Video: Opera fights without rules by Sergei Lemeshev and Ivan Kozlovsky: Why fans of two great tenors fought
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
March 24 marks 118 years since the birth of the famous opera singer, People's Artist of the USSR Ivan Kozlovsky … In the middle of the twentieth century. he was incredibly popular, and he could have been called number one if it were not for Sergey Lemeshev … All their life they were compared, all their life they were considered competitors, and their fans did such things that today's fans of popular performers could not even dream of …
In Moscow, 1930-1950s. it was difficult to find men who are as popular with women as the two great tenors - Sergei Lemeshev and Ivan Kozlovsky. They say there was a sharp rivalry between them. Both performed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, both were consummate vocal masters, both performed the same roles, both had crowds of fans. Their talent was recognized not only by admiring ladies, but also by colleagues and the mighty of this world. Chaliapin himself exclaimed: "".
The main "goat" of the country was Stalin. As soon as he dropped the phrase: "" (the singer was born near Kiev), in the middle of the night, Kozlovsky was dragged out of bed and taken to the Kremlin. At the same time, no one gave him time to chant, and the singer was seriously afraid that one day because of such "impromptu" he would lose his voice. They say that once, when he refused to sing, citing a cold, Stalin said: "". And they sang him "Suliko".
For 5 years, Kozlovsky remained tenor number 1 at the Bolshoi Theater, until Lemeshev came there. And then the battle unfolded not only between the singers, but also between their fans. Their admirers were called "cheeses", or "syrikhs" - they say they were often on duty in the "Cheese" store on the corner of Gorky Street and Kamergersky Lane, trapping their idol Sergei Lemeshev, who lived nearby.
Eyewitnesses said: "".
Ivan Kozlovsky was more restrained in relation to his fans - he adored his wife Galina, but there were legends about the love of Sergei Lemeshev, so there were many girls among his fans who did not lose hope of gaining his favor. It was believed that beautiful people were running after Lemeshev, and smart ones were running after Kozlovsky. Although hardly any of them could really be called smart, judging by what these exalted young ladies did.
In fact, the "lemeshists" and "goat women" were worth each other. They gave a 15-minute standing ovation in the theater, jumped out of boxes, besieged in dressing rooms, brought huge bouquets, pursued their idols everywhere and even had wall-to-wall fights among themselves, for which they ended up in the police. Lemeshev's "signature dish" was the part of Lensky in Eugene Onegin, which he performed about 500 times. After the murder of Lensky, the "lemeshists" got up and defiantly left the hall - to listen, they say, there is nothing more. And they also paid money to the doorman to just stand in the singer's galoshes.
"Cheese" did not hesitate to interfere in the personal life of their idols and openly demonstrated aggression towards their chosen ones. Sometimes it almost ended in tragedy. Lemeshev's daughter Maria recalled: "". When Maria started to go to school, the Lemeshists chased her and pelted her with stones.
"Lemeshists" and "goat women" did not forget their idols even after they left the stage. After parting with his wife, which Kozlovsky was going through very hard, he stopped performing in the theater and never married. And the housekeeping in his house was occupied by "goat women", already elderly, but still loyal to the singer.
And after leaving the theater, Kozlovsky continued to travel around the country with concerts and enjoyed the same popularity among the people. Once in Siberia, after his performance, so many people gathered at the doors of the concert hall that it was simply dangerous to go out. Then the accompanist put on the singer's hat, tied a scarf over the collar of his fur coat, as Kozlovsky did, took his briefcase and went out to the crowd. He was immediately picked up and carried. The fur coat was torn, the man shouted in fright: "I am not Kozlovsky!" Fortunately, there were no injuries.
And the famous opera singer Anatoly Solovyanenko became the first Soviet tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera.
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