Favourite historic recordings :Medea Mei Figner Liza's aria from The Queen Of Spades

Writing about Tchaikovsky this morning led me to thinking about another post in my "historical" series.  This is Medea Mei Figner, who created the role of Liza in the Queen of Spades in 1890 along with her Husband, who created the role of Hermann.  The couple were an important part of the Russian operatic work at the end of the 19th century and created several important roles.  Medea also gave the first Russian performance of several key roles, including Mimi, in La Boheme, for which she received coaching from Puccini himself.

There is a magic about creator records, particular those stretching so far back, and it is wonderful to be able to hear this.  But there is also a note of caution to be had.  Tchaikovsky got very annoyed with the way that the Figners altered his music - they even wanted to him to revise the printed score to reflect their "improvements".  The end of this aria is a case in point - the printed score does not include the very low notes with which Mei Figner ends the aria.  Some sources say that this is an alternative ending sanctioned by Tchaikovsky, but others are not as definitive and it is at least possible that the invention was from Mei Figner alone and Tchaikovsky was forced to go along with it.

Medea had a very interesting life and lived on until 1952.  Very late in life she recorded an interview in which she talked about working with Tchaikovsky.  So far I have not tracked this down on line but if I do I will post a link