Not long ago, in my post “Three Stories About Kharkiv Actors of the Mid-19th to Early 20th Centuries,” I recalled the illustrious names of those born in our city and region who shone on the theatrical stage. And today, as I promised, here are a few biographies of wonderful theater actresses and opera singers from Kharkiv. After all, their stories are no less interesting. Some of them managed to achieve recognition and popularity, though only in Kharkiv. The names of others, on the other hand, became widely known throughout the Russian Empire of that time—and beyond. But, whatever the case may be, all of this is an integral part of the past of our beloved city.
When the topic turns to the wonderful theater actresses of Kharkiv, people usually think right away (and quite deservedly so) of Yevlalia Pavlovna Kadmina. But there were others as well, even if they were less famous. That’s exactly who we’re going to talk about now.
In Volume 4 of the *Dictionary of Theater Figures* (1898–1904), we find an entry on Anna Nikolaevna Galitskaya, a native of Kharkiv. She began her artistic career with amateur productions. After completing eight grades of gymnasium, Anna Nikolaevna joined A. N. Dyukova’s troupe, where she played minor roles in vaudevilles during her first year. By her fourth season at this theater, she was already performing in the role of a coquette, playing the parts of Nina Vasilyevna Smelskaya (from A. N. Ostrovsky’s *Talents and Admirers*) and Nina Pavlovna Korinkina (from A. N. Ostrovsky’s *The Innocent Are Guilty*). She excelled at portraying naive “ingénue” characters. For example, Agafya Tikhonovna Kuperdyagina in Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s play *Marriage*, or Anushka in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play *The Jester*. During the summer seasons, Anna Nikolaevna would leave our city and perform to great acclaim on stage at the Slov’yansk resort.
Here is the story of Vera Konstantinovna Daryalova, a native of the Dmitrievka estate in the Starobil’s’k District. However, her acting debut did not take place in our beloved city, but in Perm, where she played the role of Polinka in M. G. Savin’s play “Kruchina.” During her first season, Vera Konstantinovna performed on stage at a theater in Yekaterinburg; she then appeared in many other cities—Tomsk, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok—solidifying her reputation as a superb dramatic actress.
Anna Egorovna Garina, born in 1855 in our city, was raised in an orphanage. Like many other aspiring actresses in Kharkiv, she made her stage debut at the Dukova Theater. Starting there with minor roles, Anna Yegorovna eventually established herself as a superb performer of roles portraying elderly women (including leading roles). In addition to our beloved city, Garina also worked in theaters in Kyiv, Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, and Yekaterinoslav.
However, Maria Alexandrovna Kurochkina, born in Kharkiv in 1860 and better known to audiences of that time as Krasovskaya-Mokur, achieved far greater success on stage. Although at first, little in her life foreshadowed her fame on stage. After all, upon graduating from the Perm gymnasium, Maria Alexandrovna was not seriously involved in theater; she participated only in amateur theatrical productions. However, it so happened that, while passing through Perm, her performance was accidentally seen by Pyotr Mikhailovich Medvedev, an actor, director, theater impresario, and cultural figure who was already well-known at the time. Immediately after the performance, he invited her to join him in Yekaterinburg, where Kurochkina began her stage career. It should be noted that, before gaining public recognition, the actress performed in literally everything, from small vaudeville shows to operettas. However, it was precisely because of this that Maria Alexandrovna became famous for her diverse repertoire and performed successfully for six years in many cities (including Kharkiv). Only then was she invited to the imperial stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where she particularly excelled in dramatic roles. However, five years later, the brilliant dramatic actress fell ill, was forced to take a break, and left the stage. Alas, I do not know what became of this remarkable woman from Kharkiv in the 20th century.
The women from Kharkiv who became opera singers are just as fascinating.
One of them, known for her wide vocal range and first-rate vocal technique, was called “a lover of vocal fireworks” by her contemporaries even during her lifetime. And the renowned physicist Vladimir Dmitrievich Zernov describes her in his memoirs as “an excellent singer and a woman of remarkable beauty.” We are, of course, talking about Eleonora Henriette Ide Pfeifer, known as Emilia Fyodorovna Bobrova. She was born in our beloved city to a German family in 1875. She received her primary education at the Kharkiv Girls’ Gymnasium, after which, in 1893, she enrolled in the Kyiv branch of the Imperial Musical Society in Professor Camillo Everardi’s class of singing and dramatic arts. In 1896, while still a student, thanks to her talent, she “performed in the Imperial Presence at a symphonic concert conducted by A. N. Vinogradsky and had the good fortune to receive a gift from the Tsar.” Upon graduating in 1897, our native of Kharkiv joined the “Führer and Gelrot” troupe, which performed in Vilno (now Vilnius), where she made her successful debut in *Les Huguenots* by J. Meyerbeer.
That winter, Bobrova was invited to join the Kazan-Saratov opera company, from which she soon moved to her home opera house in Kharkiv. She then performed to great acclaim in Saratov, Perm, Kyiv, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, and Yekaterinburg. The repertoire of our beautiful and talented Kharkiv native included over 30 roles, among which were Lyudmila (M. Glinka’s *Ruslan and Lyudmila*), Snegurochka (N. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera), Rosina (G. Rossini’s *The Barber of Seville*), Isabella (G. Meyerbeer’s *Robert le Diable*), Juliette (C. Gounod’s *Romeo and Juliet*), Violetta (G. Verdi’s *La Traviata*), Marguerite de Valois (G. Meyerbeer’s *Les Huguenots*), and others. Bobrova studied many of these operas under the direct guidance of her teacher, Professor Camillo Everardi.
The date of death and place of burial of singer Emilia Fyodorovna Bobrova-Pfeifer are unknown.
However, her memory remains alive in her homeland. In her writings about her, the wonderful Kharkiv-based researcher Irina Nikolaevna Chukanova continues to share many interesting facts with the residents of our city to this day:
As was customary, a series of benefit performances by beloved artists began at the Perm Opera in late December. On December 30, *Hamlet* was scheduled for Bobrova’s benefit performance. Poklevsky-Kozell, a wealthy Ural gold magnate and millionaire, was head over heels for Bobrova. At her benefit performance, Bobrova was showered with flowers and gifts. Her admirer presented her with a gold nugget in a pink jasper box. Beginning in 1895, E. F. Bobrova performed in concerts. She performed romances, including works by P. Tchaikovsky and E. Grieg. Composer Boris Pullo dedicated a romance to the singer, set to lyrics by M. Yu. Lermontov, titled “Do I Hear Your Voice…” (1902).
Here is another quote from the memoirs of Bobrova’s contemporaries, among which N. N. Bogolyubov’s assessment of the work of our famous Kharkiv native is particularly interesting (“Sixty Years at the Opera House: Memoirs of a Director”):
Her wonderful voice, completely unconsciously to her, expressed a wide range of emotional nuances, while outwardly the actress remained aloof. On stage, Bobrova performed everything precisely and meticulously, but it was a cold and formal artistry. The only role in which Bobrova was flawless was Ophelia in A. Thomas’s opera *Hamlet*. The artist seemed born to embody the operatic version of Shakespeare’s great character. The artist’s entire style of performing this role—her singing, her gestures, her extraordinary femininity and beauty—all of this led one to believe, especially in the madness scene, that this was exactly what Shakespeare’s Ophelia might have been like.
Her debut in the same *Les Huguenots* by J. Meyerbeer—though in 1892, and not in Vilnius but on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater—proved to be a defining moment for Maria Alexandrovna Mikhailova. She was born in our city on June 3, 1864. In addition to studying singing in St. Petersburg at Evgeny Pavlovich Raphof’s music and drama courses under Professor Zelma Petrovna Grunning-Wilde, to perfect her singing, Maria Alexandrovna spent several summers traveling to Italy and France, where she studied with renowned opera singers of her time. Following her aforementioned debut as a soloist at the Mariinsky Theater, Mikhailova successfully toured cities throughout the empire (Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkiv) for many years. She also performed abroad: in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Austria, and Japan. Her partners at that time included Sobinov, Stravinsky, and even Chaliapin. And the composer Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, who was captivated by Mikhailova, dedicated several songs to her.
Contemporaries noted that “a distinctive feature of Ms. Mikhailova’s voice is its delicate, silvery timbre and captivating warmth…”. Our famous native’s last concert tour took place in 1914. In the years that followed, she taught singing. She died at the age of 78 on January 18, 1943, in Perm.
Of course, this is by no means a complete list of the wonderful women born in our city who, thanks to their talent, have become famous both in Sloboda Ukraine and beyond. But then again, one could truly talk endlessly about Kharkiv’s past, and these names deserve to be remembered.
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