РУС
I have recently been listening to recordings of the remarkable Russian (Soviet) tenor Sergei Lemeshev on Youtube. He shone bright on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in the 30s-40s; his charming timbre amazingly suited Russian music from the start. Here is a link to one of the masterpieces in which Lemeshev is especially good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NfEN1zfaO8
His adversary and rival on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater was Ivan Kozlovsky – Stalin’s favorite singer (by the way, not everybody knows that Stalin was once a choir soloist at the seminary, and in his adolescence he had possessed quite a strong and beautiful tenor). Stalin relished in listening to Kozlovsky not only in the theater itself, but sometimes the singer was also taken to Stalin for a private performance. Stalin especially liked several works from Kozlovsky’s repertoire, including Lensky’s aria from the opera “Eugene Onegin” and the old Russian romance piece “On the Hills of Manchuria.” There remain no recordings of Stalin’s own singing, but his favorite romance performed by Kozlovsky has been preserved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoLNxzW_MHE
Both singers were extraordinarily popular, both had a lot of fans.
Both singers died in the twentieth century.
And so, as I was listening to Lemeshev’s recording, I decided to read the comments to his works then and there. Most of these comments expressed an admiration for his voice and manner of performance.
But there were also other comments. Here is a typical example:
“Pavarotti can’t beat that! It’s time the Italians were learning from us”
It’s not enough for people to extol their idol; they feel the need to trample his “competition” – all other singers – down into the dirt at the same time.
Either way, the comment above is somewhat nationalistic (which the commentators themselves probably consider patriotic).
So then I decided to have a look at the discussion about the works of Lemeshev and Kozlovsky online. I visited a forum for classical music lovers. The intensity I encountered left me stunned. The singers have both died a long time ago, and while the communication on the forum is happening 20+ years after the death of the last one and 50 years after the ends of their respective operatic careers – the impression one may receive is that the debate actually concerns something modern. And again, many people do not limit themselves to praising their own idol, but try to insult their opponent’s hero as much as possible.
What’s interesting is that the fans blatantly deny even the most obvious facts.
Lemeshev began to lose his voice rather quickly after turning about 45 years old. He could no longer hit (or had difficulty hitting) high notes, his velvety voice partially lost its ease and evenness – which is obvious and difficult to contest. It is enough to compare the recordings from the heyday and sunset of his career. But many fans do not want to admit even this much.
Opera is considered an art of high culture.
But all such comments are clearly tamasic in nature.
And any connected actions are even more so.
For instance, here’s what we know of his feminine admirers from the memories of Lemeshev’s daughter:
“When one of those whom they considered a rival of father’s sang in the Bolshoi, these women disrupted the performance by whistling and mewing”
In Indian philosophy tamas is correspondent to the lowest energy level (there is also rajas (the middle level) and sattva (higher level), while saints traverse beyond these levels).
Our thoughts and actions of the tamas level lead us down the staircase of development. Which is undesirable.
Tamas has many shades. Some of them are not so easily recognizable. For example, a sense of superiority. Especially if we are not talking about ourselves, but about someone else.
As long as we are praising something that’s “ours” – there is no tamas. Tamas begins when we belittle what is “someone else’s”.
