Memorials › Irra Stepanovna Petina Bussey

Irra Stepanovna Petina Bussey

18 Apr 1908 – 19 Jan 2000

Birth18 Apr 1908
Death19 Jan 2000
Added byR.C. on 24 Sep 2014
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136348803

Bio

(Russian: Ирра Петина, Ирина Степановна Петина) Actress and singer. a leading contralto with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She was called the "floperetta queen" by critic Ken Mandelbaum. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Petina was the daughter of General Stephen Petin, Czar Nicholas II's personal escort, and a goddaughter of the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna. Her debut role with the Met was as Schwertleite in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre (the second part of the acclaimed Ring Cycle) on December 29, 1933. She went on to appear as Maddalena in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto with Jan Peerce, the Marquise of Berkenfeld in Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment with Lily Pons, Mallika in Léo Delibes's Lakmé, Feodor in Boris Godunov, Annina in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and the title role in Bizet's Carmen. Petina's portrayal of Marcellina in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (twenty-seven Met performances in all, with four radio broadcasts), won her rave reviews from the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune. Additional credits include thirty-five Met performances as Berta in Rossini's The Barber of Seville and, despite being a contralto, the high soprano role of Rosalinde in a 1944 national tour of Johann Strauss, Jr.'s operetta Die Fledermaus. Petina also appeared on Broadway in such productions as Song of Norway (1947), Magdelena (1948), Hit the Trail (1954), Leonard Bernstein's Candide (1957), for which she received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and Anya (1965). Petina appeared as herself in Andrew L. Stone's film There's Magic in Music (1941). Asked how to pronounce her name, she told The Literary Digest the first syllable should be stressed: PEH-ti-na. (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.) She married Dr. Frank Bussey, and died in Austin, Texas. Nominated for Broadway's 1957 Tony Award as Best Spporting or Featured Actress (Musical) for Candide. --------------------------------------- Though she was a minor performer, Russian-born operetta star Irra Petina sang in 444 performances in her nearly twenty years with the Metropolitan Opera. She is famous among opera lovers as the originator of the Old lady in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, "in which Petina's gleeful performance as the uni-buttocked Old lady has never been equaled."1 A vibrant comic performer and accomplished singer, Petina came from an important Russian family. Her father, General Stephen Petin, was a personal escort to Tsar Nicholas II during World War I. At the onset of the Russian Revolution, Petina's family left Russia, moving to China, where she received her earliest training. Later, she studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Coincidental to her own background, in 1965 Petina appeared on Broadway with Lillian Gish in Anya, the story of a young woman discovered after the war and thought to be Princess Anastasia, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. Petina, who played Katrina, was credited with giving the play its comic element—in this show, she lived up to her reputation as "no slouch as singer or comedienne."2 Irra Petina was a valued member of the Metropolitan Opera and the international opera community for the length of her career. "Petina's intelligence, vivacity and wit, allied with her accomplished vocalism and imaginative acting," Paul F. Driscoll wrote in Opera News, "made her a unique and important personality, a worthy colleague of the great singers of her age. ================================================== courtesy of a newspaper columnist ........ Today's Austin American-Statesman announces the death of Irra Petina, Thursday, January 20, 2000, here in Austin. She had been a resident of the city since 1974. Her husband Dr. Frank R. Bussey II was a Texan and wanted to move back to the state in his later years. He preceded her in death and also her son, Frank R. Bussey III. She is survived by three grandsons. I interviewed Irra Petina many times on my Dallas, Texas opera program back in the late 70's-- in fact, she was something of a regular, staying around in the studio for the program's three hour length; and we'd talk (along with her son and daughter-in-law) about everything under the sun, while the records and tapes played. She was a delightful guest, charming, intelligent, candid and outgoing: a small, seemingly fragile woman who projected a lively, energized personality. She had the unusual gift of literally recreating herself on stage; the ability to assume a role which made her appear much bigger or more sensuous or more crude than she, in fact, was. Her Old Woman in Candide was a wonderful example of this art, for it was nothing like her in real life. I also have several live, taped duets she did with Robert Merrill and Tommy Heyward back in the late 40's (Carmen, Mignon, etc), where she again sings with passion and accuracy, and slips with chameleon-like ease inside another persona. I wish I had more recorded material of Petina, but like so many of her colleagues at the time, she never bothered getting copies of her performances. She was delighted to hear the duets, smiled at my compliments, but said nothing. Her son pointed out what a ruthless self-critic she was. And she never played the games that were required backstage at the Met for less-than-stellar names to further their careers. That, plus her forays onto the musical stage, were sufficient to condemn her to oblivion during the Bing years. Typically, she never said a word against Bing. Irra Petina maintained a slight Russian accent in her later years (though it was certainly not as broad as Candide's Old Woman). Her grammar was flawless. Her voice, during its prime (and you can hear this for yourself on Met broadcasts of the 40's) was a rich but precise mezzo with extensions into the contralto range, and astonishing breath support given her size. (But then, Bernardo de Muro, Heyward's teacher, was only 5' tall, and he was one of the greatest Italian heroic tenors of the century, as his recordings reveal.) I often wondered if she would have been another Dolukhanova or Simionato, had she come along a few years later when the Bel Canto revival was just starting. As it was, she lent a touch of distinction to whatever supporting role the Met thrust her into. She was one of those stalwarts who always "gave" 120%. May she be at peace. I'll raise a toast to her tonight. Barry Brenesal

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