Vera Davydova (1906 — 1993) — singer.
Before your Russian beauty I always feel a pang of regret That Kramskoy never painted you For the Tretyakov Gallery. But time will not race backward… And I have but one consolation: Kramskoy could never have painted Your enchanting singing… These poetic lines were addressed to the outstanding Russian singer of the last century, Vera Alexandrovna Davydova.
Her voice was called divine, velvety, unique. Its owner graced the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre for many years, her name standing among a constellation of names on the bills — such as Barsova and Obukhova, Lemeshev and Kozlovsky, Reyzen and Maksakova. Alongside their voices rang the dramatic mezzo-soprano of Vera Davydova. She was born in Nizhny Novgorod on September 17, 1906. The family home stood on Osharskaya Square, next to the house of Barabeychik — the father of the subsequently famous pianist and conductor Issay Dobrowen. Her grandfather came from a noble family and was elected to the city duma several times. Her father, Alexander Alexandrovich Davydov, served as senior land surveyor of the provincial forestry department. Her mother, Sofya Ivanovna Nikitina, was from the ancient Pozharsky family. There were five children in the Davydov family, and Vera was the youngest. Her father often disappeared at the Nizhny Novgorod yarmarka and was unfaithful to his wife. In despair, Sofya Ivanovna took little Vera and left for the Far East to stay with her sister. There, in Nikolayevsk, under the influence of her stepfather, Vera took up music. "The most blissful moments were when I was left alone at home and could sing freely. On the Amur I would climb to the top of a hill and sing loudly, lost in the music." On the advice of friends, Davydova went to Leningrad in 1924 to audition for the conservatory. At her very first audition, the professor was struck by the beauty and power of the applicant's voice: "In your voice there is both Mother Volga and Father Amur…" In the autumn of 1924, Vera Davydova became a student in the vocal department of the Leningrad Conservatory. There she met a talented student from Georgia, Dmitry Mchelidze, whom she soon married. They graduated from the conservatory together, and in 1932 both were invited to join the Bolshoi Theatre. Davydova made her debut on its stage in Verdi's opera Aida in the role of Amneris, immediately astonishing her partners and the audience with the beauty of her portrayal of the heroine and the unity of her musical and dramatic characterization. One new role followed another — Carmen, Lyubasha in The Tsar's Bride, Marfa in Khovanshchina, Marina Mniszech in Boris Godunov, Lyubava in Sadko, Delilah in Samson and Delilah… Vera Davydova was one of the finest Carmens on the Russian stage. Many considered her portrayal perfect, for the artist succeeded in harmoniously combining Carmen's vocal line with the unbridled temperament of Carmencita. "Davydova's Carmen is an untameable force of nature. And that voice! What a delight that voice is! One could listen to it endlessly and never tire!" wrote a music critic. For a quarter of a century Vera Davydova graced the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. A singer who worked tirelessly, she had an enormous chamber repertoire, with which she performed throughout the country and abroad. Twice she was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. A beautiful woman, she was always in the public eye and, against her will, became an object of close attention from the powerful. The tall, stately beauty Vera Davydova was admired by Stalin. Vera Alexandrovna herself wrote in her memoirs: "Everyone knew that Stalin never missed a single one of my performances. One day I came out, and there was a car standing by the stage entrance. I was invited to get in… I got in without a word… We arrived at a dacha. I went up the stairs and saw… Stalin himself standing there. I was so agitated: 'What is this?.. Why have they suddenly brought me to Stalin?'.. And he said: 'Vera Alexandrovna! Does it not surprise you that every time you sing Carmen, Aida, or Amneris, I always come to the theatre and sit in the same seat?…' 'Why should I be surprised?…' And he: 'Well then, I must tell you that I sit there and feel jealous, like a schoolboy. One José embraces you, then another José… I feel like jumping up onto the stage and giving them a good thrashing!…' I said: 'Iosif Vissarionovich, this is theatre… When we embrace, it is nothing more than stage technique…' And he: 'That is good to know, otherwise I was getting quite worked up in earnest…' When they brought me home, my Dmitry was pacing back and forth around the room… I told him everything, holding nothing back. He grabbed my hand: 'Verusha, let's say our goodbyes — they'll arrest you now…' And we lived in constant fear of arrest the whole time." Vera Davydova left the stage unexpectedly, to everyone's surprise — in the spring of 1956 she sang her beloved role of Amneris in Aida for the last time, the very role in which she had made her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre.