April FitzLyon (22 April 1920 – 17 September 1998) was an English translator, biographer, and historian.

Early life

Born Cecily April Mead, at

Langton Herring Langton Herring is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in South West England. It lies about north-west of the coastal resort town of Weymouth. It is "prudently set on a ridge above the Fleet", the Fleet being a brackish lagoon be ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, in 1920, she was educated as a small child in France and later at St Mary's,

Calne Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs ...

, in the west of England. She studied the flute at the Guildhall School of Music, but did not go on to become a professional musician.

Marriage and children

In 1941, aged 20, she married Kyril Zinovieff, a Russian

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France followin ...

who took the surname FitzLyon and who worked at the Ministry of Defence. The couple had two sons, Sebastian, who became a business man in France and later in Russia, and Julian, an information specialist. The family lived in

Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...

and later in Chiswick, moving in literary circles and having many Russian friends.

Literary career

FitzLyon learned Russian from her husband's mother. In the 1950s, she approached a publisher with translations of stories by Anton Chekhov that were unknown in the UK, which she had produced jointly with her husband. They were published in 1953 as ''The Woman in the Case and Other Stories''. This was a great success and was quickly followed later the same year by translations of three short novels by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

(''Three Novellas'', 1953). Of these, she translated two herself. She continued to translate literature from Russian, French and Italian, but began to concentrate on historical biographies. She published the first life of

Lorenzo da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte (; 10 March 174917 August 1838) was an Italian, later American, opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas: ''The Marr ...

, Mozart's librettist who had been a revolutionary in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, debunking Ponte's own unreliable memoirs (''The Libertine Librettist'', 1955). After that, she translated

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

's ''Au bonheur des dames'' (Ladies Delight, 1957), the correspondence between

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production a ...

and Richard Strauss, and some recent French novels. She produced biographies of two Spanish singers, the daughters of

Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manu ...

: firstly of Pauline García-Viardot, who was a star of nineteenth century France (''The Price of Genius'', 1964), and later a new life of Pauline Viardot's sister

Maria Malibran Maria Felicia Malibran (24 March 1808 – 23 September 1836) was a Spanish singer who commonly sang both contralto and soprano parts, and was one of the best-known opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality ...

, one of the most notable opera singers of the century (''Maria Malibran: diva of the romantic age'', 1987). In researching her book on Viardot, FitzLyon found much on the singer's long relationship with

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

, and in 1983 she wrote the catalogue for the London Theatre Museum's centenary exhibition 'Turgenev and the Theatre'. In 1975 she published ''Nobody: or, The Disgospel according to Maria Dementnaya'', a translation of a Russian

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

novel, ''Nikto'', which was about the seamy side of the life of Bohemian dissidents and had been smuggled out of Russia in 1966. She went on to translate verse from Russian into both English and French, contributed to ''

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', and wrote articles and reviews, including work for ''

Encounter Encounter or Encounters may refer to: Film *''Encounter'', a 1997 Indian film by Nimmala Shankar * ''Encounter'' (2013 film), a Bengali film * ''Encounter'' (2018 film), an American sci-fi film * ''Encounter'' (2021 film), a British sci-fi film * ...

'', the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' and ''

The Literary Review ''The Literary Review'' is an American literary magazine founded in 1957. The biannual magazine is published internationally by Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey. In addition to the publication of short stories, poems, an ...

''. The FitzLyons visited Russia both before and after the collapse of

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

. For about twenty-five years before her death, April FitzLyon was the General Secretary of the Russian Refugees Aid Society, and she made many broadcasts for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

. At the time of her death, her publisher John Calder called her "a scholar of the old school".

Selected publications

*''The Woman in the Case and Other Stories'' (1953), translation of stories by Anton Chekhov (jointly with Kyril FitzLyon) *''Three Novellas'' (1953), translations of three short novels by

(one of the three jointly with Kyril FitzLyon) *''The Devil and Family Happiness'', translation from Leo Tolstoy (London: Spearman & Calder, 1953, 2nd edition 1954) *''The Libertine Librettist'' (1955), a biography of

*''Ladies Delight'' (1957), translation of

's ''Au bonheur des dames'' *''The Price of Genius'' (1964), a biography of Pauline García-Viardot *''Blaze of Embers'' (Calder and Boyars, 1971), translation of novel by

André Pieyre de Mandiargues André Pieyre de Mandiargues (14 March 1909 – 13 December 1991) was a French writer born in Paris. He became an associate of the Surrealists and married the Italian painter Bona Tibertelli de Pisis (a niece of the Italian metaphysical pai ...

*''Nobody: or, The Disgospel according to Maria Dementnaya'' (1975), novel translated from the Russian *''

: diva of the romantic age'' (1987), a biography *''A month in the country: an exhibition presented by the Theatre Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and arranged in conjunction with April FitzLyon'' (with Alexander Schouvaloff) catalogue of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

's Theatre Museum Ivan Turgenev centenary exhibition (1983)

References

External links

April FitzLyon
at bookfinder.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzlyon, April 1920 births 1998 deaths Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama English translators English biographers English historians People educated at St Mary's School, Calne People from Dorset Place of death missing Russian–English translators French–English translators Italian–English translators 20th-century British translators 20th-century British biographers