RUSSIAN CABARET ALEXANDER VERTINSKY SYRENA Record78A2

$

191

famous Russian Cabaret performer ALEXANDER VERTINSKY

in ULTRA RARE POLISH (Warsaw) SYRENA RECORDS

Syrena Records, one of the oldest Russian record labels, was of course confiscated by the Soviet Power. Little is known about this emigre production of Syrena, but one can assume that the owners of Syrena set up an Exile production for White Russian recordings and performances in Warsaw after the Revolution.

Early Electric Sirena record probably around 1928, all writing is in Polish, with the song titles also rendered in Russian:

Alexander Vertinski w J Petersburgski at the piano in his own songs:

O Vsekh Ustalykh/Ty Uspokoi Menya

10" 78 rpm record  

Condition: VERY GOOD PLUS , clean and only lightest wear, some fine scratches and light rubs throughout, a few may sound

Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vertinsky (Russian: ????????? ??????????, 21 March 1889 in Kiev — 21 May 1957 in Leningrad) was a Russian artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing.

Born out of wedlock, Vertinsky was brought up by his father's sister in Kiev. He was ousted from school in 1905 and tried a variety of jobs before starting to earn his living by contributing short stories to the Kievan periodicals. In 1912 Vertinsky and his sister moved to Moscow where he failed in his ambition to join Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre. At that period he became addicted to cocaine, a baneful habit that would claim the life of his sister.

By 1916, Vertinsky started to employ a scenic figure of Pierrot, with powdered face, singing miniature novellas-in-song known as ariettas, or "Pierrot's doleful ditties". Each song contained a prologue, exposition, culmination, and a tragic final. The novice performer was christened the "Russian Pierrot", gained renown, became an object of imitation, admiration, vilified in the press and lionized by the audiences.

Simultaneously with his booming singing career, he played screen bit parts in Aleksandr Khanzhonkov's silent movies. From that time stems a lifelong friendship with Ivan Mozzhukhin. His famous piece "Vashi paltsy pakhnut ladanom" was dedicated to another film star, Vera Kholodnaya. Shortly before the October Revolution Vertinsky devised a stage persona of Black Pierrot and started to tour Russia and Ukraine performing decadent elegies with a touch of cosmopolitan chic, such as "Kokainetka" and "V oranzhevo-lilovom Singapure". In the words of the British researcher Richard Stites, "Vertinsky bathed his verses in images of palm trees, tropical birds, foreign ports, plush lobbies, ceiling fans, and "daybreak on the pink-tinted sea"[1] — precisely those things which the war-time audience craved for.

By November 1920, Vertinsky decided to leave Russia with the bulk of his clientele. He performed in Constantinople and toured Romanian Bessarabia, where he was declared a Soviet agent. In 1923 he performed in Poland and Germany, then moved to Paris, where he would perform before the Russian emigré clientele at Montmartre cabarets for nine years.

After several successful tours in the Middle East, Vertinsky followed the majority of well-to-do Russians to the USA, where he debuted before the audience which included Rachmaninoff, Chaliapin, and Marlene Dietrich. The Great Depression forced him to join the community of Shanghai Russians. It was in China that he met his wife and the oldest daughter, Marianna, was born.

In 1943 the Soviet government allowed Vertinsky to return to Russia. Despite lack of media coverage, he performed about two thousand concerts in the USSR, touring from Sakhalin to Kaliningrad. In order to feed his family, he also appeared in Soviet films, often playing prerevolutionary aristocrats, as in the screen version of Chekhov's "Anna on the Neck" (1955). His role of an anti-Communist cardinal in "The Doomed Conspiracy" even won him the Stalin Prize for 1951.

The artist died on May 21, 1957, in Leningrad. Both his daughters, Marianna and Anastasiya, made spectacular careers in Soviet cinema. The former conducted a much-aired liaison with Andron Konchalovsky, while the latter married his brother Nikita Mikhalkov

All'attenzione degli acquirenti italiani: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=carsten_sf

Wrong pictures do happen. If you see an incorrect posting, pls send me a short mail and I will fix it immediately!

Check out more interesting items for salecurrently:

90 classical and jazz Albums, 100 great Jazz and Dance records, 50 World War I and  150 Rare Opera records. Great Piano, Violin and Chamber Music !

A few of the items below will go on-line this THURSDAY, April 10.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcarsten_sf

A note to grading Victrola/ Pathe/ Shellac 78 rpm discs:

Pls note that I try to be extremely conservative and consistent in my grading. All records are graded with the same criteria, regardless of genre.

I noticed that my grading seems to be more conservative than what I have seen from other sellers, so here some notes.

Surface VISUAL GRADING:

EXCELLENT - clean and shiny, as new. E minus is the same, with light scuffing.

Very Good Plus - Clean, with a little more scuffing. Some grooves spots may have some light greying. Little if any distortion.

Very Good - a clean copy, some scuffing, some greying on a single groove or a few small groove bands. Enjoyable record, maybe light distortion on some top notes.

=> Everything up to here is a great and enjoyable record

Very Good Minus - May have areas of visible wear, may have some scuffing or dulled surface. Still a great record, but ticks, pops and some distortion.

Good Plus - a worn and scuffed copy. May have other defects separately stated. Plays well, but with noise, may require filtering.

All other defects (if any: Chips, cracks, scratches, lamination cracks, label damage, needle digs) will be stated SEPARATELY.

Paypal or money order.

Number of Records
 ( Edison Diamond Discs count as TWO RECORDS)

Media Mail US

1 Record or 1 Diamond Disc

$ 5.95

Up to 2 Records

$ 6.95

Up to 5 Records (2 DD)

$9.50

Up to 10 Records (5 DD)

$11

Up to 15 Records (7 DD)

$13.50

Up to 20 Records (10 DD)

$15.50

So, if you want to generate your own bill:

Count the records that you have won, for albums count each record. Remember that a Diamond Disc counts as TWO records, e.g. 2 Diamond Discs -> 10$ shipping charge.