Komissarzhevskii, Fedor Petrovich

Born 1838; died Mar. 1 (14), 1905, in San Remo, Italy. Russian singer (lyric dramatic tenor) and teacher. Father of V. F. Komissarzhevskaia.

Komissarzhevskii studied voice under the Italian teacher E. Repetto in Milan. From 1863 to 1880 he was soloist at the Mariinskii Theater. He was the first to perform the parts of Don Juan in Dargomyzhskii’s The Stone Guest, the False Dmitrii in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Vakula in Tchaikovsky’s Vakula the Blacksmith, and Sinodal in Rubinstein’s The Demon. Among his other famous roles were Faust in Gounod’s opera and Jontek in Halka by Moniuszko.

Komissarzhevskii’s singing was distinguished by elegant, fine phrasing. His stage performances were spirited and revealed his high artistic culture. An outstanding teacher, he involved his pupils, including Stanislavsky, in dramatic art as well as in singing. Komissarzhevskii was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory from 1882 to 1887.