Preobrazhenskaya, Sofya Petrovna

Sophia Preobrazhenskaya was born on September 14 (27), 1904 in St. Petersburg in a musical family. Father - Priest Peter Preobrazhensky graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in composition, played the violin, cello, and piano. Mother sang in the choir of A. A. Arkhangelsky . My father’s brother was a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater , performed leading tenor parts. The singer’s sister, a piano graduate of the conservatory, was accompanist at the Kirov Theater ^[2] .

In 1918, at the age of 14, she entered the 15th district folk music education school (now the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov School of Music ) in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg ), where she studied for about a year in the solo singing class of P. A Zakharova. In 1919, due to hunger, she had to cease classes, having left to work as a laborer in Minsk province . Upon returning in 1923, she entered the Petrograd Conservatory (class of I.V. Ershov )

At the end of the conservatory in 1928 she came to the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater (from 1935 - named after S. M. Kirov ) (now the Mariinsky Theater ), where even earlier, at the end of her studies at the conservatory, her debut took place in 1926 ( Lyubasha’s part in the opera The Tsar’s Bride by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov ). In the same year, with a group of students at the Conservatory, she participated in the Salzburg Festival , where she sang the role of Kashcheyevna ( Kashchei the Immortal by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov ). She worked in the theater until 1959 .

Conducted concert and performing activities. The repertoire includes Russian folk songs and romances. She performed the vocal cycle “ Songs and Dances of Death ” by M. P. Mussorgsky . She participated in the performance of vocal and symphonic works: oratorio G. F. Handel , “ Requiem ” by V. A. Mozart , “ Solemn Mass ” by L. van Beethoven , “ Requiem ” by J. Verdi , part of Orpheus in the opera of the same name by K. Monteverdi .

“Her voice - strong, deep and somewhat sad - gives Russian romances a unique charm, and in the theater it sounds imperious and dramatic from the stage. The representative of the Leningrad vocal school, this singer belongs to those artists who know how to make the listener cry over the bitter fate of an abandoned girl, and laugh at inept fortune-telling, and avenge an arrogant rival. (...) Melodeclamation, requiring very clear diction from the singer, is possible not for every vocalist, but only for great artists. ... One of her favorite songs was Century-old Linden. This somewhat sad, but deep image suits Sophia Preobrazhenskaya herself, for her voice has gone down in the history of Russian singing for many centuries. ”
(Inna Astakhova) ^[3]

During the war, she refused to evacuate from the besieged Leningrad, gave about 1,500 concerts at the Philharmonic . In these years, she repeatedly became a blood donor, for which she was awarded the title " Excellent Health " in 1943 ^[4] .

In 1947-1954 and 1960-1961, she taught at the Leningrad Conservatory. N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (since 1949 - professor), where she participated in the performances of the Opera Studio.

Author of the article “Thirty Years on Stage” (MF, 1958, No. 2).

Sofya Petrovna Preobrazhenskaya died on July 21, 1966 in Leningrad . She was buried on the Literary bridges of Volkov cemetery . Her tombstone was made by the sculptor M.T. Litovchenko .

• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1939) ^[5]
• People's Artist of the USSR (1955)
• Stalin Prize of the first degree (1946) - for the performance of the part of John in the opera "Orleans Maiden" by P. I. Tchaikovsky
• Stalin Prize of the second degree (1951) - for the performance of the part of Euphrosyne in the opera “The Taras Family” by D. B. Kabalevsky
• Order of the Badge of Honor
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1939)
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal "In memory of the 250th anniversary of Leningrad"

Opera

Chamber Art

Roles

• 1952 - Concert of masters of art (film production) - Countess (scenes from the opera The Queen of Spades)

Vocals

• 1938 - Volga, Volga - performs the lyric song “Dear wide, blue river” ( I. Dunaevsky - V. Lebedev-Kumach )
• 1960 - Queen of Spades - Countess (role of E. A. Polevitskaya )

• 1946 - Opera "Khovanshchina" by M. Mussorgsky. Party of Martha.
  • Andrei Khovansky - Ivan Nechaev , Shaklovity - Ivan Shashkov, Dosifei - Mark Reisen , Ivan Khovansky - Boris Freidkov.

The choir and orchestra of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirova, conductor Boris Khaikin. Record of 1946.

• 1958 - Opera "Oresteia" S. Taneyev. Clytemnestra party .
  • Agamemnon - Victor Morozov, Egist - Konstantin Laptev , Orestes - Mikhail Dovenman, Electra - Nina Serval , Athena Pallada - Tatyana Lavrova, Areopag - Ivan Melentyev.

Leningrad Radio Choir, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Jemal Dalgat. Recorded January 8 and 15, 1958

In 1971, in Leningrad, at the house at 4 Gorokhovaya, where the singer lived, a memorial plaque was installed by the architect V.D. Popkov.

• Olkhovsky E. , Sofya Petrovna Preobrazhenskaya, L., 1950;
• Trainin V. , Sofya Petrovna Preobrazhenskaya, L., 1972.

• Sophia Preobrazhenskaya
• Great performers of Russia of the XX century. Sophia Preobrazhenskaya
• Sofya Petrovna Preobrazhenskaya (1904-1966) Author A. Alekseev
• Preobrazhenskaya Sofya Petrovna // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.