Thank you, Dominic, for posting the link. You made my day!
Some first impressions on the video made last year for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovitch:
It is interesting to see in what horrible state his birthplace, the Strelna (Konstantinosky) Palace was, before it was restored for the 300 year St Petersburg celebrations.
Also interesting to see the painting by Kuindzhi: Night on the Dnepr hanging (on the left) in the study of Konstantin Konstantinovitch. He did go to the artist's studio to buy it directly from him. It was a big surprise, or more of a shock to Kuindzhi, when Konstantin Konstantinovich visited him in his studio unannounced.
K.R. read his play "King of Jews" to soldiers and officers, as it had not been allowed to be staged, according to this video. Not completely right. The Holy Synod had forbidden to perform this play on stage, but thanks to involvement by Tsar Nicholas it was staged once, on the scene of the Hermitage theater (the pictures in this film are from that performance).
A nice detail: after this performance the Holy Synod allowed the play to be read on stage, but without any attributes. Bulgakov visited one of these readings in Kiev and "borrowed" the theme of Pontus Pilatus from this play for his "Master and Margarita".
The video tells us, Konstantin Konstantinovitch has been faithful to his wife for his whole life. Knowing, what we know know, I think this sentence could have been omitted from the film.
Rudy
