Ivan Rebrov: "My heart belongs to Russia"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Ivan Pavlovich Rebrov (real name - Hans Rolf Rippert) is a German performer of Russian origin who performed Russian folk songs, romances, ballads, and also actively popularized Russian culture in many countries of the world. He had a unique voice with a range of four octaves, and could also change the timbre in accordance with the repertoire. Well-known philanthropist, social activist, winner of many awards in the field of art, also holder of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Biography

Ivan Rebrov, whose biography is so interesting even to the sophisticated reader, lived a long creative life full of interesting events. Hans Rolf Rippert was born on July 31, 1931 in the city of Spandau, Germany in a poor family of workers. His father, Paul Rippert, worked as an engineer at one of the factories in Germany, and his mother, Natalya Nelina, an immigrant from Russia, worked as a hired housewife.

The future world-famous singer grew up in a quiet and comfortable family environment, spent all his childhood in the small provincial town of Halle. It was here that little Hans firstbecame interested in singing and began to study vocals in the city choir. His mother, who personally knew Chaliapin and had a classical gymnasium education, strongly encouraged her son's desire for vocal art.

Youth singer also spent in Germany. Studying at school, the future world star Ivan Rebrov does not waste time. Hans sings on his own, is looking for teachers and tutors, and also takes vocal lessons from the famous singer Alexander Kipnis.

Music career

In 1951, Hans entered the State Higher School of Music, located in Hamburg. The young talent was helped to get such an education by the fact that the year before he became the winner of the Fullbright scholarship.

A young German from childhood was attracted by the culture of Russia - the country from which his mother was from. From this interest grew a great love and respect not only for the culture and art of Russia, but also for what will become the meaning of the singer's life for many years - for the songs of this vast country.

That is why soon, upon receiving a new passport, Hans takes a name for himself - Ivan Rebrov, which is a free translation of his German name into Russian. And in 1954, he applied to join the Black Sea Cossack Choir, whose leader, Andrey Ivanovich Sholuh, gladly accepted the young talent into a rather well-known collective in the USSR.

It is significant that it was Andrei Sholukh, who became not only a teacher, but also a close friend and mentor of Rebrov, who helped him "create" his Russian name, and also advised Ivanuse him as an alias for a solo career.

1958 brought the young student a victory in the institute singing competition: Ivan becomes noticeable and stands out in the field of folk song performers.

Acquaintance with Andrey Sholuh leads Ivan Rebrov to collaborate with the Ural Cossack Choir, as well as with the Don Cossack Choir, headed by Sergey Alexandrovich Zharov at that time.

It was from these vocal masters that Rebrov learned everything that would later make him a world-famous figure. He is actively mastering the ability to hit high notes, and also trains ligaments, trying to reach the lower timbre threshold, often used by Russian traditional vocalists.

The knowledge gained helped Ivan to win the Munich Young Talents Competition, which led to the signing of a contract by the singer with the Gelsinkirchen Opera House, where the singer had to work for the next three years.

It was during the active work in this theater that the biography of the singer Ivan Rebrov changes dramatically, and world fame finds him. He performs the parts of Boris Godunov, King Heinrich, Don Basilio, who did not leave indifferent both the audience and the management, and in 1967 Ivan was sent to work in the theater of the city of Frankfurt am Main.

In 1967, inspired by the incredible success of the theatrical career, Rebrov plans to start a career as an opera singer. However, in the fall, at the premiere of one of the next operettas, Ivan injures his tendon. Forced to temporarily abandon his theatrical career, Rebrov makes a decisionstart recording a collection of Russian songs and romances, which brings him even more popularity.

The singer's vinyl records released between 1967 and 1975 not only cemented his position in the art world. But they also brought considerable income, most of which the singer donated to charitable foundations.

World famous

By 1975, Ivan Rebrov's popularity had reached unprecedented proportions. The singer actively toured Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland and many other countries, and in each country where his concerts took place, discs with the artist's recordings were published after a while.

Singer Ivan Rebrov, whose biography amazed the public, was extremely modest and hardworking, preferring to record new compositions instead of interviews.

From 1980 to 1989, he created and lived at a furious pace, giving about three hundred concerts a year and releasing 2-3 albums, not counting collections and reissues of records.

In the spring of 1989, Rebrov visited his mother's dearly beloved homeland - Russia, where he also gave several concerts at the stadiums of Moscow and St. Petersburg, accompanied by the Orchestra of Folk Instruments. N. P. Osipova.

Private life

Extremely little information is known about the singer's personal life. He practically did not give interviews, rarely appeared in public, did not advertise his family problems. It is known that the singer was not married and spent little time with loved ones. Since 1975, Ivan lived in his own castle in the Taunus mountains in Germany, and in wintercame to rest and work in Greece, to a private villa located on the island of Skopelos.

It must be said that Ivan Rebrov, whose biography, whose personal life was incredibly interesting to the paparazzi, was always extremely reluctant to talk about himself, preferring to express his opinion exclusively through creativity. Shortly after acquiring the villa, the singer was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Greece".

All his adult life Rebrov idolized Russia. It was to this country that he devoted his life, without hesitation, with a smile calling himself a "Russian bear." In the last years of his life, Ivan Rebrov suffered from diabetes, which he never managed to cure.

Retirement and death

In the late 1990s, the singer was diagnosed with a severe form of diabetes, which led to a forced restriction of concert activity. The singer is more and more interested in sacred music, and in the last years of his life, Ivan almost does not record folk songs, paying attention only to the spiritual culture of Russia.

In December 2007, Ivan Rebrov gives his last concert at the Votivkirch town hall in Vienna, but discs with his early recordings continue to be released. By agreement with publishers, a certain percentage of sales is transferred to charity, namely to help people with diabetes.

Ivan Rebrov died at his home in Frankfurt am Main on February 27, 2008, leaving behind a grandiose musical and cultural heritage.