Shaliapin in Japan and China
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Title | Shaliapin in Japan and China |
| Author | Nickolay Gorbunov | |
| ISBN | 5-9208-0096-8 | |
| Publisher | IMLI RAN | |
| City | Moscow | |
| Year | 2002 | |
| Pages | 396 | |
| Copies | 1 500 |
This book is the first ever deep research of the great Russian opera singer Feodor Shaliapin's life and his creative work concerning his living abroad from 1922 to 1938.
These 16 years of Shaliapin's life abroad have still not been very much researched by specialists and art scholars. There are very few books relating to this period of the singer's work and no thorough researches on the matter neither in Russia nor in the West.
The author of this book is Nikolay Gorbunov. He covers about a year of this 16-year period, namely 1936, which happened to be very eventful. It was this year when Shaliapin made his sole tour in Japan and China.
The author used in his work really unique, never before tackled material including personal discussions with Shaliapin's accompanist in that tour — the well-known Finnish composer, conductor and pianist George de Godzinsky. The author became the first Soviet journalist to meet with him in Helsinki after 50 years of the tour.
Besides, the author had a rare opportunity to study Godzinsky's diaries of the tour. It helped him to be more accurate in his presentation by comparing a number of facts and situations. For the first time ever in a book about Shaliapin the author contributes to the bibliography on Shaliapin not only the Godzinsky story but also never before published letters by the accompanist in which he gives a detailed and precise account of the tour.
Also for the first time there is presented the correspondence of the author with Valentina Belousova, a musician, who met with Shaliapin in Tokyo in January 1936. The author did not content himself with the evidence of only these two musicians, close associates of Shaliapin. He succeeded in finding people who had attended the singer's concerts in Kharbin and Shanghai. They helped to restore the atmosphere of those days, to enrich the palette of the tour. Among them are the worldwide celebrities: conductor — Oleg Lundstreom, singers — Ivan Petrov, Pavel Lisitsian, actor — Yury Saveliev.
A profound search was undertaken in the archives of Moscow, Helsinki, Tokyo and Shanghai. Thoroughly studying newspapers of that period, the author found unique publications revealing new, previously unknown information of the tour 1936,i.e. on Shaliapin's creative laboratory.
The illustrations in the book are also very special: many photos were given to the author by Godzinsky who had made a number of pictures by himself. Some of them are published for the first time.
Shaliapin's tour in Japan was organized by the newspaper «Asahi Shimbun» and was crowned with unprecedented success. Shaliapin was received by ministers of the Japanese government, a number of receptions were given in his honour with highly placed officials present. The singer socialized a lot with Japanese actors, visited «Kabuki» theatre and others.
While decorating Shaliapin with the gold medal «to mark his unparalleled contribution to the world music, and on behalf of the musicians of Japan», Asahi Shimbun stressed that «famous Feodor Shaliapin, considered to be the best bass in the world, has made a great influence on the formation of the vocal school in Japan. «The benefits of his performance in Japan for our vocalists are unmeasur able», wrote Asahi Shimbun. In China Shaliapin's concerts were no less triumphant. The public in Shanghai, Beijing, Kharbin, Dalian, Tiangzing greeted the singer more than enthusiastically.
Kharbin especially impressed the singer. He said, «In the reminiscences, my Kharbin concerts will be of the same importance as my performances in Mariinski theatre in Petersburg and in Bolshoi theatre in Moscow.»
He held 22 concerts during his tour in Japan and China in 1936.
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