Bruno Eduardovich Makhin
Makhin was born in Vilnius (called by its Russian name Vilno at the time) at an unknown date; also his date and place of death are unknown.
Makhin made his debut in St. Petersburg as Bajan in 1898. The reference indicates it was at the
Mariinskij. This is probably wrong as the Mariinskij chronology does not list him.
1898–1900, he sang in Moscow (debut as Lenskij at the Solodovnikov Theater).
He appeared in Odessa (1902), Kiev (1903, 1906, 1908), Tiflis (1907–08), Vilnius (1909, 1910, company M. Medvedev), Irkutsk
(winter 1909/10, company M. M. Borodaj), Kharkiv (1910) and Riga (1910–11).
On the provincial scene, he enjoyed great success.
He retired after a 1910 operation.
His repertory included:
First sailor (Skazka o tsare Saltane/The tale of tsar Saltan, 1910), Vladimir Igorevich, Sinodal, Dubrovskij, Lykov,
Mozart (24 April 1903, Kiev, with Fjodor Shaljapin), Lenskij, German, Faust (1903 and 1906, Kiev, with Fjodor Shaljapin),
José, Werther, Alfredo, Jontek, ...
He made six records in Kiev (Gramophone, 1903).
Reference: Arkadij Pruzhanskij: Otechestvennye pevtsy (Domestic singers) 1750–1917, Moscow 1991
Ashot Arakelyan reminded of what Sergej Levik wrote in his book An opera singer's notes
Makhin had a beautiful lyric tenor, which he continually forced into mezzo-carattere roles. Werther or Jontek ought to
have been the limit for such
a voice, but he sang Vladimir Dubrovskij and José, and quite early on paid a high price for it. He had a defective
intonation, a poor memory, often mixed the words up and would get out of sync
with the orchestra, but he had a beautiful quality of voice, his delivery was soft and noble, although he frequently abused the
overexpressive style. They were fond of this gifted and sensitive singer in the south.
After a performance of Evgenij Onegin in Vilnius, where Makhin got his first entry wrong, made mistakes and sang out of tune, the
the Vilno Herald (per Sergej Levik) wrote:
It was difficult for the audience to listen to Mr. Makhin, in larger type in the program as a guest artist, throwing everybody else
out in the quartet by not knowing the role, and going unpardonably out of tune in the arioso. It was said that Mr. Malkhin
was unwell and had almost lost his voice. Is that any excuse?
The Vilno Herald even went as far as writing We're not sure if this singer has had any success, although only a year before,
it had written laudatory verses extolling Makhin.
Makhin retired from the stage shortly after. Having strained his voice and found nodules on the vocal chords, he underwent a
serious operation
in the spring of 1910. After recovery and a few more performances, he disappeared from sight.
I wish to thank Ashot Arakelyan for the information on Makhin.
Discography
Kiev 1903
1650z V teni zadumchivago sada/In the shade of a dreamy garden (Balabanov) 2-22589
1651z Kakoe shchaste/What happiness (A. D. Davydov) 2-22590, X-62399
1652z Evgenij Onegin: Ja ljublju vas, Olga/I love you, Olga (Chajkovskij) 2-22601, X-62400
1653z Lakmé: Ne smushchaj zhe moj pokoj/Fantaisie aux divins mensonges (Delibes) 2-22608
1654z Rigoletto: Serdtse krasavitsy/La donna è mobile (Verdi) 2-22631
1655z Lakmé: Akh, les k sebe nas prizyvaet/Ah viens dans la forêt profonde (Delibes) 2-22591
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