A DISTINGUISHED RUSSIAN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19045, 15 December 1923, Page 2

A DISTINGUISHED RUSSIAN.

MADAME LIPKOVSKA INTERVIEWED. With characteristic; poetry'in the expression of their affections the Russians call Madame Lydia Lipkovska. ‘'the snow maiden.” And when one looks at a,nd talks to the famous soprano as a Daily Times reporter did yesterday, the appropriateness of the pseudonym cornea home. The thought of snow is inseparable from a sense of beauty, and it may be said of Madame Lipkovska that she is one of the most strikingly beautiful women that have made their appearance before a Dunedin audience. Site is naively graceful in her hearing, and her delicate colouring is of a kind seldom seen in this part of the world. Nor is she of the languid type of beauty, for her face radiates vivacity and vitality, while the twinkle of her eyes stamps her mind ,as one quick to sec ‘‘the point.” There is a popular notion, bred from years of uncomplimentary fictions relating to the Russians and their country, that the former are reticent, slow-thinking, and slowmoving people, and that the domains over which Lenin now holds sway consist of a series of bleak, desolate steppes across which move hungry, voracious wolves. It is by coming into contact with such people as Madrono Lipkovska that one kills the' remnants of the old fancies that have en (hired from childhood, and the concomitant stories of Englishmen’s high adventures in ‘‘the, land of the Czar.” Still, there is that about Russia that gives its children an innocent faith such as would be out of place in the civiznn of a more modernised nation, and, travelled and widely-experienced as she is. Madame Lipkovska evinces something of the sort occasionally in the wistful, musing look that conies into her lustrous brown eyes. One could well imagine her resigning herself to the inevitable with, “It is the will of the Father.” Madame Lipkovska is not a perfect exponent of English, but her voice is in keening with her whole appearance—beautiful. iVid surely the, English language never appears" fo’ better advantage than when spoken by Madame., There are times when an idiom holds her up, but her husband. M. .Teen Richard, >s a trusty prompter, and, after a brief conversation with him in French, she smiles charmingly, and goes quickly on in the_ Anglo-Saxon. Nor was the conversation limited to French and Enidish, for Madame aqd Alexander Svorjenskv, the young Russian pianist who accompanies her, at times conversed briefly in their native tongue. - Speaking in bright phrases. Madame told the reporter something of her, life. She was gentlv horn, and but for one of Fate’s little (ricks slip would probably not now he one of the world’s prominent sopranos. Bern at Odessa, it was there that she began her career, first appearing in grand opera when she was 18 years old. But Odessa was too small to hold such a promising singer. Peirograd held out its arms, and in the Imperial Opera she filled parts with a brilliance that was the wonder of the musical-world of Russia. Composers, old and young, offered her compositions suited to her requirements and characteristics, and for a time in be “sung by Lipkovska” was tire first decisive step in the way to fame. Men who received their fir.st escouragement from- her are now famous far outside their own country. Then came the Great War, followed, as the world knows, by the revolution. The conditions in Russia during and .iramodi-. ate'y after the latter‘great upheaval have been often told, and,Madame did‘not, escape some of the trying experiences that; wore the common lot of the artistic community. “On my first appearance after ,tho revolution,” she said, speaking very quietly, “the tenor, who could not sing owing to nervousness, was shot by o soldier in the audience." The piece was “Faust.” which had been decided on bv a soviet of workmen who ordered that it should be produced for the edificalion of the common people. Madame Lipkovska collapsed on the stage, but she had tel go through’-with her'part When she recovered. ‘ 'lt was terrible, ah I so terrible.” she said, simply. Shortly afterwards Madame made her escape to * aris through , Constantinople, and the then set our',on a world Hour.. ' With* a firm smile, Madame refused to discuss the political results of the revolution, explaining that she had private reasons for the refusal. •- tsufc it is clear. thajt a trrdaL blow has been dealt to the artistic life., .of the community, as the singers, artists, and have had. to do manual: won;'. However, she is satisfied that at Icaati song will revive in all its old glory. “The Russians .are natural Iv great, song-, she said, “and that Jove cannot $ "great interest is taken hy Madame in the . literature ■ of . the • country—Tolstoi, Turgenev. Tschekov, and Dostoievsky hold o yrfirm place in her heart. In passing, shq remarked that the English translations of 'Russian works were net altogether satisfactory, as they very': rarely caught the Russian humour, which had an elusive flayqiir that it, was .almost iiijpossible to copTey in translation'. ' ' ;■