Ru
EnO. Tsybulko
The vocal art of Alexander Antonovsky: stage images in the objective lens of the press
The article is dedicated to Alexander Petrovich Antonovsky (1863−1939), the first bass of the Imperial Theatres and the creator of the leading bass roles of Pan Voyevoda in N. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera of the same name “Pan Voyevoda”, Boyar in V. Rebikov’s opera “V grozu” (“In the Storm”) and Olivier in P. Blaramberg’s opera “Mary of Burgundy”. The striking stage images created by the singer became the benchmark of their time. Today the name of the singer is practically unknown. However, in the lens of the press of the period, in the unbiased reviews of the critics, the memory of the master is preserved. This memory as a reality of the historical time actualizes the past in the present, helps reproduce the artistic tradition with its searches and discoveries, controversies and norms. In it, continuity and legacy are of utter value. A special study of Antonovsky’s artistic heritage through the prism of his contemporaries’ perception, based on the critical reviews published in authoritative periodicals, newspapers (“Russkiy kur’er”, “Russkie vedomosti”, “Moskovskiy listok”, “Vestnik literaturnyy, politicheskiy, nauchnyy, khudozhestvennyy s afishami”, “Teatr i zhizn'”, “Moskovskie vedomosti”) and magazines (“Teatr i iskusstvo”, “Russkaya muzykalnaya gazeta”), provides a fuller understanding of the epoch and contributes to the restoration of the historical memory of the forgotten and half-forgotten names in the national art of singing. It is set against the dissipation or loss of the memory of the figures who provided great input into the formation of the national school of singing and its traditions. Antonovsky’s artistic contribution is one of the important components of the whole that is retained in the 19th-20th century era.
Key words
Russian school of singing, Alexander Antonovsky, bass roles, stage images, press, Giacomo Galvani, “italianism” in Russian music.
For citation
Tsybulko O. The vocal art of Alexander Antonovsky: stage images in the objective lens of the press. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2024. No. 4. Pp. 86–92.
