Below are the memoirs of the leading chorus master of the National Opera of Ukraine, Shevchenko prize winner, and Hero of Ukraine Lev VENEDYKTOV about a brilliant conductor and pedagogue, who has educated a whole pleiad of high class vocalists.
Veniamin Tolba was born and educated in Kharkiv. He began his artistic ventures at the Kharkiv Theater of Opera and Ballet. Tolba dedicated 20 years of his life, 1942-59, to the Kyiv Opera House, and by 1973 worked as a professor at the Kyiv Conservatoire.
All artists have their own milestones of creative enterprise, like masterly strokes on the canvases of their lives. One of Tolba's was when, in 1948, the season opening in the Kyiv Opera House featured the premiere of Mikhail Glinka’s Ivan Susanin, performed by the brilliant lineup of Sholina, Tomm (a graduate student of the conservatoire at the time), Kyporenko-Domansky, and Romensky. The festive atmosphere was created by the combination of a wonderfully sounding chorus and orchestra, the finesse of the ensembles, and a very artistic theater set (O.Khvostenko-Khvostov).When the waltz appeared in the second act, the theater play turned into a marvel of harmonious unity, both visual and audial. The stage showed the splendid scenery of a Polish castle, with contours that seemed to be melting away in the distance. Graceful and refined, the imponderable Antonina Vasylieva was standing out against this background, and her plasticity seemed to be singing. All this merged harmoniously, along with the slight and transparent pianissimo of the orchestra, conducted by Tolba.
The audience held its breath. This was a rare real-life example of the well-known golden rule of Ariy Pazovsky, who used to say, “A true opera conductor always hears what he sees and sees what he hears.” The artistic principles of the maestro, whom Tolba assisted in 1934, appeared to be close to the young conductor’s personality and in many ways determined his future creative path. Those included both work with the scores, and feeling the play as a unbroken music-stage process, when the conductor becomes “an organizer of the music dramaturgy.” It also required deep knowledge of singing, which enabled him to make ensembles and expanded operatic scenes sound perfectly, and, ultimately, performing of the organizing functions of a conductor, uniting the endeavors of hundreds of people while the play is being produced.
Tolba had staged over 20 plays in the Kyiv Opera House. However, it is not the quantity that impresses, but the quality with which those plays were performed, their wonderful coordination and extraordinary interpretation which would be preserved for many years to come. This was achieved by sticking steadfast to his main working rule “The music process, like any other process, starts from its organization.” Keeping to the classical adage, “serving to muses should not be fussing”, Tolba, together with his production unit, which included the heads of technical shops (stage engineers, lighting technicians, and stage designers), made a calendar plan of the play’s production, which referred to all the stages of rehearsal, according to the established methods.
The plan determined the time and number of lessons for the soloists and chorus to learn their parts, the number of corrections, standings, orchestral rehearsals and dry runs, as well as general rehearsals. Following the working plan strictly secured a deep understanding of the material, a knowledgeable and expressive performance, and a single basis for interpretation. Should those methods be violated or removed, the inevitable result would be chaos, frantic rush, dis-coordination of the process, and finally, a low performance level and one-day plays, which, unfortunately, have become increasingly frequent nowadays.
Classical music masterpieces from around the world topped the repertoire of the conductor. However, he paid an equal amount of attention and interest to the works of contemporary Ukrainian composers. Working with them was always one of theater’s key tasks and the most direct road to the present-day opera’s formation. The authors were immensely happy to hand their scores over to the careful master. Tolba’s contribution into this very important part of his creative work is inestimable: Naimychka (A Hireling) by Mykhailo Verykovsky (1943), Ches't (Honor; 1947)) and Rostyslava (1955) by Herman Zhukovsky, Moloda hvardia (Young Guard; 1947) and Zoria nad Dvinoiu (The Dawn on the Dvina; 1953) by Yurii Meitus, Milana (1957) and Arsenal (1960) by Hryhorii Maiboroda, Pryborkannia norovlyvoi by Visarion Shebalin (1959).
So many singers have gone through the wonderful training school of this outstanding master! I. Maslennikova, A. Kikot, D. Hnatiuk, A. Hryhoriev, S. Danyliuk, S. Liubymova, V. Matveev – the list is endless. Tolba’s talent as a teacher and indisputable authority revealed themselves in repeated individual work with young people who had good vocal and scenic qualities, but did not have any artistic experience on the professional opera stage. All the graduates of the Kyiv Conservatoire who came to the theater had taken a training course under his guidance, as a professor of the conservatoire’s Operatic Preparation Department, and continued to be imbued by his influence whilst in the theater.
There is every reason to call him a wizard of ensemble operatic scenes. Tolba started to work on plays long before meeting any group. During the very first rehearsal the conductor provided his orchestra and singers with exhaustive information about the work, its authors, historical epoch, and performing traditions. The combination of deep knowledge and determination in achieving the desired sounding created an atmosphere of mutual desire to perform the opera even better and helped in overcoming difficulties. Another helpful factor in achieving success was his authority, and, as everybody knows, “only strong personalities possess authority.”
The intensity of Tolba’s work, when the preparation of the premiere was underway, was nothing but delightful. Correction rehearsals with an orchestra were held at 9 - 12 a.m., mise en scene rehearsals with the chorus, soloists, and extras took place from 12 to 3; he personally conducted each of them, especially after the play was arranged by the director. In the evening, 7 - 11 p.m., he had lessons with soloists, chorus, singers and so forth. And that was a daily schedule!
Tolba had no mercy for himself and demanded the same from performers. There was no way to sing in undertones at an orchestral rehearsal, because there was a need to establish a well-balanced sound for the stage and the orchestra, the primary task at that stage of play’s preparation. Even the director of the Hontar Theater, who was not quite sympathic towards Tolba, said unwittingly, “What a master!” during the orchestral rehearsal in the finale of the second act of Milana, at its culmination. There was an absolutely unbelievable mobilization, concentration of every possibility of the play’s participants; the tempo and rhythm given to the plays since the beginning remained unchanged till the permiere’s end and were decisive for its further performances by various lineups for many years ahead.
Apparently, this was the secret why the plays created by Tolba ran on stage for a really long time. All his performances, even being played for the 50th time, still preserved their premiere level: the same preciseness and accuracy of performing, the same inspiration, and festive feeling. Even with another person at the the conductor’s stand, the play was convincing in its artistic logic and stable performing level.
Tolba’s interest and enthusiasm while preparing play were very impressive. When he entered the theater, everyone saw that the man was going to a feast. Starting from his appearance and finishing with some inner concentration, there was a wholesome complex of creativity, which could only be released at the conductor’s stand. He felt every slip acutely, each inaccurate performance and mistake made in the plays, but he clearly distinguished their reasons, when they were caused by an accident, or by carelessness, hence a second offense.
Once the soloist Mykhailo Shevchenko, who had extraordinary vocal qualities in the play Bal-maskarad (Masquerade), paid to much attention to the mise en scene task – to turn down the light of the lantern he was holding in his hand – and missed to say his words, having sung a note, he left the stage in a mysterious way. This was followed by a pause. Usually such accidents are followed by a loud dressing-down. That time the conductor confined himself to a note he wrote opposite Shevchenko’s surname in the book of remarks to the performance, which said “The actor was holding the lantern in a good way!”.
It is interesting to note that Tolba was an especially light, wondrously handsome, and very nice person after the premiere and nervous tension. He was not superstitious, but believed in theatrical signs. In the period when Bal-maskarad was being staged, we were going along the street in a large group of singers and musicians. Having dropped the opera’s clavier on the sidewalk, Tolba sat on it before the eyes of the audience (According to a custom, if the score falls down, one must sit on it so that the performance was a success, and he did this without a moment’s hesitation. – L.S.).
In his last years Tolba paid much attention to score instrumentation and editing (for example, Revutsky’s Second Symphony), wrote monographs about his colleagues, composers, conductors, and singers. Those stories, largely collected in his book Statti. Spohady, are kindled by the kind heart of the great master, who appreciated a person’s talent, and most importantly, their ability and desire to work in the way he did throughout his bright and intense artistic career.
I have always wondered at how easily the Ukrainian leadership of those times let go of prominent conductors like Tolba, Rakhlin, and Simeonov. After his retirement in 1959, when he had not yet reached the age of 50, Tolba gave lectures in the conservatoire for 14 years, having no possibility to work in the theater in the same period. In a similar manner, the leadership did not try to keep either Rakhlin or Simeonov, who left the country in 1962 and 1966, respectively, when conflicts arose. As a result, Kyiv lost its three greatest conductors within eight years. This immediately affected the music life of our capital. I am sure that today’s state of music performance and lack of cadre conductors are directly connected with the thoughtless and irresponsible way the outstanding conductors of that time were treated.
Tolba was wonderful in his diffidence and modesty. He went to Minsk not to be present at his 70th jubilee. I dedicated my publication in the magazine Muzyka to this date. Suddenly I received a letter from Minsk (in an envelope with Lev Tolstoy’s portrait) which said: “Dear Lev Mykolaiovych, your article about me is wonderful (as a writer you have not disgraced the writer with the same name as yours). Everything is good in your article, which is original and written in a talented and intelligent way, but a little shortcoming: instead of my name you should have put another person’s, one who deserves your brilliant article more than I.”
In my memory he has remained as a teacher, a mentor, an extraordinary person with a good sense of humor and high dignity, and a great musician. Tolba used to say, “A lawyer has died in me, I have wanted to be a lawyer for my whole life.” But, fortunately for us, he has brought immense joy to everyone by working as a musician.
Lev Venedyktov is main chorus master of the National Opera of Ukraine, winner of the Shevchenko Prize, Hero of Ukraine
