The fate of this singer resembles a children's fairy tale about Cinderella. The songs performed by Anastasia Vyaltseva were equally loved by ordinary people and representatives of aristocratic society.
Childhood and youth
The history of Russian culture knows many cases when a talented performer makes his way to the top of fame from the depths of hopelessness. The Russian pop star Anastasia Dmitrievna Vyaltseva was born on March 13, 1871 in a peasant family. Parents lived in a small village of Altukhovo, Oryol province. My father was engaged in tillage, and in the winter he worked at a local brick factory. Mother kept housekeeping and raised children. When the girl was three years old, the head of the family suddenly died.
Mother, together with the children, moved to Kiev, to her relatives, and found work in the laundry room. The Vyaltsevs lived poorly, somehow making ends meet. Nastya did her best to help her mother around the house. Once she asked to study with a dressmaker. The girl was already eight years old and she was accepted into a workshop for sewing ladies' dresses. The future singer began to bring an extra penny to the house. After a while, she was invited to clean the hotel rooms on the famous Khreshchatyk. Touring actors often stayed here.
Anastasia tried not to lose her job and often received additional tips for her efforts. It is possible that over time, she would become an administrator at the reception, but a happy event intervened in fate. The fact is that while cleaning the rooms, Vyaltseva sang various songs that a large number knew. This singing was heard by one famous actress who stayed in a hotel. She strongly advised Nastya to do vocal work. In fact, it was a sign from above.
Throwing a bread place in the hotel, Vyaltseva begged to take her into the ballet group of the Kiev Theater. The dancers did not work out of her, but the girl was invited to the operetta. In 1892, Anastasia, as they say, passed a casting, and she was enrolled in the troupe of the St. Petersburg Maly Theater. Here she sang in the choir for some time. Attractive appearance, temperament and vocal performance of the performer was noticed by theater patrons and observers. One of them, Nikolai Iosifovich Holeva, took up the “cutting” of natural diamond.
Formation and career
Nikolai Holeva, a well-known music lover and patron in St. Petersburg, after hearing about a talented singer, came to listen to her and watch. He immediately realized what Vyaltseva lacked for a brilliant career. Since there were no educational institutions where you could get a vocal education in those days, the philanthropist paid the singer classes with famous teachers and mentors. Anastasia attended a training course during which she was given a voice. She lived in Italy for several months and studied singing with world famous performers. After a year and a half, the trained singer performed her first recital on the stage of the Moscow Hermitage Theater.
The noble public met Vyaltseva's performance with thunderous applause, turning into a standing ovation. Newspapers carried news of an outstanding singer across the country. Following the good news, the singer also went on tour. A passenger ship was chartered for the trip, on which Anastasia sailed across the Volga, from source to mouth. Then she got into a carriage and reached the Urals by rail. After a while, the singer built a special carriage in which she went on tour around the country and abroad. This carriage housed a kitchen, a bathtub, a place for a servant and a room for rest.
Queen of Russian gramophone
The unprecedented success of Anastasia Vyaltseva is due to several components. Firstly, she performed folk songs, gypsy romances and popular arias from operas. Secondly, the singer had an attractive appearance and natural charm. Communicating with the public was simple and not arrogant. I always tried to sing all the songs that I ordered for an encore. And thirdly, Vyaltseva did not sit still. On trips, she spent eight months out of twelve. Arriving even in the provincial town, the singer arranged a holiday for all residents. And the "uncouth" provincials did not spare money for tickets.
When mass production of phonograph records began in Russia, the recordings of Vyaltseva’s songs and romances diverged instantly. The market value of one record reached six rubles. It was at that time that someone jokingly called the singer "Queen of the Russian gramophone." There was a fair amount of truth in this. The voice of Anastasia sounded from the record in the noble assemblies, and in merchant shops, and in peasant huts. "My bonfire", "Three", "In the moonlight" and other songs people knew by heart.
