Editing Ivan Rebroff (section)

==Life and career==
[[File:Yvan Rebroff.02.jpg|thumb|Rebroff performing in 2006]]
Rebroff was born on 31 July 1931 in [[Berlin]]<ref>{{AllMusic|title=Ivan Rebroff|class=artist|id=mn0000513266|tab=biography|author=James Christopher Monger}}</ref> (prematurely, he asserted, at seven months, on a train platform)<ref name="wapo">{{cite news| last1=Martin| first1=Judith| title=Rebroff: A Group in One| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1977/12/03/rebroff-a-group-in-one/6d3e280e-00ce-4f85-bbd6-798edb41b4ff/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=December 2, 1977|access-date=January 20, 2025}}</ref> as Hans Rolf Rippert to German parents. His parents were Paul Rippert,<ref>[https://de.rodovid.org/wk/Person:624553 "Paul Rippert b. 1897"], de.rodovid.org</ref> an engineer born in 1897 in [[Bad Liebenwerda|Liebenwerda]], and Luise Fenske,<ref>[https://de.rodovid.org/wk/Person:624555 "Luise Fenske b. 1896"], de.rodovid.org</ref> born in [[Bydgoszcz]] (then part of Prussian [[Bromberg (region)|Bromberg]]). He claimed Russian descent, and while often disputed, this has never been totally refuted. In a 1989 interview with ''[[Izvestia]]'', he said "according to documents I am Ivan Pavlovich Rebroff" ({{langx|ru|Иван Павлович Ребров|link=no}}).<ref>{{cite news|author1=Алимов Г.|author2=Чародеев Г.|url=https://russianshanson.info/catalog/285/articles/198|access-date=3 September 2023|title=Иван Ребров 'Я русский всей душой'|language=ru|trans-title=Ivan Rebrov 'I am Russian with all my soul'|newspaper=[[Izvestia]]|via=russianshanson.info|date=9 May 1989|quote=По документам я действительно Иван Павлович Ребров.|trans-quote=According to the documents, I really am Ivan Pavlovich Rebrov.}}</ref>

He studied singing at the [[Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg]]. Although his knowledge and pronunciation of Russian was imperfect, he became famous for singing Russian [[folk song]]s, but also performed opera, light classics and folk songs from many other countries. He was known on stage for his gusto. He performed over 6,000 concerts in his career, including a two-year seven-day-a-week stint at the [[Théâtre Marigny]] in Paris, singing and acting, among other greats, the role of Tevye in ''[[Fiddler on the Roof]]''. When he was well into his seventies, Rebroff still performed 13 concerts in 21 days on an Australian tour.<ref>{{cite news|title=A slave of the audience finds freedom within |date=2004-03-03 |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601105152/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/a-slave-of-the-audience-finds-freedom-within-20040303-gdigos.html |archive-date=2023-06-01 |url-status=live |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/a-slave-of-the-audience-finds-freedom-within-20040303-gdigos.html}}</ref>

Rebroff described himself as international, the "connection between East and West".{{quote without source|date=September 2023}} He was named an honorary citizen of the Greek [[Sporades]] island of [[Skopelos]], his domicile.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723171345/http://www.ivan-rebroff.de/ir.htm Ivan Rebroff biography]</ref> Rebroff was homosexual.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1 November 2018 |title=Heribert Daume erzählt: Mein Freund Ivan Rebroff|author=Tatjana Seibt|url=https://www.fnp.de/lokales/hochtaunus/usingen-ort893437/heribert-daume-erzaehlt-mein-freund-ivan-rebroff-10423583.html |access-date=5 June 2023|newspaper=[[Frankfurter Neue Presse]] |language=de |quote=Dass Rebroff homosexuell gewesen sei, wird zwar ungern öffentlich gesagt, inzwischen aus dem näheren Umkreis aber bestätigt.|trans-quote=That Rebroff was homosexual is only reluctantly said publicly, but it's now confirmed from close circles.}}</ref>

{{Citation needed span|date=July 2023|text=As well as being a singer, he was at least a reasonable violinist and keyboardist (he is pictured playing a church organ but may have also played the piano). Rebroff sang and was able to converse to a lesser or greater extent in several languages in addition to his native German; Russian, French, Italian, English, and Greek.}}

He died aged 76 in [[Frankfurt]] on 27 February 2008, after a long illness. Four days after his death, his brother {{ill|Horst Rippert|de}}, who is nine years his senior (and by his own unsubstantiated accounts shot down [[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]] during World War II), claimed part of Rebroff's vast fortune.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bild.de/leute/star-news/heimlicher-bruder-will-millionen-vermoegen-3898792.bild.html|title=Heimlicher Bruder will Millionen-Vermögen|trans-title=Secret brother wants fortune of millions|language=de|access-date=3 September 2023|newspaper=[[Bild]]}}</ref>