You - as an echo of a forgotten hymn

March 2014 is marked by the 100^th anniversary since the creation of one of the most outstanding works of Alexander Blok - a cycle of poetry “Carmen”; on 30 April it will be 45 years since the death and on 27 September – since the birth of opera singer Lubov Andreeva-Delmas, who inspired the poet to write this cycle.

Poetic cycle “Carmen” is a variation on the theme of eternal love and the birth of overwhelming feelings, however this is not an ordinary story as real life and art are intermixed here.

Lyubov Delmas (nee Tischinskaya, married name Andreeva, 1879 - 1969) was opera actress, one of the performers of immortal opera Carmen by Georges Bizet staged at the Musical Drama Theatre. This theater was founded in 1912 by opera director Iosif Lapitsky and became a symbol of innovation in this field of art. It was the first opera theater where singers behaved as dramatic actors embodying the ideas of Stanislavsky.

The exhibition presents photographs of Lubov Delmas as Marina Mnishek in the opera “Boris Godunov”, Laura in the opera “The Stone Guest” and as Carmen. The last photo is of particular value as this is how Alexander Blok saw the signer for the first time. Lubov Delmas presented this photograph to collector Nicholay Ilyin.

The visitors to the exhibition have an opportunity to see the original autographs of the poems, which became part of the cycle Carmen. These poems were published for the first time in a magazine “Lyubov k trem apelsinam” (Love for three oranges), which is connected with another rare exhibit: correspondence between Alexander Blok and Lyubov Delmas at theatre dispute on March 30, 1914. This dispute was organized by the editorial office of the magazine.

Shortly before her death, Lyubov Delmas gave a part of her archive, including the letters from Alexander Blok, to Nicholay Ilyin, who granted them to the museum.