Myszuga Aleksander, pseudonym Alessandro Filippi, *19 (7) June 1853 Witków Nowy (near Lviv), †9 March 1922 Freiburg im Breisgau, Ukrainian singer (tenor) and teacher. He graduated from a teachers’ seminary in Lviv, while learning singing with W. Wysocki. On 13 September 1880, he performed at the Moniuszko concert at the S. Skarbek Theater in Lviv. From 1881, he studied in Milan with A. Giovannini. In 1882, he made his debut in Forlì as Lionel in Flotow’s Marta. He then sang in Milan, Turin, Florence and Nice. In 1883/84 and 1891–96, 1899–1905, he performed on the stage of the opera in Lviv, and in 1884–91 and 1897/98, he was a soloist of the opera in Warsaw. In 1897, he sang the part of Kirkor at the Warsaw premiere of W. Żeleński’s Goplana, and on 4 October 1900, he played the title role at the Lviv premiere of Janek by the same composer. He performed as a guest in many European cities, including Paris and Vienna (1892), Berlin, Prague (1900) and St. Petersburg (1903). After 1905, he devoted himself mainly to teaching; in 1905–11, he taught at M. Lysenko’s music and drama school in Kyiv; in 1911–14, at the conservatory in Warsaw, until 1919 in Rome and at the singing school he founded in 1920 in Stockholm. Myszuga’s students included, among others, J. Korolewicz-Waydowa. In 1911, he appeared on the opera stage in Warsaw for the last time as Jontek in the 700th performance of Moniuszko’s Halka. He spent the last period of his life in Sweden, from where to improve his health he went to a sanatorium in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he died as a result of an unsuccessful operation. A lyrical voice with an exceptionally beautiful sound, masterful vocal technique and high musical culture placed Myszuga among the most outstanding tenor singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The extremely extensive capabilities of his voice are evidenced by his repertoire, which includes both light lyrical parts (Leński in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the title track Romeo in Gounod’s opera), as well as typically heroic ones (Canio in Pagliacci by R. Leoncavallo, Raul in The Huguenots by G. Meyerbeer, Radames in Aida and Manrico in Il Trovatore by Verdi). Above all, however, he went down in history as one of the greatest performers of tenor parts in Moniuszko’s operas, especially Jontek in Halka, as well as the title Faust in Gounod’s opera.
Literature: Wydatnyj spiwak Oleksandr Myszuha, ed. J. Derkacz, Lwów 1964; O. Łada Aleksander Myszuga, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1966 No. 9; Oleksandr Myszuha – spohady, materiały, łysty, Kyiv 1971.
