Nikandr Khanayev

Lebendige Vergangenheit

Nikandr Sergeyevich Khanayev was born on 27 May 1890, the son of a poor farming family in the village of Pesochnya Sapoznikovsky in the Ryazan province. At the age of six he lost his parents and had to endure a joyless youth. With his clear and sonorous voice, he was admitted to a church choir at the age of nine and learned to read music and to sight-sing. When he was 14 he went to Moscow in search of work, and former fellow villagers who were living there at the time provided him with lodging. He finally found work in a stable and was able to earn additional income with clerical work. In 1911 Khanayev was inducted into the army and remained a soldier throughout the First World War. In 1917 he was living in the city of Bogorodsk (today Noginsk) where he worked in various Soviet enterprises and also appeared at a number of artistic events. During one of his performances he was heard by Lidiya Yuryevna Svyagina, a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, and she recommended that he begin studying there. In 1921 he passed the entrance examinations and began studying with Prof. Svyagina. During his student years Khanayev appeared at the theatre Aquarium and sang the title role in Gounod's Faust at S. I. Simin's opera. He completed his studies in 1924 and became a member of the opera studio of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre in the 1925-26 season. He began to establish a more widespread reputation for himself in 1926 when he was engaged to be a member of the ensemble at that venerable hause. He remained first tenor there until 1954 and was still making guest appearances and giving concerts in the 1960s. He was introduced to Wagnerian roles by fellow tenor Vladimir Klipper­ Nardov and turned out to be a true heldentenor, particularly admired for his portrayal of heroic roles. Among his finest were Siegmund in Die Walküre, the title role in Verdi's Otello, Radames in Aida, Don Jose in Carmen, the Prince in Rusalka by Dargomyzhsky, Grigory Melikov in The Quiet Don by Dzerzhinsky, Hermann in The Queen of Spades (a brilliant role that he first sang in 1931 and continued to sing up to the age of 68), Shuisky in Boris Godunov, Sinodal in The Demon by Rubinstein and Sobinin in Ivan Susanin, another highlight that he had added to his repertoire in 1939. Other roles were Prince Golizyn in Khovanshchina, Finn. in Ruslan and Ljudmila, Kachovsky in The Decembrists by Shaporin and roles in the operas Absalom and Etery by Paliashvily, The Battleship Potemkin by Tchishko and Faust by Gounod. His stage performances were noteworthy for the brilliant acting talent he displayed. He was also a great success as a concert singer, including performances as a soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and in the oratorio Samson by Handel. He was awarded the State Prize of the Soviet Union three times and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1951. Between 1943 and 1950 he taught at the Moscow Conservatory. Western opera fans are likely to be aware of him because of his portrayal of Prince Shuisky in the complete recording of Boris Godunov under Nikolay Golovanov. His five other complete recordings of the operas Khovanshchina, Ruslan and Ljudmila, Sadko, The Queen of Spades and Carmen, some of which were made in the 1930s, most likely using a sound-on-film system, appeared only later as historical recordings. It seems that individual recordings of excerpts were made less frequently; the blacksmith scene from Siegfried is Khanayev's only preserved recording of Wagner. The duet from Boris Godunov as well as Kachovsky's aria from The Decembrists are live recordings, and it should be noted that in the complete recording, which was made the same year, the role of Kachovsky was entrusted to Georgy Nelepp instead.