ZUBOVA, Maria V.

Maria Voinovna Zubova (Russian: Мария Воиновна Зубова), (1749?–1799) was a Russian poet, composer, and concert singer, known for her rendition of folksongs. She was born in Saint Petersburg and was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Warrior Yakovlevich Rimsky-Korsakov.

Along with her compositional career, she was widely known for being a highly skilled folk-song performer, often performing at parties and salons to high praise. The Russian folklorist Mikhail Nikolaevich Makarov (1785–1847) said she was, "the best singer in the early reign of Catherine II." Her musical talent was steeped in the Italian style and participated in the 18th-century convention of ornamentation and melodic improvisation while performing, as per the custom during the Baroque period. This style was known as "figured singing," with the focus on dexterous movement and emotional fervanices all the while retaining a cool demeanor and composed vibrancy a quintessentiality of Zubova's singing style.