Feodor Chaliapine: from Kazan to Stockholm
|
Title | Feodor Chaliapine: from Kazan to Stockholm |
| Author | Nickolay Gorbunov | |
| ISBN | 978-5-901838-17-3 | |
| Publisher | Kruk | |
| City | Moscow | |
| Year | 2013 | |
| Pages | 204 | |
| Copies | 200 |
A new book by Nikolay Gorbunov “Feodor Chaliapine: from Kazan to Stockholm” is essentially a story of making a documentary “Feodor Chaliapine: the great tramp”. The book consists of three chapters, each of them featuring a certain phase of searching for biographic material about the great singer, including shooting in Finland, Sweden and the city of Kazan, Russia, where he was born.
In 2008 another book by Nikolay Gorbunov “Following the Scandinavian path of Chaliapine” was published. It was presented on February 13, 2008 in Kazan at the celebration of Feodor Chaliapine’s 135-th birthday. This new chaliapinology work immediately attracted attention of Moscow’s movie studio “Perspective”, its art manager and director Igor Romanovski and producer Emma Igaunis. In just four months in June 2008 the crew consisting of Romanovski, Igaunis and Gorbunov was in Stockholm to intensively work on the documenrary for two weeks.
Fortunately, all the heroes were available and waiting for our arrival. In a suburb of Stockholm we were received by the singer’s granddaughter Natalia Fearfield, in another we had a wonderful meeting at “Chaliapine’s house” that had been visited by Chaliapine himself and where he left his self-charge drawing on the wall of the Thatre Grotto. The owners of the house Ingegerd and Manfred Muller keep this relic carefully. Inga Tobiasson told us about her meeting with Chaliapine in that house.
The famous ballerina Ellen Rasch in the Royal Opera House told us about ger meeting with the great singer during Mussorgski’s opera “Boris Godunov”. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to meet Helena von Klewesahl-Palm (Elena Matveevna Shishkina) who lived in Gavle. She could remember how Feodor Chaliapine told her fairy tales in Olsten where her farther Matvey Shishkin headed an amateur theatre. One could read about it from the other book by Gorbunov which describes the trip to Gavle to see Elena Matveevna in detail.
The book “Feodor Chaliapine: from Kazan to Stockholm” the author described the circumstances of the filmmaking in Stockholm lively and attractively, the atmosphere as well, which creation was helped by some Russian diplomats, local businessmen, journalists, Swedish assistants as well as the representative of the Royal Opera Torbjorn Eriksson, chief secretary officer ph.d. Ake Holmquist, Royal Swedish Academy of music, Concert hall manager Jan Hellgren and others.
The main part of the book is devoted to the process of filmmaking in Stockholm. The author described the pre-story of Feodor Chaliapine’s visits to the Northern Europe, including Finland. A reader can learn about the crew’s trip to Helsinki where it made a shooting of George de Godzinski, a well-known Finnish composer and piano-player who accompanied Chaliapine in 1936 for almost half a year during the tour to Japan and China.
The author devoted a lot of attention to his journeys to Chaliapine’s native city of Kazan, where he took part in a number of events about the singers life. The book contains a report on the celebration of Chaliapine’s 135-th birthday in 2008. The logic is that the book is devoted to his 140-th birthday.
The book and the documentary as well are devoted to Feodor Chaliapine’s 16-year long life aboad (1922-1938). Nikolay Gorbunov is the first Russian chaliapinolog who researches and describes that period.
New book about Chaliapin lifts the veil on mysteries of his foreign tours.
MOSCOW, February 10 (Itar-Tass) – A new book about world-famous Russian singer Fyodor Chaliapin titled “Fyodor Chaliapin: from Kazan to Stockholm” was presented by its author Nikolai Gorbunov in Moscow this week. The presentation was held at the authorized representation of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. In his book Gorbunov, who has enormous respect for the great artist, tells his readership about his meetings and discoveries in Sweden and Kazan.
Nikolai Gorbunov is one of the leading researchers of Chaliapin’s life and creative work. He’s a writer, an international journalist who has worked abroad as an Itar-Tass correspondent. He’s the author of several books about Fyodor Chaliapin.
The book titled “Fyodor Chaliapin: from Kazan to Stockholm” is, in fact, the story of creating a documentary titled “Fyodor Chaliapin – the Great Pilgrim”. The author reproduces the creative atmosphere at the shooting in the Swedish capital. Just like the film, the book is devoted to the 16-year-long foreign period of Chaliapin’s life and work (1922-1938). The publication is timed to coincide with the 140th anniversary of the famous bas. Gorbunov’s book was published with support from Ravil Akhmetshin, the authorized representative of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia.
According to Akhmetshin, Nikolai Gorbunov collected enormous material. The representation of the Republic of Tatarstan helped him in his work.
“Thank you for your trust and an opportunity to participate in this project. The Republic of Tatarstan was a home to many world celebrities. Singer Fyodor Chaliapin and ballet dancers Rudolf Nuriyev and Fuat Mansurov were born in Kazan,” Ravil Akhmetshin said at the presentation.
“Nikolai Gorbunov often came to Kazan for the traditional All-Russian conference “Chaliapin readings”. He always presented interesting and unknown facts from the biography of our great compatriot,” Marianna Gavrilova, the director of Maxim Gorky’s memorial literary museum in Kazan, said.
“The new book “Fyodor Chaliapin: from Kazan to Stockholm” is a colossal layer of history of the two countries and the two cultural capitals united by Chaliapin’s name. The history of Chaliapin’s foreign tours is full mystery and puzzles. I advise readers to take the book in their hands and lift the veil,” Gavrilova went on to say.
“Fyodor Chaliapin lived with his Homeland. If you only knew how he loved Russia and how he suffered without it! I want to return Chaliapin to Russia, to the young generation,” said Lyudmila Tourne, the head of the Russian Salon society in Sweden.
The Russian Salon society is planning to hold a conference devoted to Chaliapin in Sweden. A musical program has been selected. The society is looking for sponsors and a place for the concert.
Dear Nikolai,
Thank you very much for your lovely Christmas card and greetings and now all the wonderful news about the anniversary of the birth of my dearest Pappulia, my Funny Grandpa, for that is how I used to call him as a child.
I remember him so well and although at least half the world was in awe, even rather afraid of him, as his beloved grandchild, I was never ,ever afraid of him. But with a child?s innocence, I accepted him for what he was, a loving and funny grown up who smelt always of soap and perfume and was soft as silk and ......just a super person.
I send you all my warmest greetings and where ever you are, enjoy in the fashion and the dignity of Feodor Chaliapin. According to my mother, Marfa, he never behaved in a degrading or petty- minded fashion.
As a family , we are all very proud of him.
Thank you all so much and to you ,dear Nikolai a very big hug!
Natasha Chaliapina Fearfield
Home