Antonina Nezhdanova (Soprano) (Krivaya Balka, near Odessa 1873 – Moscow 1950)

                                                  with Titta Ruffo in ''Rigoletto''

She was a Russian lyric coloratura soprano. An outstanding opera singer, she represented the Russian vocal school at its best.

Nezhdanova was born in Kryva Balka, near Odessa, Ukraine, then in Russian Empire. In 1899, she entered the Moscow Conservatory. Upon her graduation three years later she joined the Bolshoi Theatre, rapidly becoming its leading soprano. She sang often, too, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and also in Kiev and Odessa. Paris heard her in 1912, when she appeared opposite the great tenor Enrico Caruso and Caruso's baritone equivalent, Titta Ruffo.

Nezhdanova was the dedicatee of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, and she was the first performer of the arrangement for soprano and orchestra, with the composer conducting. She created a number of operatic roles. After the 1917 Russian Revolution she stayed on at the Bolshoi, unlike some of her fellow opera singers, who left their native country for the West. In 1936, she began to teach singing in Moscow and was appointed a professor at the city's conservatory in 1943.

She was married to the conductor Nikolai Golovanov and died in Moscow in 1950.

Nezhdanova made a number of recordings that display the beauty and flexibility of her voice and the excellence of her technique. She is considered by opera historians and critics to have been one of the finest sopranos of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonina_Nezhdanova

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Gramophone -6-06, Moscow (P. Umberto Masetti)

Faust (Gounod): Ah! je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir 2-23092 1197r

Pecheurs de Perles (Bizet): Comme autrefois 2-23074 1183r

Dobrynja Nikitich (Grechaninov): Zabava's aria 2-23076 1185r

Romeo et Juliette (Gounod): Je veux vivre dans ce reve 2-23078 1195r

Gramophone, Moscow  -07 (flute S G Petrov)

Perle du Bresil (David): Charmant oiseau flute 2-23129 2708r

Ruslan and Ljudmila (Glinka): Ah, thou my fate 2-23131 2710r

Harold (Napravnik): Hush thee, dear one, slumber well 2-23130 2709r

Serenade ("Sing, smile, slumber") (Gounod) 2-23132 2711r

Gramophone, Moscow  -07 (P. Umberto Masetti)

Sadko (Rimsky- Korsakov): Sleep went along the river (Cradle song) 2-23138 2717r

Life for the Tsar (Glinka):  It is not for that that I grieve 2-23140 2718r

Pecheurs de Perles (Bizet): Brahma, grand Dieu 2-23141 2719r

Bolero (Cui) ("O my dear, charming one") 2-23142 2720r

Gramophone, Moscow  -08 (o I P Arkadev)

The Snow Maiden (Rimsky-Korsakov): With friends to gather berries (Rimsky- Korsakov) 2-23315 7216L

Huguenots (Meyerbeer): Aria 2-23317 7219L

Mireille (Gounod): O legere hirondelle 2-23322 7224L

Gramophone, Moscow  27-1-10

Fra Diavolo (Auber): Quel bonheur! 023054 1928c

Gramophone, Moscow  28-1-10

The Golden Cockerel (Rimsky-Korsakov): Hail to thee, Sun! 2-23483 14171b

Gramophone, Moscow  17-4-12

The Tsar's Bride: Look there, above your head 2-23667 16402b

Gramophone, Moscow  24-4-12

Traviata: Ah, fors' e lui . . .Follie, follie . . .Sempre libera 2-23668 16458b

Gramophone, Moscow  19-4-13

Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini): Una voce poco fa 023125 2795½c

Serenata (Tosti) 023125 2795½c

Gramophone, Moscow 14-4-14

Vespri Siciliani (Verdi): Merce, dilette 023157 323½af

How fair this spot (Rimsky-Korsakov), op 21 n° 7 (Rachmaninov) and The rose and the nightingale, op 2 n° 2 023159 325af