Теги:

The Concert Ensemble in Kronstadt. January 1942. L-R: Yekaterina Shkroeva, David Pritsker, Arkady Lyzhin, Sofia Preobrazhenskaya, Nikolai Persiyaninov (the Narrator) and Baltic Sea sailors. Preobrazhenskaya’s personal archive
The reverse of the photograph reads “To S. P. Preobrazhenskaya, People’s Artist of the RSFSR from the private staff of Captain Astakhov. In memory of the days of the Great Patriotic War. 22-I-1942”. The renowned singer, a soloist of the Kirov Theatre who also frequently appeared on radio broadcasts, herself admitted that she had an entire collection of similar photographs: Preobrazhenskaya had frequently given concerts for army and naval chiefs even before the war, while during the Siege of Leningrad trips to the front followed one after another. “We performed even when we didn’t have the strength to do so,” the singer recalled, “I remember one concert in the fort at Kronstadt. Ravaged by hunger, Arkady Lyzhin felt as if he were about to drop and, without finishing his aria, went backstage. The same happened with the next performer. The third act was mine: I sang life-affirming songs by Dunayevsky and Pritsker to the accompaniment of the bayan. You should have seen the reception the sailors gave it.”
For Soviet Art. 28 April, 1965. Quote after The History of the Mariinsky Theatre 1783–2008. St Petersburg, 2008. P. 303