An evening dedicated to the 161st anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore was held in Moscow

On Thursday 12 May, at 5:30 pm, the Centre for Oriental Literature at the Russian State Library (Mokhovaya Street, 6-8) hosted an evening to mark the 161st anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore's birthday. The event was organised jointly with the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre at the Indian Embassy in Moscow.

Rabindranath Tagore was an eminent Indian thinker, educator and poet whose work had a great influence on Indian art and literature, his poetic compositions having become anthems of India and Bangladesh. In 1913, Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize. 

The event was opened by Vadim Duda, Director General of the Russian State Library, and Pawan Kapoor, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India. The evening included a preview of the exhibition catalogue "Rabindranath Tagore and His Creative Legacy", due to be published in the second half of 2022.

An exhibition was prepared specially for the event, showcasing some of the items in the catalogue. In addition to the editions published during his lifetime, literature in CIS languages was also on display, as well as translations into Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, Nepali, Urdu and Turkish. 

A separate part of the exhibition is dedicated to sheet music and gramophone records. Rabindranath Tagore's poems and songs have inspired many composers and musicians. Recordings of sheet music and songs performed by 20th-century European composers based on his works are kept in the collection of the Music Publications and Recordings Department of the Russian State Library. The exhibition features sheet music from Russia's oldest music publishing house, "Jurgenson", Leipzig's "Universal edition", and gramophone records from the "Aprelevo" factory.

Among the honoured guests of the event was Aleksey Rybnikov, winner of the State Prize and the Presidential Prize, Chairman of the Union of Russian Composers, author of the music for the song "The Last Poem" to lyrics by Rabindranath Tagore.

Photo: flickr.com