Georg Ots
Encyclopedia
Georg Ots, People's Artist of the USSR
(21 March 1920, Petrograd, Russian SFSR – 5 September 1975, Tallinn
, Estonia
) was an Estonia
n opera singer. His father was the renowned tenor Karl Ots.
, where an Estonian cultural centre had been established, Ots was a young Navy Officer who had escaped a sinking ship and taken prisoner in Russia. He was released a year later, and on his return home he auditioned for the conservatory in Tallinn
. At the same time, he became a member of the chorus at the Estonia Theatre
in Tallinn. His solo opera debut was a tiny part in Eugene Onegin
(1944). He soon became one of the most revered singers with this opera company, with whom he sang from 1951 until his death in 1975.
Ots was also a welcomed performer in all the major opera houses of the former Soviet Union, being especially popular at the Bolshoi Theatre
in Moscow. His repertoire included the roles of: Eugene Onegin
, Yeletzky, Escamillo, Renato
, Don Giovanni
, Papageno, Rigoletto, Iago
, Porgy
, Figaro
, and the title role in Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon. Ots sang in Estonian, Russian, Finnish, German, Italian and French, and was fluent in all six languages. Ots's most famous role, with which he is often identified with, was the leading character in Anton Rubinstein
's opera The Demon
. The libretto of The Demon is based on Mikhail Lermontov
's famous epic poem, once banned because of its plot line which involves a misalliance between a dark angel and a Georgian princess. Georg Ots's interpretation of the Demon was admired and loved all over Russia, and made Lermontov's controversial poem even more famous.
The popularity of Ots culminated in 1958 with the release of the Lenfilm
Studios musical Mister X, based on Imre Kalman's operetta Die Zirkusprinzessin
. Ots also played a leading role in Between Three Plagues, a film based on a historical novel by Jaan Kross
which illuminates the life of Balthasar Russow
(played by Ots), a distinguished Estonian writer and chronicler. Russow (1536–1600) was the author of Chronicle of Livonia, a masterpiece which describes the life "of" and "in" Estonia between the 12-th and 16-th century and is one of the most important literary works on Estonian culture and history of that period.
Ots loved to perform songs by Schubert
, Mussorgsky
, Tchaikovsky
and several other Russian composers, and was also a devoted interpreter of Estonian folk songs. His voice could be heard on radio and TV all over the Soviet Union, and all his records sold out almost immediately.
He also performed successfully in various European countries. After his death in 1975, the Tallinn Music School was named after him (now Georg Otsa nimeline Tallinna Muusikakool). In 1997, Russian scientists gave his name to a newly discovered minor planet
. He was married three times (to Margot, Asta and Ilona Ots respectively) and had two daughters, a son (daughter Ülle and son Ülo with Asta, and daughter Mariann with Ilona) and two adopted sons (Hendrik and Jüri).
, a fiction film based on his life was released.
People's Artist of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...
(21 March 1920, Petrograd, Russian SFSR – 5 September 1975, Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
) was an Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n opera singer. His father was the renowned tenor Karl Ots.
Biography
Before studying singing with the Estonian baritone Aleksander Arder in YaroslavlYaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
, where an Estonian cultural centre had been established, Ots was a young Navy Officer who had escaped a sinking ship and taken prisoner in Russia. He was released a year later, and on his return home he auditioned for the conservatory in Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
. At the same time, he became a member of the chorus at the Estonia Theatre
Estonia Theatre
The Estonia Theater is an opera house and concert hall in Tallinn, Estonia.The Jugendstil building was designed by Finnish architects Armas Lindgren and Wivi Lönn. It was built as a national effort with the leadership of Estonia society in 1913 and was opened to the public on August 24th...
in Tallinn. His solo opera debut was a tiny part in Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
(1944). He soon became one of the most revered singers with this opera company, with whom he sang from 1951 until his death in 1975.
Ots was also a welcomed performer in all the major opera houses of the former Soviet Union, being especially popular at the Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
in Moscow. His repertoire included the roles of: Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
, Yeletzky, Escamillo, Renato
Renato
-People:* Renato, a given name derived from the Latin name Renatus .* San Renato, a saint of the Catholic Church.* Renato Vallanzasca, notorious Milanese mobster during the 1970s....
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Papageno, Rigoletto, Iago
Iago
Iago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient . He is the husband of Emilia,...
, Porgy
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
, Figaro
Figaro
-Literature:* Figaro, the central character in:** The Barber of Seville by Beaumarchais***Il barbiere di Siviglia , the opera by Paisiello based on Beaumarchais' play...
, and the title role in Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon. Ots sang in Estonian, Russian, Finnish, German, Italian and French, and was fluent in all six languages. Ots's most famous role, with which he is often identified with, was the leading character in Anton Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
's opera The Demon
The Demon (opera)
The Demon is an opera in three acts by Russian composer Anton Rubinstein. The work was composed in 1871. The libretto was by Pavel Viskovatov, based on the poem of the same name by Mikhail Lermontov.-Background:...
. The libretto of The Demon is based on Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
's famous epic poem, once banned because of its plot line which involves a misalliance between a dark angel and a Georgian princess. Georg Ots's interpretation of the Demon was admired and loved all over Russia, and made Lermontov's controversial poem even more famous.
The popularity of Ots culminated in 1958 with the release of the Lenfilm
Lenfilm
Kinostudiya "Lenfilm" is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios,...
Studios musical Mister X, based on Imre Kalman's operetta Die Zirkusprinzessin
Die Zirkusprinzessin
Die Zirkusprinzessin is an operetta in three acts by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán to a German libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald. It premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 26 March 1926 and went on to 344 performances there.The plot revolves around a romantic intrigue...
. Ots also played a leading role in Between Three Plagues, a film based on a historical novel by Jaan Kross
Jaan Kross
-Early life:Born in Tallinn, Estonia, studied Jacob Westholm´s Grammar school, Kross attended the University of Tartu and graduated from its School of Law...
which illuminates the life of Balthasar Russow
Balthasar Russow
Balthasar Russow was one of the most important Livonian and Estonian chroniclers.Russow was born in Reval . He was educated at an academy in Stettin in Pomerania...
(played by Ots), a distinguished Estonian writer and chronicler. Russow (1536–1600) was the author of Chronicle of Livonia, a masterpiece which describes the life "of" and "in" Estonia between the 12-th and 16-th century and is one of the most important literary works on Estonian culture and history of that period.
Ots loved to perform songs by Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
, Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
and several other Russian composers, and was also a devoted interpreter of Estonian folk songs. His voice could be heard on radio and TV all over the Soviet Union, and all his records sold out almost immediately.
He also performed successfully in various European countries. After his death in 1975, the Tallinn Music School was named after him (now Georg Otsa nimeline Tallinna Muusikakool). In 1997, Russian scientists gave his name to a newly discovered minor planet
Minor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
. He was married three times (to Margot, Asta and Ilona Ots respectively) and had two daughters, a son (daughter Ülle and son Ülo with Asta, and daughter Mariann with Ilona) and two adopted sons (Hendrik and Jüri).
Cultural references
In November 2005, a musical Georg based on Georg Ots' life was premiered in Tallinn, and on October 5, 2007, GeorgGeorg (film)
Georg is a 2007 biography drama film about Estonian singer Georg Ots. It was directed by Peeter Simm and written by Mati Põldre and Aleksandr Borodyansky. They used interview material from Georg Ots' second wife Asta Ots...
, a fiction film based on his life was released.