Aleksandrova-Kochetova, Aleksandra

Aleksandrova-Kochetova, Aleksandra Dormidontovna 

(real surname Sokolova, married name Kochetova, stage name Aleksandrova). Born Oct. 13 (25), 1833, in St. Petersburg; died Nov. 4 (17), 1902, in Moscow. Russian lyric coloratura soprano and teacher.

Aleksandrova-Kochetova studied music and singing in Berlin under G. Teschner and later in St. Petersburg under F. Ronconi. Appearing at first only in concerts, she made her debut in 1865 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and continued to appear there until 1878. Her roles included Nadezhda (Askold’s Grave by Verstovskii), Antonida and Liudmila (Glinka’s Ivan Susanin and Ruslan and Liudmila), Marguerite (Gounod’s Faust), Norma (in Bellini’s opera of the same name), and others. She was endowed with a beautiful, flexible voice and exceptional musicianship, and she actively promoted the culture of Russian opera. In 1867 she appeared in the performance of Glinka’s operas in Prague, and she was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory from 1866 to 1880. Her students included the famous Russian singers P. A. Khokhlov and E. P. Kadmina.

REFERENCE

“Aleksandra Dormidontovna Aleksandrova-Kochetova” (obituary). Ezhegodnik imperatorskikh teatrov, 1903–1904 season, issue 14 (supplement). St. Petersburg (no date).