Rasputin's musical entertainment

[Matthew E. Feeney]

In the autobiography ''lost splendor,'' by prince felix yusupov on page 232 it reads ''it was agreed that when i went to fetch the starets, grand duke dimitri, pourichkevitch, and captain soukhotin would go upstairs and play the gramophone, choosing lively tunes. I wanted to keep rasputin in a good humor...'' please excuse the lower case letters on this wireless phone. On p. 235 it reads ''we drove a roundabout way to the moika, entered the courtyard and... As we entered the house, i could hear my freinds talking while the gramophone played 'yankee doodle went to town.' 'what's all this?' asked rasputin. 'is someone giving a party here?...' '' . On pp 77 to 84 yusupov recounts how he himself came to singing bohemian songs when he was young, on the stage at ''the aqaurium,'' in st p at the urging of his brother nicolas and his mistress polia who took him to the gypsies. Before his end rasputin asked yusupov if he waoted tn go to the gypsies too. ---------- Sent from AT&T Wireless using Windows Live Hotmail


-----Original Message-----
From: Jules Levin
Sent: 11/13/2011 9:32:41 PM
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.

This brings me to my real topic-the music of Daniel Dolsky (Danielius
Dolskis).Dolsky was a regular performer at Villa Rode, and according to
the liner notes in a tape I purchased in Vilnius in 1991, entertained at
Rasputin's private parties.In 1917 Villa Rode was shut down, and Dolsky
emigrated to Berlin and Riga.At some point in the late 20's he recorded
some songs and comic monologues in Russian.He moved back to Kaunas (born
in Vilna in 1891) , where he quickly learned Lithuanian, and became the
celebrated father of Lithuanian pop music-there is a statue in the
Kaunas Jewish Cemetery.Google his Lithuanian name and you can hear many
songs in Lithuanian.I also found there one song in Russian.Here is the
link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXcs6GcbWp4&feature=related
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXcs6GcbWp4&feature=related>One can
imagine Rasputin listening to this song in the Villa Rode.What I can't
find is the tape I bought 20 years ago that includes comedy standup
routines in Yiddish-accented Russian.I also could not find these
routines on line anywhere.If someone can locate them, it should be of
interest to SEELANGers.(Incidently, Dolskis/Dolski is unknown to the
Jewish cultural world outside of Lithuania, which comments in Lithuanian
on his song web pages attribute to the fact that he was a "Lithuanian
patriot".Since he had the good fortune to die in 1931, there was no
reason for him not to be a Lithuanian patriot.)

Jules Levin
Los Angeles


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