Dear Gentlemen,

In this blog I have tried to assemble a list of prominent Soviet tenors – tenors behind the Iron Curtain – singers the careers of which went largely obscure from the Western public because of the political realities of the era they were part of – realities which dictated the detachment of the Soviet opera from its Western counterpart.
It just so happened that these times were the Golden Era of the Russian Opera, and the voices that were hidden behind the Iron Curtain were of a remarkable quality.
In addition to that, the revival of these voices in the West is also of much interest because of the unique character and the idiosyncratic nature of the Soviet school of operatic singing, which was different from the Western in many aspects.
By “voices behind the Iron Curtain” I mean those artists whose entire career or a significant part of it developed during the most ideologically radical years of the Soviet rule and the Soviet Union’s disconnection from the West, and not those who had already established a name for themselves in an earlier period, or those who have only started their way in Soviet Union’s very last days or are singing well into the present – both are more familiar to the Western public.
In cases of some of the singers the information and the recordings presented here is all that is left of them, and in some cases appears for the first time in the internet, or in English and for the Western public.

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Dmitry Tarhov (1890)






Born on March 30th in Penza. Acclaimed Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialistic Republic (1956)
Born into a family of a railroad engineer. In 1908 graduated from Penza city college and enlisted to Moscow University Law Faculty. Developed an interest in singing in an early age and paralelly studied in Moscow conservatory in the class of V.M.Zarudnaya. After four years in the Law Faculty he halted his studies and decided to pursuit a singer’s career.
From the beginning of the 1920-ies he performed in leading roles in the Moscow theaters “People’s House”, “Free Opera”, The K.S.Stanislavsky and V.I.Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater.
In 1928-29 - soloist of Sverdlovsk Opera Theater.
In 1936-58 – soloist of the all-USSR radio, where he was one of the prominent figures in a very talented group of young singers. Some of the operas they staged were “Oprichnik” (P.Tchaikovsky), “The Stone Guest” (A. Dargomyzhsky), “Christmas Eve” (N.Rimsky-Korsakov),  “Manon Lescaut”, “Tosca”, “Oresteia” (S.Taneyev).
Samossud, Golovanov, Nebolssine all chose him for their plays.
Among his best roles were Egist, Vakula, Levko, Paolo, Florestan, Enzo, Richard, de Grie, Toropka, Kiribeevich, Don Juan. He also performed in the roles of Golicyn, Imposter-Prince, Radames, Jose, Alfred, Duke, Canio.
His voice was not of the most beautiful timbre, but very resonant and with impressive higher register and impeccable phrasing. His acting was very expressive, temperamental and full of emotion.
Was also a translator of operatic librettos. The radio stagings of Auber’s “Fra Diavolo”, Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” and  Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera” were recorded with his texts. Translated Schubert’s, Schumann’s, Mendelssohn's and other romances. Also wrote poetry, never publishing it. He also played the piano, used to draw, and compose music to his poetry.
In 1948-66 taught in the Gnesin Musical-Pedagogical institute.
Died on October 5th in Moscow.