Feodor Chaliapine in Australia and New Zealand

 

	Title	Feodor Chaliapine in Australia and New Zealand
	ISBN	978-5-900815-94-3
	Publisher	Kruk
	City	Moscow
	Year	2015
	Pages	232
	Copies	300

Afterword

Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin undertook his first long tour (not including his appearances in the United States) four years after his 1922 departure from Russia. His journey took him to Australia and New Zealand.

In the beginning of June 1926 he left by steamer from France and arrived in Melbourne a month later. He completed the tour in Auckland at the end of September that year.

In the three months he spent in Australia and New Zealand the artist gave 25 concerts: 10 in Melbourne, eight in Sydney, three in Adelaide and two concerts in each of Wellington and Auckland. It was a very demanding tour but the artist did not cancel a single concert.

The singer’s concert programme featured works by composers from different countries and he performed them in the original language. But Chaliapin considered it highly significant that he should present the music of Russian composers to Australia and Zealand. And he did this brilliantly.

At each of the 35 concerts the “hit’’ – as it would be called today – was the Song of the Volga Boatmen (in Russian Эй,ухнем! (Ei, ukhnem) or Yo, heave-ho!) It was incredibly popular with the public dying to hear it performed by the talented artist. The very appearance of the artist took on a character of triumph.

Years went by. Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin’s tour had almost slipped from memory. The only people who remembered it were historians and musicologists. Nevertheless, in April 2013 after 87 years Russian expatriates – whom Chaliapin always referred to as “my countryfolk”’ - in the New Zealand city of Christchurch organised an evening dedicated to the memory of the great Russian artist. Ordinary New Zealanders who also wanted the learn more about the singer, his life and his artistic activities also attended.

And there was a sequel. A year later in February 2014 on Chaliapin’s birthday at the same Russian Cultural Centre's club known as Our Heritage in Christchurch not only did Chaliapin’s fans meet again, but also many others interested to learn a little more about him.

The artist never returned to tour Australia and New Zealand again, although he was invited to take part in operatic spectacles and he was not against returning. But the stressful timetable of his touring did not allow him to do it.

The Russian expatriates “corrected’’ this part of the singer’s biography. In information about the evening in 2013 it was said: “Chaliapin performed in New Zealand for a second time.’’

One can only hope that this glorious tradition will continue, not only in New Zealand, but also in Australia and other countries. Two significant anniversaries lie ahead: in 2016 the 90th anniversary of Chaliapin’s tour and in 2026 the centenary, and there will be many other possibilities to remember the Russian genius.

 

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