# Anyone want to help translate this video for me?



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

This video is of great interest to me. It's some of the only _footage _in existence of Glazunov. Not that he does much, it shows him just walking/talking with some people, and then he stares suspiciously at the camera. "What is this contraption?" :lol: But it's really neat. I tend to lose touch with his humanity. I continue to look for a recording of his voice, I hope he wasn't overly humble not to realize there might actually be someone in the future who would want to know what his voice sounded like, namely me!  






I'd really appreciate if what's being said here could possibly be translated from Russian.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Wow, what a discovery! Thanks for posting it!


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

I have done it, but I must disappoint you: you will not hear Glazunov's real voice there. Here is the translation though:



> The St. Petersburg Conservatory is celebrating one of its anniversaries - 145 years.
> It may not be a reason for grand celebration but a good occasion to add a few features to the "portrait" of the first Russian Conservatory. Boris Astafiev called the founding of the Conservatory "a work after the mannner of Peter the Great" . Its founder Anton Rubinstein really imitated Peters's work, as concerns music: he built the center of the whole Russian Empire's musical life practically from scratch. But its destiny just like the destiny of St. Petersburg was dramatic and full of trials. The first attempts to open a musical academy in St. Petersburg caused the following reaction of the Russian authorities: an institution of higher learning for both sexes together was a danger for its students' morals. In 1855 the future of Russian music was decided in Nice in a private conversation between Rubinstein and the Great Duchess Elena Pavlovna. The project became a reality only after assuring the court's protection. It was Alexander II who first named the new insitution "Conservatory", which raised it's status immediately. The "title" of graduate sounded much more dignified than it does now, the graduates were awarded an honorary citizenship and a title of a free artist. Thanks to Rubinstein, music in Russia became a real profession for the very first time. Rubinstein himself received the title of Incumbent State Councillor. The Conservatory changed its residence three times, but already by the end of the 1800s it moved to it's present address: Theater Square, 3. Instead of sphynxes, the entrance is guarded by the two titans of Russian music: Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov. The building stands even now, but its founding stone has been removed and now belongs to the collection of a local museum. More than once the Conservatory was on the verge of closing: in 1905 when student revolts shaked the strict system of learning and the best professors leaved the institution, in the years of destruction after the revolution, when the rector Alexander Glazunov personally saw to the firewood supplies and bought fur coats for the freezing students. He said: "Before I became the director I knew the treble clef and the bass clef, now I know the wrench too". Finally, during the WWII blockade when a part of its personnel was evacuated to Tashkent and a part remained to live right in the biulding. The word "Consevatory" means "shelter, refuge". During the war this meaning became literal.
> 
> The St. Petersburg conservatory was a kind of magnet which attracted almost all great figures in the history of Russian music. But this magnet not only attracted, but also pushed away many of the institution's benefactors. Three main persons in the history of the Conservatory were Rubinstein, Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov. All threee had to resign their positions at various times. The Conservatory cost a fortune to the wealthy landlord and patron Vasiliy Kologrivov. Devoted to the cause of music, he gave to it all he had and died in poverty.
> ...


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Very interesting . Some people say I look a lot like Glazunov . I think I do . But I'm not a plump by any means !


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Here´s a longer footage of conservatory professors from 1912, including Glazunov, Leonid Nikolayev and Leopold Auer 





You probably already know it, but the Glazunov Foundation in Munich and a place in St. Petersburg have collections of memorabilia, http://www.glasunow.org/archiv/verzeichnis
http://www.theatremuseum.ru/eng/expo/sher.html
http://www.spbmusicguide.info/museums.html

and Glazunov´s daughter Elena made recordings of the two piano concertos 
http://audaud.com/2010/10/glazunov-...monic-orchestraalois-melichar-pristine-audio/


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> Here´s a longer footage of conservatory professors from 1912, including Glazunov, Leonid Nikolayev and Leopold Auer


lol, that's a lot of beard for one single video.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> Here´s a longer footage of conservatory professors from 1912, including Glazunov, Leonid Nikolayev and Leopold Auer


HOLY COWWWWWWWWWWWWW....!!!

This is REVELATION! I don't know how to thank you guys! You guys are the BEST!! 



> *He said: "Before I became the director I knew the treble clef and the bass clef, now I know the wrench too".*


I've never known that quote before... again, REVELATION into a man I always feel like I'm just beginning to know... :O

So Glazunov actually _bought _bassoons for the Conservatory? Those are mighty expensive too... I learn something more everyday, literally.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Wow.... A lot of Glazunov! I'd better start listening to some of his works.... And fast....  Just kidding. 

I feel like I should, but I simply do not understand the quote above.... Anyone want to clarify?


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

mstar said:


> I feel like I should, but I simply do not understand the quote above.... Anyone want to clarify?


both the clefs and the wrench are _keys_, yanno? makes sense in French is all I can tell you.


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