1908 LYDIA LIPKOVSKAYA BESSARABIAN NIGHTINGALE Russian Barbiere Una Voce 2 78

$

88

WEEK 1 of 3 weeks of great auctions,  until Dec 18.

Some great collectible HOLIDAY GIFTS for yourself your friends and family.

IMPORTANT:

Per US Postal Service, the following dates for Christmas shipping have been posted:

Parcel Post - Media Mail - December 15 2011

Priority Mail - December 21 2011.

If you would like to receive your parcel for Christmas, pls let me know by email.

PLS READ BELOW for INCREASED SHIPPING CHARGES due to Ebay Policy

I AM HAPPY COMBINE MULTIPLE SHIPMENTS.

IF YOU WIN MULTIPLE ITEMS DO NOT USE EBAY CHECK OUT in order for me to get you low combined postage. Send me an invoice request instead.

I am currently selling a series of great Richard Wagner and classic European 78 rpm orchestral recordings on all the great European labels:

Rare Russian Gramophone recording of the superb Bessarabian SopranoLydia Yakovlevna LIPKOVSKAYA,

recorded shortly after her stunning debut as Gilda at the St Petersburg Imperial Opera in 1907.

Barber of Seville Aria Of Rosina "Una Voce Poco Fa"

This record is the second part of the Aria: Io Sono Docile (In Russian)

Original  12" Russian Gramophon Record

Condition: VERY GOOD PLUS light greying on top notes, very scuffed. Plays great with only light distortion on top notes.
 
The future diva was born on the 28th of April, 1884 in the Bessarabian region of the Russian Empire in a village called Babino. These days the village is in the Ukraine in the Tchernovtsy region. Her father, Jacov (Jacob) Lipkovsky, was the village school teacher. Father of a large family, he fought need and poverty with his love for music. He played the violin and his eight children (four daughters and four sons) formed a family choir.

When talking about her childhood, Lipkovskaya used to say: “It’s amazing that my musical talent managed to fully express itself. Just think of it – until I was twelve, I lived in a tiny village where nobody gave music much thought. Even though my father loved choral singing and music, he only laughed when I talked about wanting to become a singer and thought it was antics of a silly little girl. But almost every day I used to go to the Dnestr river to sing to the woods, the sky, and God”.

Lydia went to study in Kamenets-Podolsk School for Girls. She sang in the church choir since she was twelve and started performing in amateur plays and concerts at the age of fourteen. That’s when people first started calling her a nightingale. Despite being a young and naïve schoolgirl, she felt that her voice had power over people and decided to become a singer.

One of the parts she loved as a schoolgirl was Ofelia. Lydia wrote in her memoirs: “I used to become Ofelia during the break between lessons and scare my classmates. I would put my hair down and play the scene of Ofelia’s madness in front of the whole class. The other girls used to scream and run away when they saw my demented eyes. I am sure that I would have reached a real culmination one of those days. I always felt so close to the role that I cried with real tears. Unfortunately, one day it was the headmistress who caught me as I was acting Ofelia fainting. The headmistress didn’t want to hear anything about acting and put me under arrest. And when many years later I played Ofelia on the stage of Grand Opera, I often felt as if I was miles away from Paris back in my old school being arrested by my strict headmistress”.

When Lydia was in her last year at school, she met Kristofor Marchner – a student of the Oriental Linguistics Faculty of the St.-Petersburg University. Kristofor’s parents lived in Kamenets-Podolsk and he came to visit them. He was a charming young man and impressed Lydia with his education and manners. One of their shared passions was Shakespeare’s work, which they used to read and discuss together. Kristofor proposed right after Lydia’s graduation, but her father didn’t want to hear anything about it. He thought that his 16-year-old daughter was too young to marry. But Lydia had always been a determined girl. It didn’t take her long to hop on a train with her lover and go to St. Petersburg.

Kristofor adored his little wife, but didn’t approve of her passion for music. When their daughter Ariadna was born, he calmed down a bit, thinking that being a mother would put a stop to his wife’s antics. But he was wrong. In 1903 Lydia Marchner entered the St. Petersburg Conservatoire and started studying with the best singing teacher of the time – Natalia Alexandrovna Iretskaya. When Kristofor confronted Lydia, she packed her things, took the baby and left.

Fame

In 1906, right before the Lent, all opera theatres of St. Petersburg had performances featuring the opera stars of the time. Lydia couldn’t afford going to theatres, so she spent all her free time studying opera parts. One day she got visited by signor Ughetti, a famous entrepreneur who organised Russian – Italian opera tours. He needed someone to substitute a soprano who had suddenly fallen ill and couldn’t sing Gilda in Rigoletto with the greatest tenor of the time – Nikolay Figner. Signor Ughetti had heard that Lydia knew the part and asked her to sing. She agreed, but decided to use her maiden name.

This performance made Lydia famous. All newspapers were shrieking about the rising star of St. Petersburg opera. That very same day Iretskaya talked to her students about the wonderful new singer and asked whether it was one of them. Lipkovskaya got up immediately and said: “It was me!”. She expected her teacher to praise her, but instead Iretskaya said: “I wanted to make a serious singer out of you, but you decided to start a career without being properly educated, like an amateur. Leave my class and never come back” .

For a couple of months Lydia had lessons with A. Petrovsky – a well-known actor and director from Alexandrinsky Theatre. And then Iretskaya sent for Lipkovskaya and said that she will continue teaching her if Lydia promised never to repeat her mistake.

In 1906 Lipkovskaya got a contract with Mariinsky Theatre to sing lyrical coloratura parts in Russian operas. That was when this girl from a small village in Bessarabia started climbing the operatic Olympus.

“Lipkovskaya is both a lyrical and a dramatic singer", wrote Yuri Belyayev, a famous playwright, in his article for the newspaper “Novoye Vremya” (New Time) on the 19th of April, 1909, “Her Juliette is like the first buds in Spring and her dramatic tension is tired and broken. She is deeply touching in all parts where the union of voice and feeling combines into one moment of beauty. She is always fresh and unpredictable. Isn’t that the main component of success!”

In 1921-1922 Lipkovskaya went onto a round the world concert tour. French, English, Italian, and American press praised Lydia, noting her exquisite vocal technique and talented acting.

A Parisian magazine "Comaedia illustre" (?18, 1911) wrote that “L. Lipkovskaya is not only an outstanding singer whose vocal technique is perfect, but is also a great actress who can fill her performance with expression and tender poetic spirit”. Her performances of Gilda, Violetta, Lacme, and Juliette are true treasures of the Russian opera art.

Hardships

Two years after the revolution Lipkovskaya married a French citizen. He was a very rich man and didn’t want to stay in the USSR. They moved to France. However, several years later Lipkovskaya returned to her homeland – her marriage didn’t work out. She went to Romania and performed in and around Bucharest. She also was a frequent visitor in Kishinev. On the 14th of June, 1926 the newspaper “Bessarabian Post” wrote: “Lydia Lipkovskaya, a famous opera singer, is now staying in our town. She has just returned from abroad where she had great success. The diva will travel to France shortly and then she will have a concert tour in the USA. But before that our lovely countrywoman will give concerts in Kishinev and Akkerman”.

In 1914, when she turned 30, Lydia bought an estate in Kishinev as a birthday present for herself. It consisted of a one-story house, a two-story house with 12 rooms, and a smallish wooden house in the back yard. Her father used to look after the estate while she was on her concert tours.

In 1937 the 53-year-old singer left the stage and started teaching at Kishinev Municipal Conservatoire. Among her students were Lydia Babich-Khotynku, Tamara Tcheban, Nikolay Didutchenko, Virginia Zeani, Garbis Zobian, Anna Daskal, and other famous Moldavian singers.

One of her students, Leonid Boksar who is now 93 and is the head singing teacher at the Kishinev Academy of Music, used to come to her house every day. But it wasn’t because of the singing lessons. At that time, Lipkovskaya had a private student who came all the way from Palestine to study with her – Shelly Svotitsky. Shelly stayed at Lydia’s house and had lessons every day. The lessons were conducted in English. Leonid couldn’t understand a word, but he was happy to be there and receive an occasional smile from Shelly.

Then the War started and Shelly went back to Palestine. In 1941 Lipkovskaya tried to join the Kishinev Conservatoire when it was being evacuated. Her student, a famous Moldavian singer Tamara Tcheban, wrote: “I saw Lipkovskaya at the railway station. Like all of us, she was trying to get onto the train. Suddenly planes appeared and the bombing started. We all ran in different directions and I have never seen Lipkovskaya again”.

Lydia managed to get to Odessa, but was then forced to flee to Romania. As for Leonid Boksan, he was sent to fight. He became a prisoner of war near Stalingrad and was sent to the camps after the war for being “the enemy of the people”. He spent 10 years in GULAG.

Lydia taught singing in Bucharest and Timioshar for several years, but in 1952 moved to Paris to live with her daughter Ariadna. She was hoping to teach at the Russian Conservatoire in Paris. However, for some reason she didn’t stay there long. Lipkovskaya moved to Beirut to live with her sister. Immediately she was offered to be the headmistress of the local Conservatoire, but she couldn’t accept the post. Her diabetes was progressing fast. She spent her last days in poverty and died on the 22nd of March, 1958.

“Loneliness is a terrible thing when you are living in a foreign country,” wrote Lipkovskaya in a letter to her favourite student, “I am all alone and it hurts so much. It was a grave mistake… Oh, I would have given everything I have to change it! But it’s too late…”

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 Quick NOTE ON GRADING AND SHIPPING:

As you can see from my feedback, I try hard to earn your POSITIVE FEEDBACK and FIVE STAR RATINGS.

If for any reason your transaction was NOT SATISFACTORY, pls contact me and I will work something out with you. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A REASON TO GIVE ME A NEGATIVE RATING or a LOW STAR RATING.

Quick note on grading:

The Grade (Excellent to Fair, I don't give Mint) refers to the WEAR of the record. Any other defects are stated separately, when prefaced with "HOWEVER" or "BUT" they will be significant.

When I listen to a record, I may also give it an aural grade (again E to F), and make a SUBJECTIVE judgment of the pressing quality for hiss and surface noise.
"SUPERQUIET" is basically noiseless, like a vinyl pressing.
"VERY QUIET" is an exceptionally quiet record for a given pressing.
"Quiet" is a record that is a great example without undue noise for a give pressing.

These judgments are SUBJECTIVE and will depend one the styli, phonograph etc. you use on your own equipment.

Pls check my other auctions for more great records and phonograph items:

Some items will come on-line later this week. Pls check again my auctions for more great items after Thursday Dec 1, 8:30 pm PST

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This is WEEK 1 of THREE consecutive weeks of auctions.

I am happy to hold your items and bill you at the end of the auction cycle. Pls send me a note if you would like me to hold records

Multiple item shipping: I am happy to combine items for shipment in one parcel.

If you win multiple items, pls send me an INVOICE REQUEST to calculate the correct postage. Ebay check out will not give you the multiple item discount!

Records will be packed safely between corrugated cardboard in a sturdy box with plenty of padding for safe shipment.

Shipment is usually Media Mail, unless another service is requested. Shipping is at your risk.

I charge actual postage plus a small fee for packing materials

As always, I guarantee your satisfaction. If you don't like the item, just return it, and I will refund the full purchase price.

If you are in the San Francisco area, I encourage pick-up in person.

EBAY NOW CHARGES 9% on all SHIPPING CHARGES
Also, USPS has increased postal rates. Since I am always shipping at cost, I am sorry to say that after keeping my shipping rates stable for 5 years, I unfortunately now have to increase the prices.

However, if you are interested in lowering you shipping cost, pls send me a message, and I may be able to arrange for better rates !!!

Here a quick breakdown of my costs, you see that due to the new Ebay policy you will pay anywhere from $.50 to $.80 in additional Ebay fees on the first record

US Domestic Shipping:

Here is a guideline for US Media Mail Shipping:

Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. Up to about 5 records, I will ship Edison Discs for the same rates. Albums from Album Sets count as 1 record. Above that and for international shipments, it will be actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-3$ depending on size of shipment)

1 record: 4.75$

2 records: 5.75$

5 records: 7.50$

10 records: 9.50$

MANY MORE RECORDS: Don't worry. I safely ship 40 - 50 pounds of records double boxed in moving boxes, and even then Media Mail will probably not exceed 30$.

The numbers above include the 9% Ebay fee on shipments.
Pls ignore the automatically calculated prices on the ebay site, as I will weigh every parcel and charge based on actual weight.

Please send me a message if you would like to lower your shipping rates!

International Buyers:

All'attenzione degli acquirenti italiani:

ATTENTION TO ITALIAN BUYERS:

Due to rare problems with delivery in ITALY, I will NOT GUARANTEE delivery of parcels sent by US Postal Service First Class and Priority Mail. If you prefer secure delivery, I will be happy to quote you either Registered Mail or shipment by FEDEX

I am very happy to ship records worldwide.

Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. For Edison Discs in  international shipments, it will charge for the actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-2$) - for small quantities, it will not be much different from the charge for regular 78s.

Pls contact me for a shipping estimate, or send me an invoice request after close of auction.

Be aware that US Postal Rates can be high. Here are some examples.

Your best bet is the Large Priority box, everything that fits into a 12"x12"x5 1/2" box up to 20 pounds ships for 60$ (35$ Canada) worldwide.

However, I can get competitive rates from FedEx and the US Postal service for any kind of parcel weight

Africa, Eastern Asia and Japan as well as Europe

1 record = 2 lbs $25 - $28

4 lbs = $37

20 lbs or all that fits into a 12"x12"x 5 1/2" box ((12" albums won't fit)= $60

I may be able to get some better FedEx rates.
Pls email with your address for an estimate.

Canada

1 record = 2 lbs $ 11 - $13

4 lbs = 22$
20 lbs or all that fits into a 12"x12"x 5 1/2" (12" albums won't fit)= $38
I may be able to get some better FedEx rates.
Pls email with your address for an estimate.

AND AGAIN -THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST

As you can see from my feedback, I take great care in presenting, grading and shipping your items. I really want you to be happy with the purchase. If you feel that anything is wrong with the item or the shipping, contact me and we will work it out !!!

Pls contact me with your country, home town and postal code before bidding for an estimate.

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As always, I would appreciate any suggestions and corrections from you, pls contact me with any question.

Thank you very much, and good luck bidding !!!