Мария Давыдова

Maria Davydova (21 {O.S. 9} January 1889, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire — 11 November 1987, Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d'Oise, France) was a Russian opera and operetta mezzo-soprano, chamber singer, theatrical director, and vocal pedagogue, wife of Marxist revolutionary and politician Matvey Skobelev (1885—1938). With a career spanning almost five decades, Davydova toured internationally and championed a vast repertoire of opera roles. She sang in duos with Feodor Chaliapin, Capiton Zaporojetz, H. A. Sadoven, Marianne Tcherkasskaya, and Nina Koshetz, among other notable vocalists. She studied at Véra Obolensky's private gymnasium for girls, further taking private lessons with Ioakim Tartakov. In late 1912, Mariya Davydova debuted at St. Petersburg's Musical Drama Theater, soon performing at People's House and participating in Bolshoi Theatre operas in Moscow. In November 1913, she produced several 78 RPM shellacs for Amour Gramophone Record label in Saint Petersburg, with excerpts from Bizet's Carmen opera and Francesco Paolo Tosti's song. Davydova remained in Russia for several years after the 1917 revolution. She toured Europe and Britain, where Davydova recorded duets from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov with Dmitry Smirnov in August 1923 for His Master's Voice (later reissued in France on Disque "Gramophone"). Back in the USSR, she led in Carmen at Bolshoi (1925) and sang in several critically acclaimed operas and operettas in Petrograd, including Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky, Emmerich Kálmán's Die Csárdásfürstin, and Hervé's Mam'zelle Nitouche. In late 1926, Marya Davydova left Soviet Russia and emigrated to Paris, France. She soon joined Opéra Russe à Paris company co-founded by Russian singer Maria Kuznetsova-Benoit and Georgian opera impresario Alexey Tsereteli (1864—1942), Akaki Tsereteli's son. Davydova continued working with Kuznetsova for many years after departing from the original "Opéra Russe" in the early 1930s. After the Second World War, Maria Davydova continued touring in France and abroad, often accompanied by pianist Аrkadij Trebinsky (1897—1982). In the 1950s, she taught at the Conservatoire Serge Rachmaninoff de Paris, staging opera productions of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and The Tsar's Bride by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. One of her last stage appearances was in November 1960, when 72-year-old Davydova sang as "Countess" at the Paris premiere of Serge Lifar's ballet based on Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame.