RECEPTION HOSTED BY THE AMBASSADOR OF IRELAND AND DIRECTOR OF THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM
RECEPTION HOSTED BY THE AMBASSADOR OF IRELAND AND DIRECTOR OF THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM FRIDAY, 10TH SEPTEMBER, 2010
Good evening
Tonight’s concert in the theatre of Catherine the Great is a symbol of what unites Ireland and Russia. On behalf of everyone present, may I offer a warm thank you to our pianist
Míceál O'Rourke, who is no stranger to St. Petersburg or indeed Russia, our musicians and dancers from Dúchas, our splendid tenor Dean Power and of course to Dr. Piotrowski and his colleagues of the Hermitage who have been such wonderful hosts. I thank our other host who along with his wife and Embassy team have been such stalwarts of this first visit to the Russian Federation by an Irish President – I am of course referring to our wonderful Ambassador McDonagh.
This has been a great week for Irish-Russian relations. It’s the first visit, as I said by an Irish President to the Russian Federation and yesterday Martin and I were received by President Dmitri Medvedev where we discussed with warmth, humour, honesty and enthusiasm the relationship between our two countries. Today, the dialogue continued with Governor Valentina Matvienko. In these discussions there was no shortage of things to talk about!
The political, economic and cultural relationship between Ireland and Russia is flourishing and strengthening. We are mindful as well of the shared cultural and historical experiences that hold European life together from the Atlantic to Siberia.
I’m delighted to be here in St. Petersburg, a city with a proud literary and musical heritage, the home city of Pushkin and Dostoevsky, of Mandelstam and Akhmatova – here where the 7th Symphony of Shostakovich helped carry you through the greatest ordeal of your history. I’m particularly pleased to be right here at the stunningly beautiful Hermitage which so magnificently profiles the history, heritage and culture of Russia.
I am far from the first Irish visitor to this historic city. In the 1700s Peter Lacy, an Irish soldier, became a Field Marshall in St. Petersburg. Lacy served five sovereigns and Catherine the Great made him a Knight of the Order of Alexander Nevsky. Another Catherine, Catherine II, danced with Lacy at her wedding feast. Unfortunately reports suggest that he was a poor dancer and kept treading on her toes! He must have been from Belfast for I married a fellow like that…..
Another Irish servant of Russia was Governor George Browne, whose adventures included a spell in Constantinople as a captured slave. The portrait of Joseph Cornelius O'Rourke, a commander under Kutuzov in the Great Patriotic War, hangs here at the Hermitage.
I wonder, Míceál, if he is a distant relative? If he is, and even if he is not, he is surely proud of the 21st century O’Rourke visitor to St. Petersburg.
I know that Míceál has devoted much of his musical career to the work of John Field.
Field played an important part in establishing Russia’s tradition of classical music and we have just heard some fine examples of his exquisite work which unites Ireland and Russia in a very special and unique way.
In the early decades of the 19th century, the works of Thomas Moore were very well
known in Russia, including among the leaders of the 1825 Revolution. Dean’s rendition
of these haunting melodies shows why they so easily made the musical journey from
Ireland to Russia.
There have been many literary pairings between Ireland and St. Petersburg over the years: Lomonosov and Swift, Karamzin and Goldsmith, Lermontov and Thomas Moore - up to and including Séamus Heaney and Joseph Brodsky in our own day.
More recently, we have seen a significant expansion in the cultural ties between Ireland and Russia with an increasing number of cultural exchanges taking place. I have met young Russian students in remote parts of Donegal studying Irish language and culture and I am happy to say that this year a very successful Russian Festival was held in Dublin. I look forward to the further development of our cultural affinities in the years ahead as the friendship of Ireland and Russia continues to strengthen and expand.
I should mention, of course, that our Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Philip McDonagh, is an accomplished poet. oweverHowever, His published work bears the mark and influence of his previous diplomatic assignments – in particular, India and Italy. At this early stage of his posting, Philip’s poetic focus on Russia is probably still a work in progress. However, by the time he finishes his posting here, I am sure that Philip’s poetry will have added further depth and texture to the rich literary narrative which unites Ireland and Russia.
I loved Philip’s recent article in an Irish newspaper on Anna Akhmatova – long since one of my favourite poets, though the bittersweet poignancy of her poetry can bring me too quickly to tears. I recently stopped off at Mullingar cathedral in the centre of Ireland, to marvel at another connection between Ireland and Russia for there the Russian mosaic artist,
Boris Anrep and one time lover of Anna Akhmatova was commissioned to do a mosaic of St. Anne. The name Anna is inscribed on it and the face is said to be that of a young and beautiful Anna Akhmatova. They lived through different times. We are privileged to live through better times when our lives entwine more easily and Irish men and women live here in Russia and Russian men and women live in Ireland. They open us up to each other day in and day out. They make the distance between us smaller. They make us friends and family to one another.
Thank you for making me feel so much at home in this magnificent city.
Спасибо. Желаю приятного вечера. Thank you. Have a pleasant evening
Thank you.