In the south of France, in the Maritime Alps, in the town of Grasse near Cannes, Ivan Bunin and his wife Vera rented a villa ‘Belvedere’. Vera Nikolaevna wrote to her brother that they ‘need the villa just as Glotovo or Capri was a need for Ian [Bunin]. After all, you know that he can work only in solitude, and when this solitude is to our taste, so that it is calm and fun. Almost everything he created over the years was created here. At one time we thought to part with this place… but I saw how Ian suffers from this, he felt sorry for his spacious large office, very quiet with a wonderful view’.
On September 12, 1926, Sergei Rakhmaninov who had arrived from Germany, visited the Belvedere. He met Bunin in the Crimea in April 1900: they quickly became friends and continued to communicate in emigration. Rakhmaninov himself stayed in Cannes, and on September 23 the Bunins went to dinner with the composer’s family. Vera Nikolaevna recalled: “The whole family has left an unusually pleasant and light impression. Daughters are adorable”.
The Rakhmaninovs repeatedly visited the Bunins. Poetess Galina Kuznetsova, who often lived at the villa Belvedere, wrote in her diary on August 5, 1930: “Yesterday we had a lunch on the sand under a boat with Aldanov and the Rakhmaninovs. There was a real sand tornado, so we had no choice but to get into this relatively quiet place and settle down there. “Tramps” lunch’, in the words of I.A. [Bunin], turned out to be original. The cutlets, tomatoes, cheese and fruit were covered with sand, and there were only four glasses for all of us. The Rakhmaninovs arrived when everything was laid out; they had ham sandwiches and a bottle of Vichy with them. Ivan Alekseevich introduced Aldanov and Rakhmaninov to each other. Aldanov wore a particularly casual suit. His wife had just left for Paris, and he was sad a little. Rakhmaninov was exceptionally kind to him, even invited him to stay at Rambouillet by the end of the evening, assuring that it would be very convenient and quiet for him to write there, since he himself works a lot. The next day we were all invited to Aldanov to have a breakfast in Juan-les-Pins. In parting, he managed to whisper to me: ‘You certainly have to bring a photographic apparatus, won’t you forget? ’.
On September 12, 1926, Sergei Rakhmaninov who had arrived from Germany, visited the Belvedere. He met Bunin in the Crimea in April 1900: they quickly became friends and continued to communicate in emigration. Rakhmaninov himself stayed in Cannes, and on September 23 the Bunins went to dinner with the composer’s family. Vera Nikolaevna recalled: “The whole family has left an unusually pleasant and light impression. Daughters are adorable”.
The Rakhmaninovs repeatedly visited the Bunins. Poetess Galina Kuznetsova, who often lived at the villa Belvedere, wrote in her diary on August 5, 1930: “Yesterday we had a lunch on the sand under a boat with Aldanov and the Rakhmaninovs. There was a real sand tornado, so we had no choice but to get into this relatively quiet place and settle down there. “Tramps” lunch’, in the words of I.A. [Bunin], turned out to be original. The cutlets, tomatoes, cheese and fruit were covered with sand, and there were only four glasses for all of us. The Rakhmaninovs arrived when everything was laid out; they had ham sandwiches and a bottle of Vichy with them. Ivan Alekseevich introduced Aldanov and Rakhmaninov to each other. Aldanov wore a particularly casual suit. His wife had just left for Paris, and he was sad a little. Rakhmaninov was exceptionally kind to him, even invited him to stay at Rambouillet by the end of the evening, assuring that it would be very convenient and quiet for him to write there, since he himself works a lot. The next day we were all invited to Aldanov to have a breakfast in Juan-les-Pins. In parting, he managed to whisper to me: ‘You certainly have to bring a photographic apparatus, won’t you forget? ’.
