Rasputin=?windows-1251?Q?=92s_?=musical entertainment

[John Dunn]

>From the diaries of V. Purishkevich (which I just happen to have to hand, as one does):

Поручик С. кинулся к граммофону [sic], и через несколько секунд раздался звук американского марша «янки-дудль», который и посейчас, по временам, преследует меня.
[Poruchik S. kinulsja k grammafonu, i cherez neskol'ko sekund razdalsja zvuk amerikanskogo marsha 'janki-dudl'', kotoryj i posejchas, po vremenam, presleduet menja.] (p. 62)

and:

... полагаю, что мы простояли у лестницы не менее получаса, бесконечно заводя граммофон, который продолжил играть все тот же «янки-дудль». [... polagaju, chto my prostojali u lestnicy ne menee poluchasa, beskonechno zavodja grammofon, kotoryj prodolzhil igrat' vse tot zhe 'janki-dudl''. (p. 63)

Ubijstvo Rasputina (iz dnevnika V. Purishkevicha), M.,  1923.


John Dunn.
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Jules Levin [ameliede at EARTHLINK.NET]
Sent: 13 November 2011 22:32
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] Rasputin’s musical entertainment

Currently reading Harrison Salisbury’snow 40-year-old ‘Black Night White
Snow’, a history of the 2 Russian revolutions—1905 and 1917.As usual, I
have an esoteric interest in one minor topic—in this caseRasputin’s
taste in music.Apparently he was a fan of cabaret and pop (‘estradnaya
muzika’), and was a regular at Villa Rode (last vowel is ‘e-oborotnaya’
if you google it).As reported by Salisbury, Prince Felix Yusupov was
playing such music on his ‘phonograph’ to entertain Rasputin when he was
invited to the mansion on his final evening.I have the impression that
Yusupov calls it a Victrola in his thrilling memoir ‘Ubiystvo
Rasputina’.As reported, the tune playing was ‘Yankee Doodle’.This was
hardly the old 18^th Century tune; it was probably ‘The Yankee Doodle
Boy’, sung by George M. Cohan in a Broadway show in 1904, and recorded
by Billy Murray on the Edison label in 1905.It was a hit, whatever that
meant in sales in 1905.One of the conspirators—not Yusupov—claimed the
tune stuck in his head because it played continuously.I don’t know if
that was a feature of Victrolas and Edison records in 1917, or if
Yusupov had a servant replaying it through the evening.

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