Irina Arkhipova

Irina Arkhipova
Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova (2 January 1925 11 February 2010, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian mezzo-soprano, and later contralto, opera singer. She sang leading roles first in Russia at the Sverdlovsk Opera and the Bolshoi Theatre, and then throughout Europe and in the United States. People's Artist of the USSR (1966) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1984).
Biography
Irina Arkhipova was born in Moscow. Before switching to voice, she studied architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute, graduating in 1948. She then studied at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1954 she debuted in Sverdlovsk, and was made a member of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1956. She became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1963 and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966.
Arkhipova was at the height of her career in the 1960s and 1970s, during which time she was an international star, interpreting both Russian and Italian repertoire. Her technique was irreproachable, and she had great expressive power. She has been compared with Christa Ludwig. One of her most celebrated roles is as Marfa in Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky, as recorded with Boris Khaykin in 1972. At the age of 72, Arkhipova finally made a belated Metropolitan Opera debut in March 1997 as Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin.
She died in Moscow on 11 February 2010, at age 85.
Repertoire
Giuseppe Verdi
Aida (Amneris)
Don Carlos (Eboli)
Il trovatore (Azucena)
Un ballo in maschera (Ulrica)
Falstaff (Meg Page)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin (Filippyevna)
The Maid of Orleans (Joan of Arc)
The Queen of Spades (Countess)
Mazeppa (Lyubov)
The Enchantress (Princess Yevpraksiya Romanovna)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
The Tsar's Bride (Lyubasha)
Sadko (Lyubava Buslayevna)
The Snow Maiden (Spring Beauty)
Sergei Prokofiev
War and Peace (Hélène)
The Story of a Real Man (Klaudiya Michailovna)
Modest Mussorgsky
Boris Godunov (Marina)
Khovanshchina (Marfa)
Alexander Dargomyzhsky
The Stone Guest (Laura)
Richard Wagner
Das Rheingold (Fricka)
Georges Bizet
Carmen (Carmen)
Jules Massenet
Werther (Charlotte)
Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria rusticana (Santuzza)
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Iphigénie en Aulide (Clytemnestra)
Tikhon Khrennikov
Mother (Nilovna)
Vano Muradeli
October (Countess)
Honours and awards
Hero of Socialist Labour (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 29 December 1984)
Order of St. Andrew (2 January 2005) – for outstanding contributions to the development of domestic and world music, many years of creative and social activities
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class (30 December 30, 1999) – for outstanding achievements in the field of culture and great contributions to the development of a national songwriting [8]
Three Orders of Lenin (1971, 25 May 1976)
Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1971)
Medal of Pushkin (4 June 1999) – to mark the 200th anniversary of Pushkin for services in the field of culture, education, literature and art
Medal "In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970)
Diploma of the President of the Russian Federation (2 January 2010) – for great contribution to music education [10]
Order of Saint Olga, 2nd class (Russian Orthodox Church, 2000)
Order of the Republic (Moldova) (2000)
Cross of Saint Michael of Tver (2000)
Badge of Honour "For mercy and charity" (2000)
Badge of Honour "For services to Polish culture"
Honour of St. Luke – culture of the Yaroslavl region.
Lenin Prize (1978) – for her performances as Azucena in Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore," and Lyubava in Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sadko," as well as concerts in recent years
State Prize of the Russian Federation (1996)
Russian opera prize "Casta diva" (1999)
Prize in Moscow (2000)
Prizes and medals Rachmaninov
World of Art Award (established by the corporation "Marisha Art Management International") – "Diamond Lira" and the title "Goddess of Art" (1996)
Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1959)
People's Artist of the RSFSR (1961)
People's Artist of the USSR (1966)
People's Artist of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan
People's Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan (1994)
Honored Artist of Udmurtia
Honorary Doctor of the Moldovan National Academy of Music (1998)
Honorary Doctor of RCTU (2001)
Professor of Moscow State Conservatory
Arkhipova was entered into the Russian Book of Records as the most titled Russian singer. Minor planet number 4424 was named "Arkhipova," in 1995.
References
Sources
Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J. (eds.), "Arkhipova, Irina", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1979. p. 18.
External links
1925 births
2010 deaths
Soviet women opera singers
Singers from Moscow
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Sixth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Moscow Conservatory alumni
Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Honored Artists of the RSFSR
People's Artists of the RSFSR
People's Artists of the USSR
Recipients of the Lenin Prize
Recipients of the Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture
Recipients of the Medal of Pushkin
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the Order of the Republic (Moldova)
State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates
Operatic contraltos
Operatic mezzo-sopranos
Russian mezzo-sopranos
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery