Author Topic: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin  (Read 64459 times)

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Offline Belochka

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #120 on: October 15, 2006, 10:27:31 PM »
Hi Vassili,

Thanks for your interest. I will present my forensic findings immediately after Richard introduces his preliminary report. At this stage all that I am prepared to reveal is that my reasoning is based on the original forensic evidence that I have in my possession. It is not based on sensational presumptions.  ;)

Hopefully that will happen soon.

Best regards,

Margarita



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Johnny

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #121 on: November 29, 2006, 09:47:10 PM »
Griffh, I don't know what happened to the photo of Vera in a hat I had posted. It's been deleted somehow. I personally didn't touch it. How could it have happened?
As far as my opera in concerned, I can proudly announce that I have just finished the libretto, and have started composing the music. Usually I don't make proud announcements about any of my compositions. Even this time it's not the music that made me proud, but the libretto. And even here proud is meant more sarcastically than for real. I could have never imagined myself writing a libretto, since I don't think of myself as a writer. I must tell you I had been working on this text for seven years, and it's finally over. Wouldn't you be proud? The reason it took so long was the nature of it. Initially, I looked for librettists, I found some, but nothing ever materialized. I decided to write a bilingual opera, English and Russian at the same time to be more realistic, you now, Alix in English and Rasputin in Russian. That made the task of finding a librettist even harder. Finally one Russian lady provided me with a full libretto, entirely in Russian, and 100% useless for my purposes. I said that's it! 7 librettist to go through is more than enough. I had already read over 30 books on the subject, had traveled to Moscow and SP for my research, speak some rudimentary Russian (it's my dad's native language), have a better dramatic sense than most of the writers I met (in my early teens I wanted to become actor and stage/movie director), so I can't be any worse than my librettists. Most of the text and situations used in the opera come directly form original material: letters, memoires, diaries. That's one reason I use two languages in the opera, so I can keep the original wording of my document sources. Some stuff which was originally in French, I decided to present either in Russian or in English, depending on the situation (introducing a third language into the opera would have been problematic. Besides, I don't speak French at all.) So conversations between Alexandra and Anna Vyrubova which normally would have taken place in French are all done in English, and Rasputin's murder scene which is taken directly from Yussupov's memoires (originally written in French) is all done in Russian.
Out of dramatic necessity I had to create and add some dramatic situations of my own to the documented ones. Although there is no mention of Vera in Yussupov's memoirs, other historians suggest that she might have been present on the night of Rasputin's murder. So I thought why not!? I created a funny little scene between her and Dmitri, in which Dmitri is trying to teach Vera to laugh like a grand duchess in order to fool Rasputin, who is to arrive shortly in the basement, into thinking that Irina is upstairs having fun with her guests. The scene is in Russian. If you want I can post it here.
It just occured to me that I never explained how I solved the Russian problem in my libretto (since my Russian is very primitive.)
Except for what I found originally written in Russian, I wrote all the other material in English and then after I moved to Berlin from Boston (3 years and 1 week ago) I found a Russian woman who kindly translated all those scenes into Russian.

Vassili_Vorontsoff

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #122 on: January 01, 2007, 09:01:35 AM »
Belochka,

You do not mention any more element on your request,what's new???

On december 16 of 2006(last year ,today)it was the 90th birthday if the murder of Rasputin,strange that nothing seems to have been prepared for this event...

V.

s66405h

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #123 on: January 01, 2007, 12:37:41 PM »
Here’s a link to an article when the Prince came to America looking for his Rembrandts in 1923 with a mention of the murder.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,717062,00.html

Lemur

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #124 on: January 05, 2007, 09:30:11 AM »
That's a very interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

Offline griffh

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #125 on: February 26, 2007, 01:19:37 AM »
Johnny how totally fascinating.  Your opera sounds inspiring.  Berlin must be such an interesting place to live.  I believe that I read somewhere that the rebuilding of Berlin is the first time a major European city has been redesigned in over three hundred years, but I could be mistaken about that fact. 

I find your experience with your seven librettists to be amazing.  Isn't it amazing how Art pushes us beyond our own temporary disappointments.  It seems to have a life of its own and a determination to be heard that far outweighs our temporary doubts and fears. 

I think that it is great that you have Anna V. and Alexandra's conversations in English as Anna's interview with Rita Child Dorr shortly after her release from prison was in English and Anna appears to have had a good grasp of the language.  I believe the interview is included on this website under the general heading of letters or something like that. 

I think it is certainly within the bounds of poetic licence to include Vera on the forbidden night and I love the scene you describe with Dimitri. 

I just wanted to add a little information about gramaphone record playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy."  I don't know if you have ever read any of Irene Castle's books, such as "Modern Dancing," written in 1914.  Irene and her husband Vernon had danced for their supper in the Cafe de Paris in 1912 and created a sensation and were supposed to have been tipped by the GD Andre 300 francs for their dance.  The couple became an instant success and after touring Europe they returned to the USA and opened a very chic Dance studio in NYC in 1914 and were patronized by all the socially elite in America and Europe who longed to learn all of the new dances.  This was the era of a dance craze and all of the "animal dances," were at the height of fashion such as the Bunny Hug, Grisley Bear, Lame Duck, Camel Strut, Ostrict Dip, and the only one to survive WWI, the Fox Trot.  One could have danced any of these dances to "Yankee Doodle Dandy," so I have always felt that the gramaphone record was used to simulate a dancing party upstairs. 

Well anyway just a quick note to say thank you very much for sharing your creative process, as your opera unfolds.  As far as your photo of Vera in her hat goes, is it possible that you changed photo account?  I don't know any other reason.  Well once again thank you for sharing your creative work with all of us.  Griff 

Johnny

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #126 on: February 27, 2007, 07:17:28 PM »
Dear Griffh,

You might actually be right about Berlin's being the first major European city to be redesigned in 300 years. And they have done an awful job. Entire neighborhoods have been ruined for ever. Unlike Barcelona where modern and old seem to complement each other, here in Berlin that mixture has produced some of its saddest results. Each star architect trying to push his most bizarre design with no respect of the surrounding architecture. And when the city runs short of money (which is all of the time) they throw away the project plans and turn the empty lot into a park by planting some trees. The city has no real concept and no real plans and no money to rebuild itself properly. It's really painful for me to see what's going on around me, and I am not even German and have been living here for only three years. The city is also covered with graffiti from the poorest neighborhoods all the way to walls of palaces and brand new modern buildings. The officials see it as sort of a poor man's art and have no plans to ever stop it. The east and west parts of the city don't seem to want to integrate. I know people from west Berlin who have never been to the East side. It's unbelieavable. It's still pretty much two cities. When I get too depressed about it I just take the train and go to Potsdam 20 minutes away from downtown Berlin. I feast my eyes on some glorious Baroque and neo-classical architecture and then come home. :)

James1941

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #127 on: February 27, 2007, 08:43:40 PM »
I have a question for Mr. Cullen, who I believe has as intimate knowledge of the matter as any one. Please don't take this as a contradiction. But, you say that the report on Koralli and the two Romanov brothers in not in the GARF files nor was there ever a police report on this incident.
Is it possible that such a report has not survived; that it was removed or lost from the police files on the Rasputin incident? Is Stopford's report the only one which mentions others in the Yusupov palace that night?
Is his report the only source that others have used to name the people in question here?
It is an interesting subject and I hope more light can be shed on it. Thanks for any response.

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Felix Yusupov and the murder of Rasputin
« Reply #128 on: April 26, 2007, 09:05:10 AM »
There is no evidence right that Princess Irina ever met Rasputin, at all? Or is there some doubt? I can't recall about this, and don't know if this question has been raised before, but if it has direct me to the thread, I know that she certainly didn't meet him on the night of the murder, although he was supposedly coming to meet her, because she was out of the country. It was then he was lured to to the palace because he had never met her, according to every account I've ever read. Still, as with other historical issues, is there a firm evidence of this, is there not something which could have been overlooked, because many members of Russian high society did meet him- so why not her if they never met, which I'm assuming they didn't?  I've read the Irina and Rasputin thread in the Rasputin section, and that picture then is no evidence they met, because it was mislabeled. Also, what was Irina's opinion of Rasputin, can anyone quote something. I'm sure I've read about some of this stuff before, but it's still hazy for me.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2007, 09:27:10 AM by imperial angel »