Igor Gorin

Ignaz Greenberg was born into a Jewish family in the small Galician town of Grodek ^[1] .

His father is Shulim Greenberg, a rabbi , an expert on the Talmud , who taught the Jews of Grodek and the surrounding villages. Mother - Enta Moritz Greenberg, instilled in his son a love of music. After the death of his seven-year-old mother, Ignaz was raised by his aunt. In addition to Ignaz, the family had a younger brother Efroim and sister Blima.

The training took place in yeshiva , where he was given by his father. He succeeded in studying Jewish worship and Hebrew , learned eight foreign languages. He combined his studies with singing in the choir of the local synagogue .

Due to the difficult socio-political situation in the country and the increasing Jewish pogroms, the Greenberg family in 1919, when Ignaz was 15 years old, illegally moved to the capital of Austria . In Vienna, the family also experienced various hardships. Ignaz changed several professions: at a metallurgical plant, in the shop of a tailor, peddler of milk, working for 6-8 hours with one day off per week.

Despite the lack of free time, Ignaz often visited the public library and free evening school. On Sundays, he went to the cinema and forever fell in love with Westerns , cowboys and the cinematic image of America .

At the audition at the synagogue choir ^[2] , Victor Füchs, one of the most famous conservative vocal teachers of that time in Vienna, who was able to discern an outstanding talent and irresistible love of singing in his youth, heard his singing.

In 1925, Füchs suggested Ignaz to study for free with Robert Tranevsky, one of his assistants.

Strenuous study and work undermined Ignaz’s health. After a sudden swoon, the future singer was diagnosed with acute tuberculosis , which could result in serious complications for an illegal immigrant. Thanks to the assistance and guarantee of Viktor Füchs, Ignaz escaped deportation and underwent a course of treatment on mineral waters in Bad Gleichenberg .

Upon his return to Vienna, he was recognized by doctors as healthy. Füchs arranged Grünberg at the Vienna Academy of Music , where Ignaz was from 1926 to 1929. studied piano , music theory and vocals . Here he heard many great singers of that time. The idol of Ignaz was Mattia Battistini , at the Vienna concert of which he managed to visit shortly before the death of the “King of Baritones”. Having firmly decided to reach the same level, Grünberg concentrated all his efforts on mastering the Belcanto style, but at that time all his vocal practice was limited to singing in local synagogues, at Jewish weddings and funerals.

Ignaz became the main cantor of the synagogue on Leopoldstrasse in Vienna, gradually gaining fame throughout the city. One of the acquaintances of the rabbis made his opera debut in the Swiss production of Turandot as an adviser to Ping.

Ignaz later became an employee of the Czech Opera Company, where his repertoire was composed of the parts of Tonio, Germona father, Figaro, Rigoletto, Renato, Wolfram, Escamillo and Valentina.

The meeting with the great Wagnerian baritone Hans Hermann Nissen , who conducted auditions in search of young talents, turned out to be fatal. Nissen’s agent, Gunther Gunbrau, advised Ignaz to take the pseudonym “Igor Gorin” to ease his path to international recognition.

In 1930, Grünberg, under a new name, appeared in the opera Teplitz-Schönau, which also gave him the right and opportunity to perform on the stage of the Vienna National Opera.

Igor Gorin first arrived in the United States in 1930, not as an opera singer, but as a cantor at the invitation of the Providence synagogue in Rhode Island . The synagogue rabbi Jacob Sonderling heard Gorin singing in Vienna and was so shocked that he invited him to sing a Saturday service and several concerts.

The second trip took place in 1931.

Gorin was worried about anti-Jewish sentiment in Germany and Hitler's growing popularity. In 1933 , when Hitler came to power, Gorin tried to obtain a visa to the United States for himself and his family. But since his relatives were still in an illegal situation, he was able to obtain a visa only for himself and left alone.

In the USA, Gorin settled at Sonderling. At one of the evenings in the house of the rabbi, Gorin arranged an impromptu concert. One of the guests, David Bandler, a successful businessman, the owner of a furniture factory, when he heard Gorin singing, immediately decided to become his manager, and transfer his previous business to his son.

Bandler used his connections with the management of the New York Theater of Radio City Music Hall , where Gorin's American career began, which was advertised on the posters as "Vienna Baritone Charles Gorin." Later, a 10-week contract was signed with NBC Broadcasting Company to participate in The Standard Hour. During these programs, Gorin met the composer Albert Hay Malotte , which allowed him to become the first singer to perform Malott's famous work “The Lord's Prayer” (“Lord’s Prayer”, “Our Father”). The composition and the recording made in 1940 gained considerable popularity.

Gorin is consistently developing his participation in the radio programs Hollywood Hotel, Kraft Music Hall, Great Moments in Music, Ford Sunday Evening Hour, International Harvester, RCA Victor Hour.

In 1936, the singer signed his first contract with RCA and in 1937 recorded his first record. He also played the role of Greek hairdresser Nikki Papalusas in the movie "Broadway Melody of 1938", performing the song of the bullfighter and part of Figaro's aria from the "Barber of Seville".

In May 1939 , Gorin married the actress Mary Smith, and in July received US citizenship. Spouses live in New York , usually spend their holidays in the Emerald Valley, where Gorin enthusiastically practices horseback riding, realizing his youthful dreams of cowboys and the Wild West. All this time he stubbornly unsuccessfully tried to take his family out of Austria to the USA. He was able to save from repression only his first vocal teacher, Victor Fuchs, who quickly gained recognition in the United States and opened his own school. In 1945 , Gorin learned that his brother and sister were saved, but his father and uncle died in concentration camps.

Despite an unsuccessful audition at the Metropolitan Opera , Gorin's career was on the rise by the end of the 1930s. He sometimes performs at various opera houses throughout the United States, but mostly sings on radio and television, gives concerts, writes music.

By the mid-1940s, Igor Gorin regularly appeared in programs such as Voice of Firestone and Bell Telephone Hour.

American music critics unanimously noted his impeccable phrasing, diction, breath control, wide range and the beauty of his voice, which brought him closer to his idol Battistini, whose conscious imitate he remained.

Of the late videos, Gorin attracted the attention of Rigoletto in the NBC Opera Theater program (one of the world's first live television programs from the opera hall, 1958 ) and Germont's father (in the NBC program in 1960 ).

On October 12, 1962 , on the stage of the Chicago Lyric Opera, Gorin sang the role of Prince Igor.

On February 10, 1964, Gorin first appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Germont's father in the opera La Traviata. Despite the signed contract with the theater, this first performance turned out to be the last for him, which Gorin himself explained with hidden intrigues.

In the same year, he went to Europe to participate in the television production of Nikolai Nikolai's The Funky Windmills with the participation of many stars of the European opera of that time.

After returning to the United States, Gorin begins to have serious health problems: his right eye is removed due to glaucoma, and asthma attacks are repeated. Doctors recommend moving to a drier climate.

In 1966, Igor Gorin left the stage for health reasons, moved with his wife to the south of the USA and became a professor of music at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

At the same time, as a cantor, he conducts services at the local synagogue every Saturday.

By the end of the 1970s, melanoma on the leg worsened, which for a long time he completely ignored, which led to a retirement.

On March 24, 1982, at the age of 77, Igor Gorin died in severe pain from cancer, surrounded by his wife Mary and close friend David Fillman.

• Alan Bilgora. Igor Gorin (English) (inaccessible link) . Nimbus Records (2006). - Detailed biography of Igor Gorin. Date of treatment September 20, 2009. Archived July 19, 2008.