Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya (Russian: Галина Павловна Вишневская, néeIvanova, Иванова; 25 October 1926 – 11 December 2012) was a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966. She was the wife of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, and mother to their two daughters, Olga and Elena Rostropovich.
Biography
Vishnevskaya was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). She made her professional stage debut in 1944 singing operetta. After a year studying with Vera Nikolayevna Garina, she won a competition held by the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (with Rachmaninoff's song "O, Do Not Grieve" and Verdi's aria "O patria mia" from Aida) in 1952. The next year, she became a member of the Bolshoi Theatre.[1]
Benjamin Britten wrote the soprano role in his War Requiem (completed 1962) specially for her, though the USSR prevented her from traveling to Coventry Cathedral for the premiere performance. The USSR eventually allowed her to leave in order to make the first recording of the Requiem.
Vishnevskaya was married to the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich from 1955 until his death in 2007; they performed together regularly (he on piano or on the podium). Both she and Rostropovich were friends of Dmitri Shostakovich, and they made an electrifying recording of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for EMI. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a friend and an ally in various causes, lived at their dacha for about three years from 1968,[2][3] at a time when he was closely watched by the KGB and had become an official non-person; the home of the two acclaimed musicians offered safety and freedom from the risk of being spied on at home.
In 1974, the couple asked the Soviet government for an extended leave and left the Soviet Union. Eventually they settled in the United States and Paris. In 1982, the soprano bade farewell to the opera stage, in Paris, as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. In 1987, she stage directed Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride in Washington, D.C. In 1984, Vishnevskaya published a memoir, Galina: A Russian Story (ISBN0-15-134250-4), and in 2002, she opened her own opera theatre in Moscow, the "Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre".[1]
In 2006, she was featured in Alexander Sokurov's documentary Elegy of a life: Rostropovich, Vishnevskaya. In 2007, she starred in his film Alexandra, playing the role of a grandmother coming to see her grandson in the Second Chechen War. The film premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.[4] In the last week of her life, Russian President Vladimir Putin honoured her with the First Class Order of Merit for the Fatherland.[citation needed]
On 11 December 2012, Vishnevskaya died at the age of 86 in Moscow. She was married three times. Her first marriage was to Georgy Vishnevsky, a sailor. She retained his family name after their divorce. Her second marriage was to the violinist and director of the Leningrad Light Opera company, Mark Rubin,[5] who also served as her manager. This second marriage produced a son, who died at age 2 months, and lasted 10 years before ending in divorce. Her daughters survive her.[6]
2nd class (18 October 2006) - for outstanding contribution to music and many years of fruitful creative activity
3rd class (25 October 1996) - for [clarification needed] great personal contribution to the development of musical art
4th class (18 October 2011) - for outstanding contribution to the development of national musical culture, and many years of teaching and educational activities
Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (25 October 2001) - for outstanding contribution to the development of musical art and active charity work
Legacy
Galina Vishnevskaya Street in the Moscowdistrict of Novokosino. On June 26, 2013, the Moscow Government decided to assign the name Galina Vishnevskaya Street to the projected passage No. 326, located on the territory of the Novokosino district of the Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow between Suzdalskaya and Novokosinskaya Streets.
The Airbus A321 airliner of the Aeroflot airline "Vishnevskaya".[8]
The Children's Music School No. 8 in Kronstadt is named after G. Vishnevskaya.[9]
A minor planet of the Solar system No. 4919 is named after G. Vishnevskaya.[10]
A memorial plaque to Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya was unveiled in Moscow in 2018. It was installed in Gazetny Lane, on the house where the spouses lived.[11]
On October 25, 2022, on the singer's birthday, a monument by sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov and architect Mikhail Posokhin was erected next to the Opera Singing Center, which bears the singer's name (Ostozhenka str., 25, building 1) to Galina Vishnevskaya.[12]