Viktor Oleksiiovych Selyavin (born 7 November 1875, St. Petersburg - died 17 November 1945, Odesa) was an opera singer (lyric and dramatic tenor), drama and operetta artist, music teacher, professor. Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1923).
Biography.
He studied singing in St. Petersburg with I. Shaverdov. He sang in the choir of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
In 1895, he made his debut in the opera The Masquerade Ball (the role of the Judge).
In 1896, at the suggestion of N. Rimsky-Korsakov, he performed the role of the Fool (in Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov) instead of the performer who was ill.
Subsequently, he performed in operetta, drama and opera in theatres of various cities, including St. Petersburg (Private Opera of L. P. Steinberg (1901), New Summer Theatre "Olympia" (1907)), Tiflis (intermission of M. M. Figner), Kharkiv, Nizhny Novgorod (1904), Kazan (1904, 1906), Saratov (1906), Moscow (Zimin Opera House, 1906-1908), Kyiv (M. M. Borodai's intermission, 1905-1906), 1908-1911, 1923-1925), and Odesa (1911-1923).
In a quartet with M. Bocharov, S. Varyahin, and Y. Yehorov, he performed works by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and others.
In 1920, he organised the Odesa Labour Opera Cooperative Society. He organised performances and concerts for soldiers and sailors. His repertoire included 80 parts.
As a teacher, he taught a singing class at the Odesa Music and Drama Institute and held the title of professor.
Among his students: V. Kozeratskyi, O. Kryvchenia, D. Siezhynska, S. Molotova, L. Kryzhanivska. He recommended the future famous singer Halyna Oliinychenko to study with the teacher N. Urban.
The talented student Liudmyla Kryzhanivska (soprano) was a favourite of the professor. He and his wife Olha Mykolaivna had no children of their own and adopted the young talented student as a daughter, helping her not only professionally but also humanly.
In 1923, he was awarded the title of Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR.
During the Romanian occupation of Odesa, he was the director of the Opera House, which caused him great problems after the liberation of the city. Although he was, according to various sources[1], including the researcher Valentyn Maksymenko, a great righteous man who saved the lives of many Jews, he was harshly interrogated by the NKVD. Only after 13 months of interrogation was he rehabilitated, but his health was undermined.
On 17 November 1945, Viktor Oleksiyovych died of a heart attack at the Odesa railway station before a planned trip to Kyiv to participate in the jury of a vocal competition. At that competition, his student Sofia Molotova won the third prize.
Parts
first performer
Shepherd (Gypsies by A. Schaefer)
Ivan Koltso (On the Volga)
Guido Bardi (The Florentine Tragedy)
in Odesa
Prince (The Mermaid by O. Dargomyzhsky)
Levko (May Night)
Faust ("Faust")
Jose (Carmen)
Gerald, Fra Devolo, Lykov, Vladimir Igorevich
best parts
Andriy (The Cossack Beyond the Danube by P. Hulak-Artemovsky)
Dubrovsky ("Dubrovsky" by E. Nadezhda)
Nero (Nero by A. Rubinstein)
Lensky, Herman (The Blame Game by Tchaikovsky)
Raoul, Nadir, Eleazar (The Jewess by F. Galévy)
The Duke (Rigoletto)
Rudolf (La bohème)
Cavaradossi, Werther, Hoffmann, Canio.
