Honored Art Worker, People's Artist of the USSR, twice winner of the Stalin Prize - this is an incomplete list of awards with which the Soviet state awarded the work of the great opera bass Alexander Pirogov. The singer had a powerful bass and colorful appearance, which made it possible for listeners and viewers to enjoy the operatic heritage.
Biography
Alexander Pirogov came from the famous dynasty of Russian basses. The future opera singer was born in 1899 in small and patriarchal Ryazan. Alexander's father moved to this old Russian city from the hinterland, his homeland is the village of Novoselki. In addition to Alexander, the parents raised two more sons - Alexei and Grigory.
All the boys had a unique bass tone. The music teachers especially emphasized Sasha's voice.
Although the singing talent promised Alexander Pirogov an excellent career, at the insistence of his parents, the young man received a classical liberal arts education. The choice fell on the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, where Sasha entered in 1917.
Study and career
A great love for music made the student continue to study the art of singing. Simultaneously with his studies at Moscow State University, Alexander Pirogov attended classes at the Music and Drama School. Here he enjoyed learning the basics of creativity under the guidance of the opera soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Vasily Savvich Tyutyunnik.
His working career as an opera singer began in 1919. During the Civil War, the singer performed on the stage of the Revolutionary Military Council Theater. In peacetime, Alexander Pirogov moved to the Free Opera Theater, where he performed in performances and chamber concerts until 1924.
The career was going well. After a while, the singer was invited to join the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater. The famous stage of the main theater of Russia became a place of work for Pirogov for a long 30 years. The operatic repertoire, where bass parts were present, was fully mastered. Pirogov shone in the performances of classical operas by Russian composers and foreign authors.
Contribution to opera
Alexander Pirogov was the consummate performer of the main role in the opera Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky. For his work, the artist was twice awarded an honorary award - the Stalin Prize.
It is known that the great man sent the entire amount of funds from the first prize to the Defense Fund, which was created during the Great Patriotic War. The amount was 100 thousand rubles.
In addition to his creative career, the opera singer took an active part in the life of Soviet society. He was a deputy of the fourth convocation in the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation.
Alexander Pirogov was very fond of his native land, where he spent his childhood, often came to rest in Ryazan. On one of these trips with Pirogov, he had a heart attack, the singer died untimely on the Bear's Head Island, which is located in the Shilovsky District of the Ryazan Region. This sad event took place in 1964. The singer was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
