Tchaikovsky
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Mariia Klimentova-Muromtseva (1856–1946)

Mariia Klimentova-Muromtseva

Russian soprano and singing teacher (b. 1856 in Voronezh; d. 1946), born Mariia Nikolaevna Klimentova (Мария Николаева Климентова, Marija Nikolaevna Klimentova, Mariya Nikolayevna Klimentova), and known after her marriage as Mariia Nikolaevna Klimentova-Muromtseva (Мария Николаева Климентова-Муромцева, Marija Nikolaevna Klimentova-Muromceva, Mariya Nikolayevna Klimentova-Muromtseva).

After attending school in Voronezh, Mariia studied singing at the Moscow Conservatory, where she was also a student in Tchaikovsky's classes on music theory. In 1880 she graduated and made her debut at the Bol'shoi Theatre in Moscow in the role of Margaret in Gounod's Faust. She remained at the Bol'shoi for eight years, and gained a high reputation as a coloratura soprano. During the 1880s she also performed at the Mariinskii Theatre in Saint Petersburg, and toured at the National Theatre in Prague. In 1891 she established a school for singers in Moscow.

Mariia was the first performer of the roles of Tat'iana in Evgenii Onegin in the conservatory students' production of 1879, and of Oksana in Cherevichki at the Bol'shoi in 1887, and earned much praise from Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky's correspondence with Mariia Klimentova-Muromtseva:

• 13 letters from Tchaikovsky to Mariia Klimentova-Muromtseva have survived, dating from 1885 to 1893.