PAUL ROBESON

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 12

PAUL ROBESON

VISIT TO RUSSIA

OPERA AMBITIONS

Paul Eoboson's forthcoming appearance with Flora. Robson in "All God's Chillun Got Wings," may bo the last occasion on which London will see him for a long time, for'ho is planning a visit to Russia, states the "Manchester Guardian's" London , correspondent. The part of Jim Harris in O'Neill's play has always been his favourite, so it is perhaps fitting that he'should take his farewell of London and als« make his first 'appearance befojo a Russian audienco in it. Mi1. Bobeson is not sure whether ho will at onto play the part in Russian. Ue thinks ho may at first act and sing in English, and not launch into thu language of the people till he feels acclimatised. But .Russians living in London say his command of the language is already good, and the i parts of both "All (Sod's Chillun»» and "Emperor Jones," which he has learnt in Russian, show that the language suits his voice admirably. ] His declamation of "Othello" sounds ' moro impressive in Russian than it did in English, the added richness and i darkness which the language allows to i his voico atoning for the loss of translation. But though it is primarily for the O'Neill plays that Mr. Robeson has been invited .to Russia, he admits that the chief reason for his enthusiasm is tlie opportunity it gives him to enlarge his repertory. His excursion into Shakespeare he considered to be no enlargement, since he was going back into a past that he could not feel becauso it was not his. The background of an American negro is not Shakespeare's England but Africa, and Mr. Robeson felt he was getting away from it. It was the same with German songs. He was spiritually out of sympathy with them. Then Russian, which ho had dabbled in to study Chaliapin's technique, opened the door. He began to learn it, and hasbeen studying it for sixteen .months. The fruits of that study are enjoyment of Dostoicffsky and of Pushkin, who also, was of negro blood, the discovery of;a large body of unsung Moussorgsky songs to perform in a language he declares to be a bass language, and the possibility of finally singing "Boris Goudonoy." Mr. Robeson' feels he is 0.. .the right path, for Russian music, like negro, comes from tho soil, Rus< sian poetry is simple and singing', and he feels in tune with it. How long he wlil stay in Russia he docs not know, and when he will go is uncertain since it is probable that he will go to tho United States to play tlie title part in a talkie of "Emperor Jones." Colour prejudice has stood in the way bofore, but now the fact of a negro's name being allowed on the programme of th > Metropoltan Opera in Now York has marked a change. The success of tho operatic version of "Emperor Jones," and tho inevitable comparisons of Lawrence Tibbett mado up in the Al Jolson stylo with Paul Robeson, who created the role on the stage, have led to a revival of negotiations, which this time seem to be going through".