'It would be great' to rebury composer Rachmaninov's ashes in Russia - Medinsky
VELIKY NOVGOROD. Aug 15 (Interfax) - The Russian Culture Ministry supports the idea of returning the ashes of Sergei Rachmaninov, a Russian pianist, composer and conductor buried in the United States, to Russia, Russia's Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said in Starya Russa on Saturday.
"The composer had dreamt of being buried in Russia. For this reason, it would be a great thing to return him [his ashes] to his home country," Medinsky was quoted as saying on Saturday by the press center of the Novgorod region's government to Interfax.
The press center noted that Rachmaninov's final resting place should be the Oneg estate in the Novgorod region, where the great Russian composer had spent his childhood.
Medinsky, however, admitted that reburial is a complicated judicial procedure, but if the authorities of the Novgorod region went ahead with this initiative, the Culture Ministry would support it.
The Novgorod region's Governor Sergei Mitin and Medinsky had earlier discussed a project to rebuild the Oneg estate. Medinsky announced his ministry's readiness to assist in this issue.
"It is necessary to bring this unique monument of history, culture, architecture and garden art back to life. It is the place where the personality of this future famous pianist, conductor and composer had formed," Mitin said.
The Oneg estate was completely destroyed during World War II. The public of the Novgorod region has strongly spoken out in favor of reviving this unique place.
A project to rebuild the Oneg estate includes establishing a cultural center dedicated to the composer's life and creative work, preserving the historical and cultural landscape of the site, creating conditions to draw a steady flow of tourists, as well as designing and building a center for the development of Rachmaninov's musical heritage on the adjacent territory.
Rachmaninov was born on the Oneg estate in Novgorod Province on March 20 (April 1, New Style), 1873. His works include the Aleko opera in one act, based on Alexander Pushkin's The Gypsies poem, the Isle of the Dead symphonic poem, the Miserly Knight opera, the Francesca da Rimini opera, and the All-Night Vigil a capella choral composition.
Rachmaninov moved to the United States in 1918 and died in Beverley Hills, California, on March 28, 1943. He was buried in Valhalla, near New York.
