Galina Vishnevskaya, a famous opera singer, can be compared to Maria Callas. The same clear, strong voice, the same flawless dramatic play, the same difficult fate.
Childhood
Galina Vishnevskaya was born in Leningrad. Her parents divorced when the girl was very young, and Galina was raised by her grandparents. Her mother was a gypsy, an extremely independent person who devoted little time to her family and ran after her dreams. The father could not bear such a capricious woman next to him. But Galina Pavlovna remembered the instructions of this proud and beautiful woman for the rest of her life.
When Gala was 14 years old, the war began. Galina lived in Leningrad and went through the difficult years of the blockade. All her relatives died, but the future opera star survived. Perhaps her music lessons and her love of opera singing helped her. Galina began to attend a music school as soon as the opportunity arose, but this happened not at such a young age. And when she was very little, Galya listened to records with the voices of famous opera singers and sang along with them. This probably influenced the formation of her singing voice.
Career
After the blockade, Galina went to work at the Operetta Theater. The young singer was noticed, they gave her the main parts, but Galina felt that she sang incorrectly, strained her voice. Therefore, she began to take private singing lessons, which gave her a lot in terms of voice formation.
In 1952, Galina Pavlovna, having no classical musical education, went to audition at the Bolshoi Theater. And she was accepted!
This is how the career of an opera singer began, which conquered not only Russian listeners, but the whole world.
Personal life
Galina Pavlovna was married three times. Her first husband was a naval officer. This marriage was short-lived, but Galina kept the name of her first husband, Vishnevskaya, for the rest of her life.
The next husband of Galina Pavlovna was Mark Rubin. He worked as director of the Leningrad Opera Theater and was more than 20 years older than Galina. Family life was undermined by the death of a common child of Galina and Mark, as well as Vishnevskaya's disease. Galina suffered from tuberculosis.
And only Galina's third marriage lasted the rest of her life and was happy. Her husband was Mstislav Rostropovich, a famous musician. In this marriage, two daughters were born - Elena and Olga.
Emigration
The Rostropovich family was friendly with the family of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. And so when the Soviet authorities attacked the writer with criticism, Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich supported their friend. The wave of disfavor of the authorities also hit the musicians, so Vishnevskaya and her husband were forced to emigrate. Galina and her husband lived abroad for a long time and were in difficult relations with the Motherland. However, this did not affect Galina Pavlovna's career in any way - she performed brilliantly in the world's opera houses.
Only in the nineties did Vishnevskaya and her husband return to Russia, where they lived until the end of their days. Galina Pavlovna died in 2012, she was 86 years old.
