Fyodor Petrovich Komissarzhevsky (Russian: Фёдор Петрович Комиссаржевский) (1832 – 14 March 1905)[1] was a Russian opera singer and teacher of voice and stagecraft. A leading tenor at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, he created many roles in Russian operas, including the Pretender in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and the title role in Tchaikovsky's Vakula the Smith. He had a voice described in the Grove Book of Opera Singers as small but with a "velvety timbre" and as a singer was known for not only for his clear diction and beautiful phrasing but also for his skill as an actor.[2] He was the father of the actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya and the director Theodore Komisarjevsky.
- ^ According to Borovsky (2001) p. 1, his birth year has been erroneously given as variously 1830, 1834, and 1838. The 1832 date is taken from one of Komissarzhevski's own letters. The spelling of his surname used in this article is that used in the current standard English reference works. However, it has also been transcribed in non-Russian sources as Kommissarzhevsky, Komisarzhevsky, Komissarzhevski, Komisarjevsky, Kommissarievskij, and Komissartschevsky.
- ^ Semeonoff (2008) p. 253