Alexander KipnisVictor Recordings 1945/6
In the search for suitable and evocative words to
describe a particular vocal quality, usually, for the bass
voice one would expect of course adjectives like deep,
black, sonorous, cavernous, thundering, impressive or
even noble. Rarely is the word beautiful used.
However, in the case of Alexander Kipnis, it most
certainly applies.
Alexander Kipnis was born into a very poor family
in Zhitomir, Ukraine on l February 1891. They were
very proud of the extraordinary quality of his singing
voice, which attracted the attention of a visiting cantor
from Bessarabia, who heard him as a soloist in the local
synagogue choir. So taken was he by the boy’s natural
talent, that, with a promise of some payment, the
cantor persuaded Alexander’s mother to let him leave
home and become a chorister at his synagogue.
Alexander was befriended by one of the older singers
with whom he lodged and who taught him the
rudiments of music and also some Lieder. Kipnis then
won a scholarship to enter the Warsaw Conservatoire,
initially to study conducting, but of course he
continued to sing, his voice having broken and become
a bass. He decided to move to Berlin, undertaking
further vocal studies with the well-known teacher
Ernst Grenzebach.
This compilation is a tribute to one of the greatest
bass voices ever to have recorded. |
