VASILY VASILIEV Opera Tenor CDV photograph, created Shuisky in Boris Godunov

Description

Extremely scarce original carte de visite photograph of the Russian lyric tenor who created among other roles Shuisky in Boris Godunov.  The watermark protects the image and is not part of the photograph.
Vasily Mikhailovich Vasiliev (1837 - 1891) opera lyric tenor, sometimes referred to as Vasiliev II.
He studied at the St. Petersburg Theater School under composer Federico Ricci, graduating in 1857.  He was hired by the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg in 1858 where he made his debut that year as Florestan in Balfe's "The Bohemian Girl" which was all the rage at the time.  Vasiliev had an extremely important career there until his death in 1891.
While he sung primo roles in the early part of his career, often substituting for the early Russian lyric tenor Fyodor Nikolsky, his main career was in the important comprimario roles, many of which he created in Russian world premieres during his career. His repertory was some 60 roles.
World Premiere roles included: Vasya in Serov's "The Power of Evil",
Shuisky in Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov",  Basmanov in Tchaikovsky's "Oprichnik", Fra Paolo in Cui's "Angelo",  Boyar Matuta in Rimsky's "Maid of Pskov",  Chekalinsky in Tchaikovsky's "Pikova Dama", Bobyl Bakula in Rimsky's "The Snow Maiden", Paisiy in Tchaikovsky's "The Enchantress",  Panas in Tchaikovsky's "Vakula the Smith",  and 1st Guest in Darghomynsky's "The Stone Guest".
Other roles included: Nuker in "Ammalat-Bek", Tovach in "Taras Bulba" by Kuhner, Don Ottavio "Don Giovanni", Messenger in "Aida", The Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto" (which is notable as he sung the role in Italian), Rodrigo in "Otello", Fenton in "Falstaff", Brother Jonas in "Le Prophete", Remendado in "Carmen", Wagner in Boito's "Mefistofele", Benvolio in "Romeo et Juliette", Heinrich in "Lohengrin", and in "Boris Godunov" he also sung Missail, the False Dimitri and Boyan in "Ruslan and Ludmila".
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