very first Russian narrative films, Stenka Razin directed by Vladimir Romashkov in 1908. The film lasts about 10 minutes. The screenplay was written by Vasily Goncharov, and the music (the first film music to be specially written to accompany a silent film) was by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stepan Razin

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Avrich, Paul. ‘’Russian Rebels, 1600-1800’’ (New York: Schocken Books, 1976.
• Sakharov, Andrei Nikolaevich (1973) Stepan Razin (Khronika XVII v.) Moskva, "Mol. gvardiia", 319 p. Biography in Russian.
• Field, Cecil (1947) The great Cossack; the rebellion of Stenka Razin against Alexis Michaelovitch, Tsar of all the Russias London, H. Jenkins, 125 p. Biography in English.
• Maureen Perrie, ed., ‘’The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume 1: From Early Rus’ to 1689’’ (New York:Cambridge University Press, 2006).
• Sergei M. Soloviev, ‘’History of Russia, Volume 21: The Tsar and the Patriarch, Stenka Razin Revolts on the Don, 1662-1675’’, trans. T. Allan Smith (Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press, 1976).

For the Kyrgyz politician, see Ivan Rebrov.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Ivan Rebroff
Background information
Birth name	Hans-Rolf Rippert
Born	(1931-07-31)July 31, 1931 Berlin, Germany
Died	February 27, 2008(2008-02-27) (aged 76) Frankfurt, Germany
Genres	International music
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals

Ivan Rebroff

Ivan Rebroff

Ivan Rebroff (31 July 1931 – 27 February 2008) was a German singer, allegedly of Russian ancestry, with an extraordinary vocal range of four and a half octaves, ranging from the soprano to bass registers.^[1]

Rebroff was born in Berlin as Hans-Rolf Rippert. He was famous for singing Russian folk songs, but also performed opera, light classics and folk songs from many other countries. He was known on stage for his gusto. He performed over 6,000 concerts in his career, including a two-year seven-day-a-week stint at the French opera, singing, among other greats, Fiddler on the Roof. Rebroff still performed 12 shows in 14 days when he was well into his seventies, such as on an Australian tour.

Ivan Rebroff described himself as international, the "connection between East and West". He became a citizen of Greece and lived on the Greek island of Skopelos in the Sporades.

He died in Frankfurt after a long illness. Four days after his death, his brother Horst Rippert, who is nine years his senior (and by his own accounts shot down Antoine de Saint Exupéry), claimed part of Ivan's vast fortune.^[2]

LP Discography[link]

Unknown Year[link]

• Favourites from Mother Russia
• Ivan Rebroff (Includes Lara's Theme and other Popular Melodies)

1968[link]

• Folk Songs from Old Russia (Volksweisen aus dem alten Russland)
• Folk Songs from Old Russia Volume II (Volksweisen aus dem alten Russland 2)
• Original russische Liebeslieder
• Na Sdarowje (Ivan sings about Vodka and Wine)
• Slawische Seele (Compilation album shared with Tatjana Ivanow & Dunja Rajter)

1969[link]

• Beim Klang der Balalaika, Au son des Balalaikas (French version of Beim Klang der Balalaika)
• Abendglocken (Compilation)
• Russische Weihnacht mit Ivan Rebroff
• A Russian Christmas (English version of Russische Weihnacht?)
• Un Violon sur le toit (Soundtrack of French production of Fiddler on the Roof)
• Russische Party ("Live" album)
• Festliche Weihnacht (with Regensburger Domspatzen - Boys' Choir)
• A Festive Christmas (Festliche Weihnacht re-issue)

1970[link]

• Somewhere My Love (English language versions)
• Kosaken müssen reiten (German language versions)
• Ivan Rebroff (Compilation?)

1971[link]

• The Best of Ivan Rebroff (Compilation)
• Ivan Rebroff Sing vir Ons (South African Album-Gold Disk Award)
• Vir Jou Suid-Afrika (South African album)
• Ivan Rebroff (Opera)
• Kalinka (Soundtrack from L'Homme qui vient de la Nuit)
• Mein Russland, Du bist schön (German language versions)
• Starportrait (Compilation)
• Zwischen Donau und Don (with Dunja Rajter)

1972[link]

• Erinnerungen an Russland (Russian language versions)
• The Best of Ivan Rebroff Volume II (Compilation)

1973[link]

• Lieder der Welt (Folk songs from around the world)
• Mein Altes Russland (lushly arranged Russian folk songs)
• 25 Greatest Russian Melodies (Compilation with Tatiana Ivanov (2 duets))
• 20 Greatest Hits (Compilation)

1974[link]

• Russische Party 2 ("Live" album)
• Memories of Russia

1975[link]

• Ivan Rebroff at Carnegie Hall (Live at Carnegie Hall)
• Reich Mir Die Hand
• Russische Lieder Von Liebe und Tod

1977[link]

• Midnight in Moscow (Russian language versions)
• Komm mit nach Hellas (German language versions of Greek songs)

1978[link]

• Mitternacht in Moskau (German version of Midnight in Moscow)

1979[link]

• Ave Maria
• Die Ivan Rebroff Versameling (Compilation of South African tracks)

1980[link]

• Zauber einer großen Stimme — 20 unvergängliche Welterfolge
• Zauber einer großen Stimme — Seine größten Welterfolge
• Die schönsten Lieder dieser Welt (Ivan Rebroff singt 20 unvergängliche Melodien)
• Katharina und Potemkin (TV Musical/Operetta)

CD Discography[link]

2002[link]

• Meine Reise um die Welt
• The Great Ivan Rebroff

2003[link]

• Seine Größten Welterfolge
• Best of Ivan Rebroff
• Golden Stars

Compilation albums[link]

• Festliche Weihnachten
• The Art of Ivan Rebroff
• The Best of Russian Folk Songs Vol. 1
• The Best of Russian Folk Songs Vol. 2
• Erinnerungen an das letzte Jahrhundert (Memories of the Last Century)
• Der Zarewitsch
• Die Fledermaus (As Prince Orlofsky, with Carlos Kleiber & Bavarian State Orchestra)
• Weihnachten mit Ivan Rebroff
• Die schönste Stimme Rußlands
• Kosakenträume

Notes[link]

1. ^ The Guinness book of records, 1993
2. ^ "Heimlicher Bruder will Millionen-Vermögen" (29/2/09) in Aktuelle Nachrichten - Bild.de

External links[link]

• Official web site
• Ivan Rebroff Fan Page

Nicolai Ghiaurov (or Nikolai Gjaurov, Nikolay Gyaurov, Bulgarian: Николай Гяуров) (September 13, 1929 – June 2, 2004) was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous basses of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi. Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978, and the two singers frequently performed together. They lived in Modena up until Ghiaurov's death in 2004 of a heart attack.

Biography[link]

Ghiaurov was born in the small mountain town of Velingrad in southern Bulgaria. As a child, he learned to play the violin, piano and clarinet. He began his musical studies at the Bulgarian State Conservatory in 1949 under Prof. Hristo Brambarov. From 1950 until 1955, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory.

Ghiaurov's career was launched in 1955, when he won the Grand Prix at the International Vocal Competition in Paris and the First Prize and a gold medal at the Fifth World Youth Festival in Prague. Ghiaurov made his operatic debut in 1955 as Don Basilio in Rossini's The Barber of Seville in Sofia. He made his Italian operatic debut in 1957 in Teatro Comunale Bologna, before starting an international career with his rendition of Varlaam in the opera Boris Godunov at La Scala in 1959. 1962 marked Ghiaurov's Covent Garden debut as Padre Guardiano in Verdi's "Forza del Destino" as well as his first appearance in Salzburg in Verdi's "Requiem," conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Ghiaurov first shared a stage with Mirella Freni in 1961 in Genoa. She was Marguerite, he was the devil in "Faust." Married in 1978, they lived in her hometown, Modena. They sang together frequently.

He made his US debut in Gounod's Faust in 1963 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and he went on to sing twelve roles with the company, including the title roles in Boris Godunov, Don Quichotte, and Mefistofele.

Ghiaurov made his Metropolitan Opera debut on 8 November 1965 as Mephistopheles. He sang a total of eighty-one performances in ten roles there, last appearing there on October 26, 1996, as Sparafucile in Rigoletto. During the course of his career, he also performed at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, and Paris Opéra.

In the late 1970s Ghiaurov sang the title role in the first complete stereo recording of Jules Massenet's opera Don Quichotte (Don Quixote). He was recorded frequently, and his discography includes complete recording of many of his great stage roles, including Don Giovanni, Don Basilio, Ramfis, Colline, Banco, Gounod and Boito's Mephistos and Boris Godunov among many others.

"He commanded a remarkable vocal instrument, strikingly generous in size, warm in timbre, dark in color. He rolled out the resonant tone at his command with generosity, and with special ease at the burnished top." remarks Martin Bernheimer in Ghiaurov's obituary in Opera News.

Honour[link]

Ghiaurov Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Nicolai Ghiaurov.

References[link]

• Bernheimer, Martin. "Obituaries: Nicolai Ghiaurov" Opera News 69:2 (August 2004) p. 74.

External links[link]

• Russian Opera from Bulgaria: Nicolai Ghiaurov
• Profile
• Interview with Ghiaurov from 1995 (in Bulgarian)

Russian Red
Background information
Born	1985
Origin	Madrid, Spain
Genres	Indie, Folk
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Octubre / Sony Music Entertainment
Website	http://www.russianred.es/

Russian Red is the stage name of Lourdes Hernández (Madrid, 1985), a Spanish indie and folk singer-songwriter.^[1]

Known by many as the Spanish Feist,^[2] in reference to the Canadian singer-songwriter who inspires her in many of her attitudes on the microphone, Hernández—who writes and sings all of her compositions in English—states that she sings in that language instinctively because she has always listened to music in English.^[3] Her voice and performing style are also reminiscent of the childlike and simple, poetic approach utilized by California singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom.

History[link]

Russian Red's project began when Hernández met Brian Hunt, a musician with an English father and Spanish mother, with whom she recorded a demo (which included tracks that remain unpublished like "Reason", "The Night of the Paper", and "Sadie") that reached more than 70,000 visits on her MySpace page by 2008.^[4]

The name Russian Red comes from the colour of a lipstick that Hernández herself usually wears. When asked how she chose the name, Hernández stated: "I had a band without a name some time ago. Since then, I was haunted by an obsession: to find the ideal artistic name. One day, I fell in love with this colour that a girl was wearing. I pronounced its name, and now it is my pseudonym."^[5]

Little by little, Hernández has become well known in the Spanish indie arena, performing more than 60 shows during 2007 and taking part in the prestigious Primavera Sound, among other festivals.^[6]

[edit] 2008: I Love Your Glasses

The Spanish producer Fernando Vacas asked Hernández to record an album to be issued by his label Eureka. The album, her first, was called I Love Your Glasses and quickly became a success,^[7] leading El País columnist Alfonso Cardenal to deem Russian Red the "revelation of the year".^[8][9]

[edit] 2011: Fuerteventura

With the release of her first album I Love Your Glasses Russian Red became well-known and popular in Spain. In late 2010, Russian Red signed with Octubre of Sony Music Spain. In May 2011, she released her second album Fuerteventura. At the same time, she toured in Asia including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea. She also published a duet with Elvis Presley of his song "Love Me Tender" in the special Spanish edition of the album Viva Elvis. Fuerteventura was recorded in Glasgow, Scotland with producer Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, David Byrne, Mogwai).

Discography[link]

Albums

• I Love Your Glasses (2008)
• Fuerteventura (2011)

Singles

• "They Don't Believe" (2008)
• "Cigarettes" (2008)
• "Perfect Time" (2008)
• "I Hate You But I Love You" (2011)
• "The Sun, The Trees" (2011)
• "Conquer The World" (2012)
• "Everyday Everynight" (2012)

References[link]

1. ^ malagahoy.es Ha nacido una estrella
2. ^ europapress.es "Cantar en inglés es instintivo", reconoce la intérprete de Russian Red, poco consciente de la notoriedad alcanzada
3. ^ larioja.com «He intentado componer en español, pero no me sale nada»
4. ^ plus.es El álbum de la semana en plus.es
5. ^ lafonoteca.net Biografía de Russian Red en Lafonoteca.net
6. ^ primaverasound.com Ficha de la artista en primaverasound.com
7. ^ lafonoteca.net Biografía de Russian Red en Lafonoteca.net
8. ^ elpais.com Sonorama, el placer de comer en casa Accessed August 2008
9. ^ regiondigital.com Los premios Pop-Eye 2008 se entregarán en septiembre coincidiendo con el V Festival Cáceres Pop Art accessed September 2008

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Russian Red

• Russian Red on Myspace
• Russian Red Official Site

Richard Tauber on a cigarette card

Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948)^[1] was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".

Early life[link]

He was born in Linz, Austria to Elisabeth Seifferth, an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theatre. His father, Richard Anton Tauber, also an actor, was not married to his mother and was unaware of the birth as he was touring America at the time. Being born out of wedlock, he was given the name Richard Denemy (Denemy being his mother's maiden name). He also used the names Ernst Seiffert, Carl Tauber and C. Richard Tauber at various times.

Richard accompanied his mother on tour to various theatres but she found it increasingly difficult to cope, and in 1897 he was sent to school in Linz, when his father took over his upbringing. His father, who had a Jewish background^[2] but had converted to Roman Catholicism,^{[citation needed]} hoped that Richard would become a priest, but the boy missed the excitement of the theatre and instead joined his father in Prague, and subsequently in 1903 at the theatre in Wiesbaden. Richard hoped to become a singer but failed to impress any of the teachers he auditioned for, probably because he chose to sing Wagner, for which his voice was not suited. Consequently, his father entered him at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt to study piano, composition and conducting, subjects which stood Tauber in good stead in later years. He made rapid progress but he still hoped to become a singer; whilst staying with friends at Freiburg he was heard by the well-known voice teacher Professor Carl Beines, who encouraged him to sing more quietly and promised a good career as a Mozart tenor.

Career[link]

He made his public debut at a concert at Freiburg on 17 May 1912. In 1912 his father was appointed Intendant of the Municipal Theatre in Chemnitz and was therefore in a position to arrange for Richard to appear as Tamino in The Magic Flute on 2 March 1913. A few days later he played Max in Der Freischütz, a performance which was attended by Baron Seebach of the Dresden Opera who had already offered Tauber a five-year contract, commencing on 1 August. The Baron encouraged Tauber to take small roles with other companies to broaden his experience.

During his years in Dresden, Tauber acquired his reputation as a remarkably quick study: he learned Gounod's Faust in 48 hours, Bacchus in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos in an afternoon, and so on. People started to call him "the SOS Tenor".

In 1922, Tauber signed a contract with the Vienna State Opera and appearances with the Berlin State Opera followed; for many years he appeared with both companies – four months with each, leaving four months for concerts and guest appearances with other companies and touring abroad. He sang the tenor role in many operas, including Don Giovanni, The Bartered Bride, Tosca, Mignon, Faust, Carmen and Die Fledermaus, as well as newer works such as Erich Korngold's Die tote Stadt and Wilhelm Kienzl's Der Evangelimann. It was during this period that he began making the first of over seven hundred grammophone records, mainly for the Odeon Records label.

Tauber had a lyrical, flexible tenor voice, and he sang with a warm, elegant legato. His excellent breath control gave him a wonderful head voice and messa di voce with a superb pianissimo. He was elegant in appearance too – although he had a slight squint in his right eye; he disguised it by wearing a monocle which, when accompanied by a top hat, added to the elegant effect. For many people he became the epitome of Viennese charm.

Harry Liedtke, Marlene Dietrich, and Richard Tauber in Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame (1929)

Tauber first performed in an operetta by Franz Lehár in Linz and Berlin, both in 1920, in Zigeunerliebe. Two years later he was offered the role of Armand in Lehár's Frasquita at the Theater an der Wien, and the experience was a resounding success.^[3] This excursion into operetta was looked down on by some, but it did Tauber no harm at all; in fact, it gave Tauber a new audience. Neither did it harm his voice as some had feared – Tauber was too fine a musician to indulge in poor vocal practices in pursuit of popularity. It also revived Lehár's flagging career as a composer of operetta. In the future, Lehár composed a number of operettas with roles written specifically for Richard Tauber, including Paganini (1925 - though he was not available for the Vienna premiere, and first sang it in Berlin in 1926), Der Zarewitsch (1927), Friederike (1928), The Land of Smiles (1929), Schön ist die Welt (1930), and Giuditta (1934).^[3] These usually occurred in the second act and were informally known as Tauberlieder. Tauber occasionally appeared in films, such as the early German sound film I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929) with Marlene Dietrich and Harry Liedtke.

Richard Tauber and Carlotta Vanconti, ca. 1928

When in Vienna, Tauber also conducted at the Theater an der Wien, and it was here that he met the soprano Carlotta Vanconti who soon divorced her Italian husband and married Tauber on 18 March 1926. They separated in 1928 and divorced two years later, by which time he had met Mary Losseff at Rudolf Nelson's review in Berlin. They lived together for about five years. Losseff became his muse; it was for her that he wrote Der singende Traum. Sadly, Losseff's career ended when she became an alcoholic, but Tauber remained her lifelong friend and supported her until his death.

In 1931, Tauber made his London debut in operetta, and London appearances became a regular event; he also toured the USA in this year. In 1933, Tauber was assaulted in the street by a group of Nazi Brownshirts because of his Jewish ancestry, and he decided to leave Germany for his native Austria, where he continued to sing at the Vienna State Opera right up to the Anschluss in March 1938. In the mid-1930s, he made several musical films in England, and at the premiere of her film Mimi in April 1935, he met the English actress Diana Napier (1905–1982); they were married on 20 June 1936. Napier appeared in three of his British films: Heart's Desire (1935), Land Without Music and Pagliacci (both 1936).

In 1938, he made his London operatic debut in Die Zauberflöte under Sir Thomas Beecham. Earlier that year, the Nazi government of Germany annexed Austria and Tauber left Austria for good. In response, the Nazi government withdrew the Taubers' passports and right of abode; because this left the couple technically stateless persons, Tauber applied for British citizenship. He was touring South Africa when World War II broke out, and returned to Switzerland until he received the papers allowing him to enter the United Kingdom, doing so in March 1940.

Despite receiving lucrative offers from the USA, he remained in the UK for the entire war. There was no opera staged in wartime Britain so he made a living by singing, conducting and making gramophone records and radio broadcasts. He even composed English operettas, together with the lyric writer Fred S. Tysh, from one of which, Old Chelsea, the song My Heart and I became one of his most popular English recordings. It was only these English records that brought him any royalties; for his earlier recordings he had been paid for each performance and he had been compelled to leave his savings behind in Austria. By now he was so crippled by arthritis that he could no longer move into and away from the microphone for softer and louder notes. A small trolley was built on rubber wheels so the engineers could silently roll him back and forth while recording.

In 1946, Tauber appeared in a Broadway adaptation of The Land of Smiles (This is my Heart) which flopped, leaving him with huge personal losses and in debt to the backers. He was thus forced to tour the USA, Canada, Central and South America for six months to recoup losses, with Arpad Sandor, George Schick and Neil Chotem serving as his accompanists.^{[citation needed]} In April 1947, Tauber returned to London and sought medical attention for a persistent cough. He was eventually diagnosed with lung cancer: one lung was already useless and the other nearly so.

Gravestone, Brompton Cemetery, London

The Vienna State Opera was in London for a short season at the Royal Opera House – their first visit since the war – and they invited Tauber to sing one performance with his old company. On 27 September 1947 he sang the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, not a large part but with two difficult arias that demand good breath control to bring off well. Those in the audience say that he sang wonderfully and to loud applause. Live excerpts of these two arias from this performance survive, and they reveal a tone of undiminished focus and steadiness, a good line, and somewhat shortened phrasing. His career ended as it began – with Mozart.

Death[link]

A week later, Tauber entered Guy's Hospital to have his left lung removed, but it was too late; he died on 8 January 1948 in the London Clinic, Devonshire Place. Tauber's Requiem Mass was at St. James' Church, Spanish Place, and he is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

Selected filmography[link]

• I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929)
• Ich glaub nie mehr an eine Frau (1930)
• Das lockende Ziel (1930)
• Das Land des Lächelns (1930)
• Die grosse Attraktion (1931)
• Melodie der Liebe (1932)
• Blossom Time (1934)
• Heart's Desire (1935)
• Pagliacci (1936)
• Land Without Music (1936)
• Waltz Time (1945)
• Lisbon Story (1946)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Richard Tauber

• Richard Tauber at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Tauber at the Internet Broadway Database
• Das Richard Tauber Archiv (German)
• Greatest Singer?
• Richard Tauber: A Brief Appreciation
• Richard Tauber in Australia
• Photographs of Richard Tauber
• Tauber sings "You Are My Heart's Delight" on YouTube
• History of the Tenor – Sound Clips and Narration
• Richard Tauber at Find a Grave