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Lev Klementiev was one of Russia’s foremost tenors at the turn of the 20th Century. Born on April 1, 1868 in St. Petersburg, Klementiev made his debut at the tender age of 18 as Barinkay in Strauss’ Gypsy Baron. Realizing he needed further studies, the budding tenor began a period of intense vocal training with K. I. Krzhizhanovsky while touring with a small operetta company. His debut on the formal opera stage came in 1892 as Herman in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades at the Bolshoi in Moscow. Klementiev remained at the Bolshoi for the next decade, performing the principal tenor roles in such works as Yevgeny Onegin, Rusalka, Lakmé, Faust, Iolanthe, The Demon, Carmen, Aïda, Un Ballo in Maschera, Die Walküre, Tannhäuser and Les Huguenots and sang in the world premieres of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden, Rachmaninov’s Aleko and Cui’s Angelo. After leaving the Bolshoi in 1902, Klementiev sang with The Mariinsky theatre and a few of the smaller houses in St. Petersburg and Moscow (The People’s Opera of St. Petersburg, The Arcadia, The Letni Buff Theatre, The Society of Private Opera, , etc…) and occupied his time with touring companies. He continued to add roles to his repertoire, including Canio in Pagliacci, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and what is considered his greatest role, the title role in Rubenstein’s Néron. Unfortunately, years of touring adversely affected the tenor’s health. During a concert in Tiflis on October 7, 1910, Klementiev collapsed and fell into a coma. He died six days later, without having regained consciousness. He was only 42 years old. Klementiev left behind a handful of gramophone records, made between 1902 and 1909.
