Felia Vasilievna Litvin (Félia Litvinne) |

Félia Litvinne

Debut 1880 (Paris). Performed in Brussels, USA. Since 1889 at the Grand Opera (debut as Valentine in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots). In 1890 she performed at La Scala as Gertrude in Tom’s Hamlet. In the same year she returned to her homeland, sang in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Soloist of the Bolshoi Theater in 1890-91 (parts of Judith in Serov’s opera of the same name, Elsa in Lohengrin, Margarita). The first performer in Russia of the role of Santuzza in Rural Honor (1891, Moscow, Italian Opera). In 1898 she sang with a German troupe in the Wagner operas in St. Petersburg. From 1899-1910 she performed regularly at Covent Garden. From 1899, she repeatedly sang at the Mariinsky Theater (the first performer on the Russian stage of the roles of Isolde, 1899; Brunhilde in The Valkyrie, 1900). In 1911 she performed the part of Brunhilde in the first production of the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Grand Opera.

In 1907 she took part in performances of Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons in Paris (sang the part of Yaroslavna in a concert performance together with Chaliapin). In 1915 she performed the part of Aida in Monte Carlo (together with Caruso).

She left the stage in 1917. She performed in concerts until 1924. She was active in teaching in France, wrote memoirs “My Life and My Art” (Paris, 1933). Litvin was among the first singers whose voice was recorded on records (1903). One of the outstanding Russian singers of the early 20th century.

E. Tsodokov