Владимир Алексеевич Ильин – забытый певец России
Эта статья- попытка воссоздать жизнь забытого русского певца – Владимира Елина. Он приехал в Австралию в 1927 году из Филиппин, прожил в Австралии несколько лет, переехал в Англию, а затем в США, чтобы сделать карьеру певца и преподавателя вокала.
Владимир родился 3 октября 1888 в Санкт-Петербурге. В адресной книге этого города за 1912 год упоминается Алексей Михайлович Елин, почетный гражданин, возможно, его отец.
Поиск в историческом архиве Санкт-Петербурга дал мне 69 возможных записей под фамилией Елин. Среди них есть запись о Владимире Елине – студенте Санкт-Петербургской государственной консерватории им. Н. А. Римского-Корсакова, без указания лет обучения.
Если вам известна какая нибудь информация о Владимире Елине, поделитесь пожалуйста.
CROTCHETS & QUAVERS (1928, October 28). The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954), p. 38. Retrieved May 30, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224688384
It is an attempt to reconstruct the life of a forgotten Russian singer – Vladimir Elin. He arrived to Australia in 1927 from Philippines, stayed there for few years, moved to England and then USA to have a career as a singer and a voice teacher.
Vladimir Elin was born on 3.10.1888 in St Petersburg (per his Naturalisation papers in National Archives of Australia). There is nothing known about his parents with the exception that his father’s name was Aleksey. Vladimir studied at the prestigious musical school in St Petersburg and upon completion worked for four years for the Mariinsky Opera.
But my attention is drawn to the article “Visiting Russian singer” published by the Sydney Morning Herald on 14 May 1927 in Music and Drama section. It might solve the mystery of Vladimir Elin and his ancestry.
“Born In Petrograd, he, received his musical education in the city, at the famous conservatorium, of which Glazounoff, the distinguished Russian composer, is director. There the youthful Elin’s studies were carried on under Professor Rossette, who had gained, in addition to his equipment as a vocal teacher, a training as a pianist, finally as a pupil of the celebrated Anton Rubinstein”.
”before the Russian Revolution, was the leading baritone at the Mariinsky Theatre, Petrograd, where he sang many times in opera before the Czar Nicholas II and his household.”’ The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 – 1947) 19 April 1927
It is very much possible, but I was unable to find any references on internet about Vladimir Elin’s performances in the Opera. There is simply nothing on him. His name is not known to Russian public or musical historians. He probably left too early and without leaving any mark on Russian Opera stage.
An article on Mariinsky theatre website sheds more light about the life of opera singers and a possible explanation of why no one knowns about Vladimir Elin in Russia. He was doing his overseas studying when the Revolution came and he decided to stay outside of Russia. By 1923/24 Vladimir became a “director of the voice department in the Conservatorium of the University of the Philippines”.
Over time it became the custom that young opera singers, after graduating from the conservatory were mandatory seconded by the Directorate of Imperial Theatres abroad for improving vocal school and only then appeared on the national scene.
In April of 1927 Vladimir arrived to Australia on a vacation but started performing in concerts straight away. Australian public was in awe of his voice and his success continued until July 1933. His repertoire consisted of operas from Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Mussorgsky and other great Russian masters.
I am not sure whether Vladimir’s intention was to stay in Australia or not but within a month of arrival he resigned from his position in Philippines’ conservatory and opened a music studio in Brisbane. Peter John Kickpatrick mentions him in the book “Republics of Letters: Literary Communities in Australia”.
”The Hall of Muses was established in late 1925, first in Little Roma Street, and later …323 George Street….Here Pares conducted his violin lessons, provided…a refuge for a varied collection of impoverished European bohemians and wanderers, mostly musical: ….Professor Vladimir Elin, from Petrograd by way of Siam and the Philippines, a fine baritone who used the hall to conduct voice coaching classes, and ‘to conceal his mistresses from a wronged and irate Siamese spouse’.
Much later I have learned that Vladimir’s wife was Theodora Collaco and a girl from this marriage named Olga ( born 1925 in Manila). He must have been happy to settle in Australia as he applied for Australian citizenship in July 1932.
But by April 1935 Vladimir is in England and married for the second time in 1936 to an Australian violinist Gladys Rae Fry from Adelaide (12.6.1893- 14.5.1992, New York). Few more concerts were given by Vladimir in England before he reached the destination in his search for fame and destiny, New York, in 1938.
He arrived to USA with Gladys (the couple had no kids) and found the accommodation where they both lived for the rest for their lives. The internet search for their home in New York revealed an interesting fact. From 1940 until their death (and Gladys died in 1992 at the age of 99 years old), they lived in the apartment at 853, 7th avenue NY, which even today is the home to musical rehearsal studios with grand piano and sound proof rooms. In 1940 USA census, both Vladimir and Gladys Elin were recorded as teachers, he- of singing and she- of violin.
It looks like music and singing kept Vladimir going no matter where he lived.
In 1943 Vladimir Elin was “‘amongst those who during 1943 gave so generously of time and talent to the entertainment of nearly 2,000,000 men and women in the services of the Allied Nations at the American Theatre Wing. ” (The Billboard, 5 Feb 1944).
In April 1946 Vladimir made a singing debut in New York Town Hall (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 16th April 1946 , page 6).
Vladimir Elin died in New York in 1958 (unconfirmed).
CROTCHETS & QUAVERS (1928, October 28). The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954), p. 38. Retrieved May 30, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224688384
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