Grieg and Russia: From Desire to Disappointment.

The paper deals with Edvard Grieg's connections with Russia primarily considering his intended but failed concert tour to this country. Grieg established a warm and fruitful relationship with some of the Russian musicians. Their communication is reflected in the composer's correspondence. Grieg's music in Russia became very popular and widely performed already in Grieg's living time. The manner of musical expression in Grieg's oeuvre is considered very close to Russian musicians and audiences. In spite of these facts, Grieg's concert tour to Russia, which he intended to implement many times, never happened. Grieg's letters written in different years reveal the history of creating travel plans and their failure. Those unsuccessful attempts were determined by three kinds of reasons: obligations for other countries to come with concert tours, health issues, and the political situation. The tragic consequences of the political events (Russia's war with Japan, suppressing of the 1905 Revolution) were morally unacceptable to Grieg and prevented him from coming to Russia. Thus, the history of Edvard Grieg's not implemented concert tour to Russia is a conspicuous example of the negative impact of politics on the cultural relationship and collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]