Alexandre Ilitch Mozjoukhine

Alexandre is a famous opera singer of the 1920s and the older brother of actor $Ivan Mosjoukhine$. He spent his childhood in Sergievskoye, not far from Penza. Ilya Ivanovich, Alexander's father, was the manager of the Princes Obolensky estate. His mother, Rachel Ivanovna, daughter of the Sergievskoye priest Ivan Apolonovich Lastochkin, possessed a voice of extraordinary beauty (Mezzo-soprano). After three years of study at the provincial school, Alexander continued his studies at the diocesan school of St Tikhon, then at the seminary of Penza (1894-1900). In 1900 he entered the music and drama school of the Moscow Philharmonic society, in the violin class, where he studied for three years with teachers M. Press and V. Bezekirsky. For a year and a half, he took private singing lessons with teacher Y. Vishnevetskaya, who, noticing his student's talent, taught him the bass opera parts. From 1905, he began his career in the provinces, then in the capital. Alexander Mozjukhin toured throughout Russia and abroad as a distinguished soloist of the first category - at the level of F. Chaliapin, tours which took him from Odessa to Yekaterinburg, from Tiflis to Siberian cities (1915-1916) . In Petrograd, he met the talented singer, pianist and actress Cleopatra Andreevna Carassarini (stage name Cleo Carini), born in Sevastopol into a Russified Greek family. She becomes his wife and his companion until his death. He participated in the civil war in kyiv and at the front. In 1921, the Mozjoukins toured (his wife always accompanied him during his concerts) to the cities of Russia, including Penza, in 1922-1923 — again to Moscow. It was Alexander Ilyich who had the idea to create the “Circle of Friends of Chamber Music” in Petrograd in 1922, in which he directed the teaching work and of which he was the head. In 1923-1924, the Mozjoukhins toured Europe: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, England, Italy, late 1923 – early 1924 — America, then China and Japan until mid-1925.

In 1926, he emigrated to France with his wife and joined his brother Ivan. The fate of the other members of the family was very sad: deprivation of civil rights, arrests, deportations, the two other brothers Alexei and Constantin were shot in 1937 and 1938.

Alexander Ilyich sang in the operas of Riga, Paris, Vienna, but mainly took part in concerts, on tour in European countries. In addition, he, together with K. D. Agrenev-Slavyansky, created the troupe “Russian Opera in Paris”, trained beginning artists. This troupe performed musical masterpieces in Russian and had great success. Alexander Mozjoukhin was friends with I. Bilibin, A. Kuprin, Sasha Tcherny.

In June 1941, he was imprisoned by the German occupation authorities in a concentration camp near Compiègne, in September of the same year, he returned very weakened to Paris, where however he continued to perform. His last concert took place on 5.7.1950. He made numerous requests to return to the USSR, always in vain. In 1966 his widow was finally allowed to do so.

Alexandre Mozjoukhine in the role of Don Quixote in the comic opera

1942 concert poster

Alexandee Mozjoukhine and his father Ilia in 1920