Olenina-d'Alheim made her debut in 1891 singing chamber music at the
Circle of Lovers of Russian Music, a private concert organization in
Moscow. Her rich musical style and mezzo-soprano voice attracted the interest of composers belonging to the so-called New Russian School of music. She began to collaborate with Medtner and Balakirev on vocal compositions and performed in Paris and
Brussels for the first time in 1896. Balakirev took particular interest in her and supported the start of her singing career. Medtner became an admirer, and she premiered many of his chamber music pieces in the following years. (c. 1897–1900)She published a work on Mussorgsky's music in 1908 in Paris, with the Russian translation published two years later. Regarding her performances, Russian music critic César Cui noted that Olenina-d'Alheim was the first Russian chamber music singer and commented that:
Alexander Blok dedicated his poem
Dark, Pale Green (Russian:
Тёмная, бледно-зелёная) to her in 1905. The English painter
Louis Welden Hawkins painted a portrait of her between 1897 and 1900 while working in Paris.
House of Song While touring in France, she met the French writer and music critic Baron Pierre d'Alheim (1862–1922) who had written a
monograph on Mussorgsky in 1896, and the two married in 1898. She returned to Russia with her husband and, with the aid of Anna Vasilyevna Tarsevich, they established the
House of Song in Moscow, a private
high society intellectual organization dedicated to popularizing and performing vocal chamber music, and to discussing
Russian literature and composition. The society was called "a small club for romance lovers". participated in conversations that accompanied musical performances|left At the inaugural performance in 1908, Olenina-d'Alheim performed
Die schöne Müllerin by
Franz Schubert. The principal focus of the organization was on the work of Russian composers, and particularly on the compositions of Mussorgsky. The organization enjoyed wide participation from notable musicians and intellectuals in Moscow, including Medtner and
Valery Bryusov, and the house regularly hosted concerts, lectures, and music competitions across a number of cities in Russia, as well as in Paris and London. Singers were accompanied by notable pianists including
Alexander Goldenweiser,
Lev Conus,
Andrei Bely, and her brother Alexander. in Russia (1910)The
House of Song published its own newspaper,
Dom pesni, printed in both Russian and French. It also produced bulletins and annotated brochures for concerts. It served as a focal point for Russian musical intellectuals until 1918, when Olenina-d'Alheim and her husband fled Russia. She was accompanied on piano by
Alfred Cortot and later by
Abram Shatskes, a student of Medtner. After the death of her husband Pierre, the
House of Music society continued its operations in France until 1924. The Greek composer Georges Poniridy wrote
Trois mélodies grecques in 1924, inscribing the manuscript in French with the words "to Madame Olénine, a great artiste, with respectful homage from the composer". She revisited Moscow and
Leningrad to perform three recitals in 1926. Although she had inherited a sizable estate from her husband's
noble estate, she began to experience financial difficulties, due in part to pride and her uncompromising support for the
Soviet government, which earned her a measure of scorn from fellow Russian émigrés.
Return to Russia In 1959, at nearly the age of 90, she was granted long-sought permission to return to her homeland by the government of the
Soviet Union. She moved to Moscow and spent the last decade of her life compiling a memoir of her life. The manuscript, titled
To Distant Shores, was never published and is kept by the . Olenina-d'Alheim died in Moscow on August 26, 1970, aged 100. She was buried at the
Vagankovo Cemetery. == Personal life ==