PECHKOVSKY WOLF-ISRAEL Tchaikovsky Queen of Spades RARE 1st 1937 USSR 78RPM CCCP

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ULTRA RARE 1st USSR PRESSING FROM 1937!!! 10" 78 RPM !!!

Really rare chance to get this historical recordings!
Records with Pechkovsky were prohibited in USSR! Only a few survived!

from FORGOTTEN TENOR STAR NIKOLAI K. PECHKOVSKY (1896 - 1966) By Charles Mintzer I asked Vladimir for his “evaluation” of the two very famous Russian tenors Sergei Lemeshev and Ivan Kozlovsky, well known in the West from their recordings. I was in effect asking for the Russian equivalent of the then popular Domingo and Pavarotti comparison that even non-opera lovers were asking me at that time at my office. This was the time of the “three tenors” phenomenon. He had an appropriate appreciation of both legendary Russian tenors, but told me that in Leningrad the tenor who was most appreciated and worshiped was Nikolai Pechkovsky. And I had never even heard of him. Vladimir explained that the Soviets had “written him out” of official accounts of opera history. Why? There was a big problem; Pechkovsky had been accused of siding with the Germans during the siege of Leningrad, and for that crime, after the war, he was arrested as a collaborator; also he was gay. Unlike Lemeshev and Kozlovsky, Pechkovsky was a dramatic tenor and his great role was Hermann in “Pique Dame,” the Tchaikovsky opera so beloved by the Russians. Gurvich told me that for many years after the war it was not correct to either own or play his recordings; neighbors could or would report you to the authorities, and this in Stalin’s USSR might lead to unpleasant consequences. The Soviet system in Pechkovsky’s time brooked no dissidence; books on opera and music crudely censored the mere mention of those persons anathema to the regime. The deluxe 1976 photo history of the Moscow Bolshoi totally leaves out the very important soprano star, Galina Vishnevskaya, who left the Soviet Union in 1974. There are no photos of her in this photo historical survey, and the reproduction of the program for the 1959 Bolshoi premiere of “War and Peace” has a smudge over her name, thus making it indecipherable. In earlier Bolshoi books she is given appropriate prominence. Mere mortals like Vishnevskaya and Pechkovsky could be “air brushed” out of Russian and Soviet music history, but they were not able to omit the great Feodor Chaliapin. He was too big a name and so central to Russian music history, known by all Russians as their greatest artist. Whatever reservations the regime had about his leaving Russia in 1922, his central place in Russian musical history was assured and could not be erased. After the war he quite naturally wanted to return to the motherland, so he voluntarily turned himself in to the Soviet authorities. He was flown to Moscow and was arrested; on 12 November 1945 he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by a special commission (not a jury trial). The Gulag camp to which he was sent was in the Arctic Circle. Although his treatment was not as harsh as that for most other prisoners, it was still a prison camp in one of the coldest regions and general conditions were very severe. He served his full ten years. As to the general belief that Pechkovsky was gay there were varying opinions.
Hello collectors!!!

Check out my other items for more RARE records! MAKE OFFERS! ATTENTION!!! SHIPPING IS NOT $4!!! Please read before bidding ! Do not pay until you recieve an invoice from us. The shipping rates to ANY COUNTRY worldwide are identical. The postage for: 1 7" - $10 1-3LPs - $20 4-8LP - $33 A free man in 1956 Pechkovsky was allowed to work in some of the lesser opera houses (Sverdlosk, Riga, etc.) Although the Soviets “rehabilitated” him, as opposed to “exonerated” him, this involved returning to him his title of “People’s Artist of the Russian Federation” and even more important his “Lenin Order,” the highest honor in the Soviet Union (equivalent to the Congressional Medal of honor in the USA or the Legion of Honor in France). He was also provided with a decent apartment not far from the Kirov, but nevertheless he was not allowed to sing at the Bolshoi or the Kirov. In 1958 he secured work at the House of Culture in Leningrad, an amateur opera chorus collective. By this time Pechkovsky was a sixty-year old tenor, so realistically he could not re-establish his stellar career or his former glory. He sang a Hermann in “Pique Dame” with some of his students in 1965, a year before he died. He did sing two concerts in Leningrad in 1965, and the reports of that event have the theater packed to the rafters, seats on the stage, and pandemonium for the former beloved star. The importance of Pechkovsky: The very prominent St. Petersburg/Leningrad opera historian Sergei Levik in Volume II of his 1969 memoirs (yet to be translated in English) says that “in 1937 Pazovsky was conducting the dress rehearsal of “Carmen.” His choice for Don José was Nelepp. In the audience there was “top society, critics, singers, etc.” Nelepp sang well but nobody was really excited. Before the last act he suddenly got sick and was replaced by Pechkovsky. As soon as Pechkovsky sang his first phrase: “Je ne menace pas, j’implore, je supplie!” it was a feeling like some sort of “fluid” has penetrated into the audience. Some people even started spontaneous applause.” (pages 372-373.) About his Hermann, Levik concludes “One can judge him as one wishes, but one could never accuse him of falsity or pretense.” (page 374). This last phrase suggests to me that the merits of Pechkovsky’s voice and art were a subject of lively debate, that perhaps he was not universally adored, although mostly admired. The rivalry between Nelepp and Pechkovsky is a theme that still exists. There is no info about him, however he was very important part of early Soviet Opera.


matrix: 5703/4
SWALLOW Press, GRAMPLASTTREST, MOSCOW FACTORY in Memory of 1905 year
Honored Artist Of RSFSR NIKOLAI K. PECHKOVSKY (dramatic tenor) sings: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky "Forgive me, bright celestial vision", «??????, ???????? ????????» - Hermann's Arioso "What's our life" - Hermann's Aria from "The Queen of Spades" opera S. Kirov Leningrad Orchestra of State Academic Theater Of Opera and Ballet conductor - Honored art worker YEVGENI WOLF-ISRAEL




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These early pre-melodia records are highly in demand among collectors and  audiophiles. 
As it is TRUE VINTAGE ANALOGUE! The price will only increase!!! Please note this is 80 years old record and it is in excellent shape.  This is really unique chance to get this highly collectors item in such  stunning condition!
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• Condition of disc: good+