Tchaikovsky
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Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova (1853–1942) |
Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova
Russian singer and friend of the composer (b. 1853, d. 1942 in Leningrad, born Aleksandra Valerianovna Panaeva (Александра Валериановна Панаева, Alexandra Valerianovna Panayeva); known after her marriage as Aleksandra Valerianovna Panaeva-Kartsova (Александра Валериановна Панаева-Карцова, Alexandra Valerianovna Panayeva-Kartsova).
She was the daughter of the engineer and writer Valerian Aleksandrovich Panaev (1824–1899) and his wife Sofia Mikhailovna (b. Mel'gunova). Aleksandra and her family were immediately captivated by Tchaikovsky's first set of songs—the Six Romances, Op. 6—when they were published in 1870, and a few years later she went to Paris to take singing lessons with Pauline Viardot. Tchaikovsky intended to call on her when he briefly stopped by in Paris in January 1876, but he had then changed his mind. In 1877, she completed her studies with Mme Viardot and returned to Russia but did not yet become a professional singer. During the 1878–79 season, however, Aleksandra's mother allowed her to perform in concerts organized to raise funds for soldiers wounded in the Russo-Turkish War, and she would sing mainly romances by Tchaikovsky. She also became friends with the composer's brother Anatolii, who apologized for Tchaikovsky's shyness and reluctance to make her acquaintance.
Shortly after the piano score of Evgenii Onegin was published by Jurgenson in October 1878, Aleksandra obtained a copy and became so enthusiastic about the music that she learnt the entire role of Tat'iana by heart and persuaded the amateur singer Iuliia Abaza (1830–1915) to organize a private performance of the opera (from the piano-vocal score) at her salon in Saint Petersburg. This took place on 6/18 March 1879, with Aleksandra as Tat'iana, Ippolit Prianishnikov as Onegin, Elizaveta Lavrovskaia as Ol'ga, and Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich accompanying at the piano. A few days later Aleksandra and her father travelled to Moscow to attend the première of Tchaikovsky's opera at the Malyi Theatre on 17/29 March 1879. Anton Rubinstein, who was also present in the audience and who had always supported Aleksandra's talent, made a clumsy attempt to introduce Tchaikovsky to his fervent admirer from Saint Petersburg, but this ended in the composer running away from her box at the theatre. A few days later, however, Tchaikovsky departed for Saint Petersburg with his brothers Anatolii and Modest, and together they called on the Panaevs. Tchaikovsky was delighted by her singing of various arias from Mozart's operas, as well as from Bellini's La sonnambula and after that the ice was finally broken [1].
Aleksandra was one of the initiators of the all-Tchaikovsky concert which took place in Saint Petersburg on 25 March/6 April 1880 and which was attended by such illustrious guests as Grand Duchess Mariia Fedorovna and the writer Ivan Turgenev. At this concert she herself sang the Letter Scene from Evgenii Onegin and various romances, and when she noticed that the composer was secretly in the audience (up in the musicians' gallery) she convinced him to come down and take the applause. Later that year Tchaikovsky would dedicate his set of Seven Romances, Op. 47, to her.
As she explains in her memoirs, Tchaikovsky early in 1884 had asked her to sing Tat'iana in the first production of Evgenii Onegin at the Mariinskii Theatre in Saint Petersburg later that year, but her betrothal to the composer's cousin Georgii Kartsov (1862–1931) ruled this out. Aleksandra did, however, manage to attend the first performance of Onegin at the Mariinskii Theatre on 19/31 October 1884 and "with pain and envy I watched Pavlovskaia, who was a really, really good Tat'iana" [2]. On 7/19 January 1885 Aleksandra and Kartsov were married, and thereafter she took the surname Panaeva-Kartsova. She continued to sing, though, and even secured an engagement with the Italian Opera in Saint Petersburg. At a concert conducted by Tchaikovsky there on 5/17 March 1887 she sang Kuma's first aria from The Enchantress and several romances. Due to illness she could not attend the first performance of the Symphony No. 6 on 16/28 October 1893, conducted by the composer himself, but in her memoirs she recounts a conversation which Tchaikovsky had with his favourite cousin Anna Merkling after the concert and which sheds valuable light on the meaning of the Pathétique (for more details, see the entry on Anna Merkling). Alexandra was so deeply affected by the composer's death that she felt it beyond her strength to attend any of the concerts held in his memory, and for two years she could not bring herself to sing anything by Tchaikovsky.
Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova died during the siege of Leningrad in 1942, aged 88.
Tchaikovsky's works dedicated to Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova:
- Seven Romances, Op. 47 (1880).
Notes
- See Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova's memoirs in: Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском (1980), p. 120–138 (122–124). The relevant extract is also included in: David Brown, Tchaikovsky Remembered (1993), p. 67–71 [back]
- From Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova's memoirs in: Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском (1980), p. 129 [back]