Davydova Vera Alexandrovna (1906-1993) - Soviet opera singer (mezzo-soprano) and teacher.
Childhood and youth
Vera Alexandrovna Davydova was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a land surveyor and a folk teacher. She was the youngest of five children. In early childhood, she was taken by her mother to Khabarovsk. In 1910 she moved to her mother's place of service in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. Vera's first music teacher was a distant relative and new husband of the mother, Mikhail Flerov. In 1912 she entered a girls' school, took piano lessons; first appeared on stage in a concert on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino - she sang a solo in the songs "Borodino" to the words of Lermontov and "Darling Maiden" to the words of Dargomyzhsky. In 1922 she joined an opera company.
Career
In 1929 she made her debut at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov. She took part in a concert performance of Wagner's Parsifal under the direction of the touring Klemperer. In 1932-1956 she was a soloist at the Bolshoi Theater. Vera was transferred there at the personal instructions of Stalin. In 1941-1943 she sang at the Tbilisi Opera, went with concerts to Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Black Sea region, performed in front of border guards, in hospitals. She gave a solo concert, the collection of which was transferred to the Defense Fund. Since 1959 she has been a teacher at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, since 1964 she has become its professor. She was a deputy of the RSFSR Supreme Council of the 2nd and 3rd convocations.
Titles and awards
In 1946 she was awarded the 1st degree Stalin Prize for a unique cycle of seven concerts "The History of the Development of Russian Romance". People's Artist of the RSFSR since 1951. Vera Davydova - three times winner of the Stalin Prize in 1946 for outstanding achievements in the field of theatrical and vocal art, in 1950 for the performance of the part of Lyubava in the opera "Sadko" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and in 1951 for the performance of the part of Martha in the opera " Khovanshchina”by M. P. Mussorgsky. Party member since 1951. People's Artist of the Georgian SSR since 1981. Honored Artist of the RSFSR since 1937. Received the Order of the Badge of Honor in 1937 and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1951.
Personal life
During her studies, she married Dmitry Mchedlidze.
In 1994, Leonard Gendlin's book "Behind the Kremlin Wall" was published in St. Petersburg, and in 1996 it was published in Minsk under the title "Confessions of Stalin's Lover". The book was republished under the same title in Moscow in 1997 and 1998. The imprint indicates that this work was first published in London in 1983. The book was published as a novel, but in fact it is the fictionalized memoirs of the singer V. A. Davydova. In the preface to the book, Davydova writes: "I am an actress! And, perhaps, the only incredulous Stalin in the whole world believed me to the end … For many years I led a double life, which I had to divide between the theater - rehearsals, performances, concerts - and his passionate, sometimes with hysterical stormy caresses. I am talking about this because I want humanity to recognize another Stalin - naked after my death."
Death
She died on February 19, 1993. Buried in the Didube pantheon.
