On 20 February the opera Eugene Onegin at the historic Mariinsky Theatre will be dedicated to the memory ofto one of its greatest performers – Honoured Artist of the RSFSR Lev Mikhailovich Morozov (1931–1971), an unrivalled Onegin in the 1960s.
Lev Morozov’s artistic career began in Moscow. Native to Kaluga, he studied at the Moscow Conservatoire under Hugo Titz, an experienced teacher who trained a plethora of brilliant singers. After graduating from the conservatoire in 1957 he was immediately invited to become a soloist at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre. By then the singer had already been victorious at the All-Union Vocalists’ and Ballet Dancers’ Competition and the competition of the VI World Festival of Young People and Students. At the theatre, Morozov appeared in various roles, initially performing the title part in Franz Suppe’s Boccaccio, half a year later appearing as Andrei Bolkonsky in the Moscow premiere of Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace – that was the first stage production of all thirteen of the opera’s scenes.
In 1958 Lev Morozov won the International Opera Singers’ Competition in Geneva. Success also accompanied at the Bolshoi Theatre, where he sang as Eugene Onegin in a production alongside Galina Vishnevskaya as Tatiana.
From 1959 Lev Morozov was a lead soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre (then known as the Kirov Theatre), to which he dedicated twelve years of his thirty-nine-year-long life. Here he performed lead roles in the baritone repertoire including Telramund (Lohengrin), Mazepa, Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Valentin (Faust), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Don Carlo (La forza del destino) and Don Carlos (Betrothal in a Monastery). His interpretation of the role of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia was to prove a tremendous artistic success.
This stunning performer was also eagerly sought out for filming and voicing roles in cinema. Morozov provided the vocals for Sergei Yurski’s performance as Prince Nikita Petrovich Baturin in Roman Tikhomirov’s famous musical film The Serf Actress based on Nikolai Strelnikov’s operetta The Bondmaid. 1964 saw the screen release of director Valentin Vasiliev’s film Grooms and Knives based on two early operettas by Isaak Dunaevsky in which Morozov was partnered by the actors Vladimir Ulyanov, Kirill Lavrov and Nikolai Trofimov.
At the theatre Lev Morozov enjoyed unconditional respect from his colleagues. In his memoirs, Vladimir Atlantov dedicated these lines to the performer: “One of the finest baritones with whom I have had the privilege to work, Lev Morozov is handsome, clever and witty.” Konstantin Pluzhnikov also had a high regard for his talent: “I was enraptured by his Onegin. The performer’s inherent vivid acting style, and the beauty and gentleness of the timbre of his voice could not be bettered in creating this character...” Lyudmila Filatova recalled him as an intelligent, tactile, sincere and vulnerable man. His untimely death was a great loss for the company.
Lev Morozov as Eugene Onegin
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