That same year he married Florence Illi, a Swiss-born soprano. She survives him, as do their two children, Nina and Maxim; twins from his first marriage, Daniel and Alexandra; and his parents, Alexander and Lyudmila.

His career revived in the 2000s, vaulting from one high to another. He won splendid reviews in 2002 for his performance at the Met as Prince Andrei in Prokofiev’s “War and Peace,” a role to which he brought uncommon vulnerability.

In 2007, Ms. Fleming boldly took on the role of Tatiana in “Eugene Onegin,” her first full production in a Russian-language opera, with Mr. Hvorostovsky in the title role. Their chemistry was almost palpable. A DVD of the performance, conducted by Valery Gergiev, became a top seller.

For years, Mr. Hvorostovsky devoted almost half of his professional time to solo recitals. He became a champion of the melancholic songs by the Russian composer Georgy Sviridov (1915-98), whose music was suppressed until the 1970s because he had refused to join the Communist Party.

He toured Russia with Ms. Netrebko and with other Russian opera singers in programs billed as “Hvorostovsky and Friends,” including a tremendously successful “Live From Red Square” concert. In his crossover ventures, he revealed an unlikely fondness for Europop.

In recent years, Mr. Hvorostovsky felt an increasing attachment to his homeland. In his interview with The New Yorker, he recalled a concert he gave at 22 with fellow singers and instrumentalists in a bread factory in central Siberia in below-freezing weather. The audience, wearing fur hats and warm boots, was overcome.

Those tears, Mr. Hvorostovsky said, “were more precious to me than all the applause I could ever get again.”