A p Sumarokov short biography. A.P. Sumarokov - literary creativity and theatrical activity

Biography

Fame brought him published in 1747 and played at the court of his first tragedy "Khorev". His plays were played at the court by the troupe of F. G. Volkov, ordered from Yaroslavl. When a permanent theater was established in 1756, Sumarokov was appointed director of this theater and for a long time he remained the main "supplier" of the repertoire, for which he is rightfully called the "father of the Russian theater". Chorev was followed by eight tragedies, twelve comedies and three operatic librettos.

In parallel, Sumarokov, who worked extremely quickly, developed in other areas of literature. In 1755-1758 he was an active contributor to the academic journal Monthly Works, in 1759 he published his own satirical-moralizing journal The Hardworking Bee (the first private journal in Russia). In 1762-1769, collections of his fables were published, from 1769 to 1774 - a number of collections of his poems.

Despite the proximity to the court, the patronage of nobles, the praise of admirers, Sumarokov did not feel appreciated and constantly complained about the lack of attention, the nitpicking of censorship and the ignorance of the public. In 1761 he lost control of the theatre. Later, in 1769, he moved to Moscow. Here, abandoned by his patrons and ruined, he died on October 1 (12), 1777. He was buried at the Donskoy Cemetery in Moscow.

Creation

Creativity Sumarokov develops within the framework of classicism, in the form that he adopted in France XVII - early. 18th century Modern admirers, therefore, more than once proclaimed Sumarokov the "confidant of Boileau", "Northern Racine", "Moliere", "Russian La Fontaine".

Sumarokov's literary activity is distinguished by its external diversity. He tried all genres: odes (solemn, spiritual, philosophical, anacreontic), epistles (messages), satires, elegies, songs, epigrams, madrigals, epitaphs; In his poetic technique, he used all the meters that existed at that time, made experiments in the field of rhyme, and applied a variety of strophic constructions.

However, Sumarokov's classicism is different, for example, from the classicism of his older contemporary Lomonosov. Sumarokov "reduces" classical poetics. "Decrease" is expressed in the striving for a less "high" theme, in the introduction of motives of a personal, intimate order into poetry, in the preference for "medium" and "low" genres over the "high" genres. Sumarokov creates a large number of lyrical works in the genre of love songs, works of many satirical genres - fables, comedies, satires, epigrams.

Sumarokov sets a didactic task for satire - “to correct the temper with a mockery, to make her laugh and use her direct charter”: Sumarokov ridicules empty class arrogance (“not in title, in action should be a nobleman”), warns against abuse of landowner power (see in particular “ Chorus to the perverted world, where the “titmouse” says that “overseas they don’t trade people, they don’t put villages on the map, they don’t rip off the skin of the peasants”).

Sumarokov is one of the initiators of Russian parody, a cycle of "Wonderful Odes" ridiculing Lomonosov's "frantic" odic style.

Notes

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Writers alphabetically
• November 25
• Born in 1717
• Born in Moscow
• Deceased October 12
• Deceased in 1777
• Deceased in Moscow
• Writers in the public domain
• Sumarokovs
• Graduates of the First Cadet Corps
• Writers of Russia of the 18th century
• Russian writers of the 18th century
• 18th century poets
• Poets of Russia
• Russian poets
• Russian playwrights
• fabulists
• Parodists
• Buried at Donskoy Cemetery

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- (1717, Moscow 1777, ibid), poet and playwright, one of the leading representatives of Russian classicism, real state councilor. Born in a mansion that belonged to his grandfather in Bolshoi Chernyshevsky Lane, 6 (now). In 173240… … Moscow (encyclopedia)

Famous writer. Genus. in 1718, in Finland, near Wilmanstrand. His father, Pyotr Pankratievich, the godson of Peter Vel., was an educated person for that time, especially in terms of literature, and belonged to sincere supporters ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

SUMAROKOV, ALEXANDER PETROVICH(1717–1777), Russian poet, playwright. Born 14 (25) November 1717 in St. Petersburg in a noble family. Sumarokov's father was a major military officer and official under Peter I and Catherine II. Sumarokov received a good education at home, his teacher was the teacher of the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Paul II. In 1732 he was sent to a special educational institution for children of the higher nobility - the Land Gentry Corps, which was called the "Knight's Academy". By the time the building was completed (1740), two Odes Sumarokov, in which the poet sang of the Empress Anna Ioannovna. The students of the Land Gentry Corps received a superficial education, but a brilliant career was provided to them. Sumarokov was no exception, who was released from the corps as an adjutant to Vice-Chancellor Count M. Golovkin, and in 1741, after the accession of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, he became adjutant to her favorite, Count A. Razumovsky.

During this period, Sumarokov called himself a poet of “tender passion”: he composed fashionable love and pastoral songs (“Nowhere, in a small forest”, etc., about 150 in total), which were a great success, he also wrote shepherd idylls (7 in total) and eclogues (total 65). Describing Sumarokov's eclogues, V. G. Belinsky wrote that the author "did not think to be seductive or indecent, but, on the contrary, he was fussing about morality." The critic based himself on the dedication written by Sumarokov to the collection of eclogues, in which the author wrote: “In my eclogues, tenderness and fidelity are proclaimed, and not malicious voluptuousness, and there are no such speeches that would be repugnant to hearing.”

Work in the eclogue genre contributed to the fact that the poet developed a light, musical verse, close to the spoken language of that time. The main meter used by Sumarokov in his eclogues, elegies, satires, epistles and tragedies was iambic six-foot, a Russian variety of Alexandrian verse.

In the odes written in the 1740s, Sumarokov was guided by the models given in this genre by M.V. Lomonosov. This did not prevent him from arguing with the teacher on literary and theoretical issues. Lomonosov and Sumarokov represented two currents of Russian classicism. Unlike Lomonosov, Sumarokov considered the main tasks of poetry not to raise national problems, but to serve the ideals of the nobility. Poetry, in his opinion, should not be majestic in the first place, but “pleasant”. In the 1750s, Sumarokov performed parodies of Lomonosov's odes in a genre that he himself called "absurd odes." These comic odes were, to a certain extent, autoparodies.

Sumarokov tried his hand at all genres of classicism, wrote safic, Horatian, Anacreontic and other odes, stanzas, sonnets, etc. In addition, he opened the genre of poetic tragedy for Russian literature. Sumarokov began to write tragedies in the second half of the 1740s, creating 9 works of this genre: Khorev (1747), Sinav and Truvor (1750), Dimitri Impostor(1771) and others. In the tragedies, written in accordance with the canons of classicism, Sumarokov's political views were fully manifested. Yes, tragic ending. Khoreva stemmed from the fact that the main character, the "ideal monarch", indulged his own passions - suspicion and incredulity. "Tyrant on the throne" causes suffering for many people - this is the main idea of ​​the tragedy Dimitry the Pretender.

The creation of dramatic works was not least facilitated by the fact that in 1756 Sumarokov was appointed the first director of the Russian Theater in St. Petersburg. The theater existed largely thanks to his energy. After the forced resignation in 1761 (high-ranking court officials were dissatisfied with Sumarokov), the poet devoted himself entirely to literary activity.

At the end of the reign of Empress Elizabeth, Sumarokov spoke out against the established form of government. He was outraged that the nobles did not correspond to the ideal image of the "sons of the fatherland", that bribery flourished. In 1759, he began publishing the journal Hardworking Bee, dedicated to the wife of the heir to the throne, the future Empress Catherine II, with whom he linked his hopes for arranging life according to truly moral principles. The magazine contained attacks on nobles and scoundrels, which is why it was closed a year after its foundation.

Sumarokov's opposition was not least based on his difficult, irritable character. Everyday and literary conflicts - in particular, the conflict with Lomonosov - are also partly explained by this circumstance. The coming of Catherine II to power disappointed Sumarokov with the fact that a handful of her favorites, first of all, took up not serving the common good, but satisfying their personal needs. Sumarokov described his own position in the tragedy Dimitry the Pretender: “My tongue must subdue my pretense; / To feel differently, to speak differently, / And to be vile sly ones I am like. / Here is the step if the king is unjust and evil.

During the reign of Catherine II, Sumarokov paid great attention to the creation of parables, satires, epigrams and pamphlet comedies in prose ( Tresotinius, 1750, Guardian, 1765, Cuckold by imagination, 1772 and others).

According to his philosophical convictions, Sumarokov was a rationalist, formulated his views on the structure of human life as follows: “What is based on nature and truth can never change, and what has other grounds is boasted, blasphemed, introduced and withdrawn at the discretion of each and without any mind." His ideal was enlightened noble patriotism, opposed to uncultured provincialism, metropolitan gallomania and bureaucratic venality.

Simultaneously with the first tragedies, Sumarokov began to write literary and theoretical poetic works - epistles. In 1774 he published two of them - Epistle about the Russian language And About poetry in one book Instruction to those who want to be writers. One of the most important ideas of epistle Sumarokov was the idea of ​​the greatness of the Russian language. IN Epistole about Russian language he wrote: "Our beautiful language is capable of everything." Sumarokov's language is much closer to the spoken language of enlightened nobles than the language of his contemporaries Lomonosov and Trediakovsky.

The work of Sumarokov had a great influence on contemporary Russian literature. Enlightener N. Novikov took epigraphs to his anti-Catherine satirical magazines from Sumarokov’s parables: “They work, and you eat their work”, “Strict instruction is dangerous, / Where there is a lot of atrocities and madness”, etc. Radishchev called Sumarokov “a great husband”. Pushkin considered his main merit that "Sumarokov demanded respect for poetry" at a time of neglect of literature.

During the life of Sumarokov, the complete collection of his works was not published, although many poetry collections were published, compiled according to genre. After the poet's death, Novikov published twice Complete collection of all works Sumarokov (1781, 1787).

SUMAROKOV ALEXANDER PETROVICH
14.11.1717 – 1.10.1777

Alexander Petrovich was born on November 14, 1717, the second child in the family of Lieutenant of the Vologda Dragoon Regiment Pyotr Pankratych Sumarokov (1693 - 1766) and his wife Praskovia Ivanovna, nee Priklonskaya (1699 - 1784) in a Moscow family mansion in Bolshoy Chernyshevsky Lane (now Stankevich St. House 6). The family was quite rich at that time: in 1737, in six estates, 1670 serfs were registered behind Peter Pankratych.
Alexander had two brothers and six sisters: Vasily (1716 - 1767), Ivan (1729 - 1763), Praskovya (1720 -?), Alexandra (1722 -?), Elizabeth (1731 - 1759), Anna (1732 - 1767) , Maria (1741 - 1768), Fiona (?).

Alexander Petrovich received his primary education at home. Until 1727, his teacher was the Carpathian Rusyn from Hungary I.A. Zeiken (1670 - 1739), who at the same time gave lessons to the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Peter II. In connection with his coronation on May 7, 1727, Zeiken was removed from his post and A.I. took up the education of the young emperor. Osterman (1686 - 1747).
On May 30, 1732, Alexander Petrovich was admitted to the Land Gentry Corps (Cadet Corps) together with his elder brother Vasily. The official opening of the building took place on June 14, 1732 in the restored palace of Menshikov A.D. (1673 - 1729). Six or seven people lived in one room, each of the cadets could have two servants, but only for their own expenses, and it was recommended to have foreign servants for better mastering foreign languages. Courtesy was required during the meal, and for the useful use of time, the reading of articles, newspapers, regulations, decrees, or fragments of history was prescribed.
Some cadets found pleasure in composing poems and songs, poetics and rhetoric were not included in the curriculum, while writing was not encouraged by the regulations of the corps, but was not prohibited either.
The first Cadets were fascinated by foreign languages ​​and poetic language.
Adam Olsufiev (1721 - 1784), wrote poetry easily, but did not publish them, "because they were in the taste of Piron" (obviously, Hephaestus is meant). Classmates Olsufiev and Sumarokov will remain on friendly terms throughout their lives, sometimes out of old memory, sometimes according to the needs of the service. In 1765, Catherine II turned to Olsufiev to ban Sumarokov's fable "Two Chefs".
Mikhail Sobakin (1720 - 1773), who entered the corps a day later than Sumarokov, also rhymed words and put them into lines. To the general congratulations from the Corps on the New Year of 1737, sixteen-year-old Mikhail Sobakin also attached verses of his own composition - 24 lines in a syllabic 12-complex verse, singing the wise ruler Anna Ioannovna and the conquest of Azov in 1736. Sobakin singled out parts of the words in capital letters, from which other words, the most important, easily formed, and the text “over” the text turned out: RUSSIA, ANNA, AZOV, CRIMEA, KHAN, THOUSAND, SEMSOT, TRITSA, SEMOY.
The printed debut of Sumarokov himself took place at the end of 1739 with the publication of two odes for the New Year 1740 with the traditionally long title "To Her Imperial Majesty the Most Gracious Sovereign Empress Anna Ioannovna Autocrat of the All-Russian Congratulatory Ode on the First Day of the New Year 1740, from the Cadet Corps Composed through Alexander Sumarokov." It is noteworthy that Sumarokov does not write two separate odes, he creates an odic diptych, in the first part of which he speaks on behalf of the Corps (“Our Corps congratulates YOU through me / With the fact that the New Year is now coming”), in the second - on behalf of all of Russia . This form of congratulation "from two persons" already took place in complimentary poetry of that time. A similar panegyric by Adam Olsufiev and Gustav Rosen (1714 - 1779) was dedicated to Anna Ioannovna on January 20, 1735.

On April 14, 1740, Sumarokov was released from the Cadet Corps as an adjutant with the rank of lieutenant to the influential Field Marshal Kh.A. Minikh (1683 - 1767). In his certificate, in particular, it was noted:
"ALEXANDER PETROV SON OF SUMAROKOV.
He entered the corps of 1732 on May 30, and was released on April 14, 1740, as adjutant, with the following certificate (sic!): He taught trigonometry in geometry, explicated and translated from German into French, graduated from Russia and Poland in universal history, in geography He taught the Gibner atlas, composes German letters and orations, listened to Wolffian morality until chapter III of the second part, has its origin in the Italian language.

In March 1741, the field marshal was removed from the court and Sumarokov was transferred as an adjutant to the service of Count M.G. Golovkin (1699 - 1754).

After the arrest and exile of Golovkin, from July 1742, Alexander Petrovich was appointed adjutant to the favorite of Empress Elizabeth A.G. Razumovsky (1709 - 1771). June 7, 1743 was promoted to adjutant general of major rank.

Thanks to his new position, Alexander Petrovich often visits the court, where he meets his future wife, the daughter of a mundkoch (cook) Johanna Christina Balior (1730 - 1769), who was called Balkova at court. Subsequently, in various memoirs, she turned into Johanna Christiana Balk (obviously, this was somehow connected with Lieutenant-General Fyodor Nikolaevich Balk, who at court was considered the actual father of Johanna).

On November 10, 1746, Alexander Petrovich and Johann Christian got married. The relationship of the spouses was difficult, and in 1758 Johann Christian left her husband.
In marriage, the couple had two daughters Praskovya (1747 - 1784) and Catherine (1748 - 1797). There is a myth that Catherine continued the creative tradition of her father and was the first Russian poetess to appear in print. The basis for this legend was the fact that in the March magazine "Hardworking Bee" for 1759, an "Elegy" was placed, signed "Katerina Sumarokova" (she was only 11 years old at that time):
Oh you who have always loved me
And now I've forgotten everything!
You are still sweet to me, sweet in my eyes,
And I'm already without you in moaning and tears.
I go without memory, I don’t know what peace is.
I cry and mourn; my life property.
How I was with you, that hour was pleasant,
But that died, and hid from us.
However, I love, love you heartily,
And I will love you with all my heart forever
Although I parted with you, dear,
Although I do not see you in front of me.
Alas, why, why am I so unhappy!
Why, dear to you, I am so passionate!
You have deprived rock of everything, you have taken away everything evil rock,
I will moan forever when you are so cruel
And after my kind separation,
I will not spend minutes without torment.

As it is clear from the text of the elegy, the Sumarokovs had already separated by this time, and it can be assumed that the daughters remained with their father, therefore, addressing his wife through the magazine, Alexander Petrovich strengthens his appeal with the signature of his daughter, who obviously played a special role in their relationship.
The break in their relationship apparently occurred because of his wife's affair, which resulted in, in the end, a complete break in family relations. This novel began around 1756. In 1757, Sumarokov published in the German journal Novosti Fine Sciences a deeply lyrical poem, the intimate lines of which suggested that it was dedicated to Johann Christiana, in which Sumarokov reproaches his beloved for treason.
There is an opinion among a number of researchers that Sumarokov himself provoked his wife’s romance, being carried away by one of his serf girls, Vera Prokhorova (1743 - 1777), with whom he married only after the death of his first wife in 1770. Even if this romance did take place, then it is unlikely that Alexander Petrovich had the same warm feelings for Vera as for Johanna, otherwise the elegy “Oh you who always loved me” would not have appeared in 1759.

The rupture of family relations of the Sumarokovs surprisingly coincided with the disclosure of the conspiracy of Chancellor A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1693 - 1768) in 1758. In the case of Bestuzhev, as the husband of the maid of honor of the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna, Alexander Sumarokov was also interrogated, but, like his great-grandfather, the steward Ivan Ignatievich Sumarokov (1660 - 1715), who at one time did not betrayed Peter I (in his conflict with his sister Sophia), and Alexander did not give the secret office the details of this conspiracy, the details of which he most likely knew.

At the end of October 1747, Sumarokov turned to the president of the Academy of Sciences, Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky (1728 - 1803), the brother of his patron, with a request to print the tragedy "Khorev" on his own coin in the academic printing house:
“Most illustrious count, gracious sovereign! I intend to publish the tragedy "Khorev" composed by me. And then, dear sir, the fulfillment of my desire depends on your person ... to order it to be printed for my money ... in the number of 1200 copies, with such a definition that henceforth, against the will of my tragedy, this tragedy of mine should not be printed in the Academy; for what I have composed, it is more fitting for me, as the author of it, to publish my own work, and there can be no academic loss from it.
The president allowed the tragedy to be printed, and it was successfully published in accordance with the will of the writer.
Trediakovsky V.K. (1703 - 1769) extremely negatively referring to this tragedy Sumarokov:
“I know that the Author will be sent to many French Tragedies, in which an equal end is made to virtue. But I'll give back<…>you have to do what is right, not the wrong way. As many do. I call all those French Tragedies good for nothing, in which virtue perishes and malice succeeds; therefore, in the same way I also call this Authorova with the same name.
The first performance of "Khorev" was played by the cadets of the gentry corps in 1749, which was attended by the author of the tragedy. Expecting to see "children's play", Sumarokov was amazed at how his passionate poems about love, loyalty and betrayal suddenly came to life and turned into a true world of passions, filled with love, loyalty and betrayal. The performance was a success and on February 25, 1750, the tragedy was played out by the Cadets in one of the halls of the Winter Palace for Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
In 1752, Khorev was given on the stage of the German Theater by Yaroslavl residents, specially summoned to St. Petersburg: Khorev was played by A. Popov (1733 - 1799), Kiya - F. Volkov (1729 - 1763), Osnelda - young Ivan Dmitrevsky (1734 - 1821 ).

Immediately after the tragedy "Khorev", Alexander Petrovich wrote an arrangement of Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" and published it in 1748 without mentioning its direct author under his own name.
In his work on Hamlet, Alexander Petrovich used the French prose translation of the tragedy (1745) by P. A. de Laplace, but he also had an English version at hand, which he obviously used to clarify individual fragments of the text, since most likely did not speak English well. Hamlet's famous monologue "To be or not to be?" (To be or not to be?) Sumarokov conveyed in such a way that the reader could understand what choice the hero faced, what exactly tormented him at the crossroads of life:
“What should I do now? I don't know what to start.
It's easy to lose Ophelia forever!
Father! mistress! oh the names of the dragia!
You were happiness to me in other times.
Sumarokov himself considered it necessary to note the adherence to the original source in only two episodes: “My Hamlet, except for the monologue at the end of the third act and Claudius on his knees, hardly resembles Shakespeare’s tragedy.”
With the staging of Sumarok's Hamlet on February 8, 1750 on the small stage of the Winter Palace, Shakespeare's masterpieces began to triumph on the stages of Russian theaters.
VC. Trediakovsky assessed Sumarokov's Hamlet quite condescendingly: he spoke of the play as "rather fair", but at the same time offered his own versions of some poetic lines. Sumarokov was clearly offended by Trediakovsky's mentoring criticism, in any case, he did not use the proposed options, and the tragedy saw the light almost in its original version.
In his official review, M.V. Lomonosov (1711 - 1765) limited himself to a small reply, but there is an epigram written by him after reading an essay in which he caustically ridicules Sumarokov's translation of the French word "toucher" as "to touch" in a review about Gertrude ("And the death of a spouse is not touched gazed"):
Married Steele, an old man without urine,
On Stella, at fifteen,
And without waiting for the first night,
Coughing, he left the light.
Here poor Stella sighed,
That she did not look at her spouse's death.
No matter how ridiculous the French “toucher” (to touch) in the meaning of “to touch” looked in the 18th century, it soon became freely used in Russian poetic language, and in this Sumarokov turned out to be more perspicacious than his witty critic Lomonosov.

In 1750, after the success of the tragedy Khorev, Alexander Petrovich experienced an extraordinary creative impulse: the comedy Tresotinius was written on January 12-13, 1750 and staged at the Winter Palace on May 30 of the same year; the tragedy “Sinav and Truvor”, the comedy “Monsters” (another name is “Arbitration Court”) were presented on July 21, 1750 at the theater of the Peterhof Palace, “in the seaside courtyard”; the tragedy "Artiston" was given in October 1750 in the chambers of the Winter Palace; the comedy "An Empty Quarrel" was shown on December 1, 1750 after the Lomonosov tragedy "Tamira and Selim" in the same place, in the rooms of the Winter Palace; On December 21, 1751, Semira, Sumarokov's favorite tragedy, was shown.

In November 1754 G.F. Miller suggested a monthly magazine.
The magazine was called "Monthly writings for the benefit and entertainment of employees" (1755 - 1757), then the name changed to "Works and translations for the benefit and entertainment of an employee" (1758 - 1762) and "Monthly essays and news about scientific affairs" (1763 - 1764 ). It was read throughout the decade from 1755 to 1764 and even after it ceased to exist. Old issues of the magazine were reprinted, bound into volumes and sold successfully.
Alexander Petrovich wrote and sent small works to the magazine, becoming one of the most published authors of the magazine - 98 poems and 11 translations for 1755-1758.

By 1756, Alexander Petrovich was already becoming a fairly well-known Russian poet, so much so that, at the request of the Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, G.F. Miller (1705 - 1783), academician, researcher of Russian history, receives an honorary diploma from the Leipzig Literary Society dated August 7, 1756. At the same time, the famous German writer I.Kh. Gottsched (1700-1766), who signed this diploma, wrote:
“We must set this Russian poet as an example to our eternal transcribers of foreign works. Why can't the German poets find tragic heroes in our own history and bring them to the stage, while the Russian has found them in his history?

From 1756 to 1761 Alexander Petrovich served as the director of the Petersburg theatre.
On August 30, 1756, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna ordered “to establish a Russian theater for the presentation of tragedies and comedies, for which to give the Golovkinsky stone house, which is on Vasilevsky Island, near the Cadet House. And for onago, it was ordered to recruit actors and actresses: actors from the students of choristers and Yaroslavl in the Cadet Corps, who will be needed, and in addition to them, actors from other non-serving people, as well as a decent number of actresses. To determine the maintenance of the ongo theater, according to the force of this Our Decree, counting from now on a sum of 5,000 rubles a year, which is always released from the Stats Office at the beginning of the year after the signing of Our Decree. To supervise the house, Aleksey Dyakonov is appointed from the copyists of the Life Company, whom We have granted as an Army lieutenant, with a salary of 250 rubles a year from the amount put on the theater. Determine in this house, where the theater is established, a decent guard.
The directorate of that Russian theater is entrusted from Us to Brigadier Alexander Sumarokov, who is determined from the same amount, in addition to his Brigadier's salary, ration and day money per year, 1000 rubles and the salary he deserves from the Brigadier rank from his award to this rank, in addition to the colonel's I will add the salary and continue to issue the full annual salary of the brigadier; and his Brigadier Sumarokov should not be excluded from the army list. And what salary, both for actors and actresses, and for others at the theater, to produce, about that to him; Brigadier Sumarokovuot Dvor was given a register.
Sumarokov shared the hardships, worries and chores of the theater with Fyodor Volkov, who possessed not only acting talent, but also endurance, which the theater director lacked so much. It was Volkov who united the troupe into a team, being "his own" in the acting environment.
Unrestrained, quick-tempered, demanding respect for himself both as a poet and as an aristocrat, Alexander Petrovich could not do without a quarrel with bureaucrats, nobles, court businessmen. The court official could scold him, could push him around. Sumarokov was irritated. He rushed about, fell into despair, did not know where to find support. An intellectual among the "barbarians", he deeply suffered from his impotence, from the inability to realize his ideal. His indomitability and hysteria are proverbial. He jumped up, scolded, ran away when he heard how the landowners called the serf servants "the boorish knee." He loudly cursed arbitrariness, bribes, the savagery of society. In response, the noble "society" took revenge on him, infuriating him, mocking him.
Since January 1759, under the supervision of the Court Office and Karl Sievers (1710 - 1774) were not only the economic and financial affairs of the Russian theater, but also creative issues, for example, repertoire.
On June 13, 1761, an imperial decree was issued on the resignation of Alexander Petrovich from the post of director of the theater.

From 1755 to 1758, Alexander Petrovich actively participated in the work of the scientific and educational journal of Academician G.F. Miller "Monthly writings for the benefit and entertainment of employees." According to academician Y. Shtelin (1709 - 1785), “brigadier Sumarokov even made it a law for himself that not a single Monthly book of the journal should be published without sending his poem, because in each of its months, for several years in a row, you can find one and several his poems." But in 1758, Sumarokov had a quarrel with G.F. Miller, after which Alexander Petrovich decides to issue his own magazine.
In mid-December 1758, Sumarokov asked permission to publish the magazine on his own money and free from someone else's supervision:
“TO THE OFFICE OF THE SPBURG IMPERIAL ACADEMY FROM BRIGADIER ALEXANDER SUMAROKOV REPORT.
I set out to publish a monthly magazine for the service of the people, for this I humbly ask that the academic printing house be ordered to print twelve hundred copies of my magazine without stopping on blank paper in eighth, and collect money from me after every third; As for the consideration of publications, is there anything contrary to them, this can be looked through, if it is well-willed, by those people who look through academic journal editions without touching the style of my editions.
I only humbly ask that the Chancellery of the Academy of Sciences will deign to relieve me of insanity and difficulties in printing. And I intend to start these publications, if I receive permission, from the first day of January of the coming year. Brigadier Alexander Sumarokov.
Sumarokov appealed through his former patron Alexei Razumovsky to the President of the Academy of Sciences, Kirill Razumovsky, who did not have much difficulty in helping Sumarokov's undertaking, giving the order:
“To print in the academic printing house the monthly journal published by him and the pieces introduced into it, before printing, read to Mr. Popov, who, if he sees something contrary in them, remind the publisher of this; and in order to ensure that everything proceeds decently in printing and that there can be no stoppage in academic affairs in the printing house, then in the Chancellery, a proper order should be established. After the passage of every third from him, Mr. Brigadier Sumarokov, demand money ”(order dated January 7, 1759).
It went into typing and printing with paper: one copy per month was supposed to cost Sumarokov eight and a half kopecks, in four months - thirty-four and a few kopecks, if in a year, then one ruble and three kopecks. The preliminary calculation of the future publisher of the magazine satisfied: “I am satisfied with this shot and I undertake to pay the money regularly after every third; and eight hundred copies are needed.
Sumarokov invited several congenial and knowledgeable people to cooperate in the magazine. Nikolai Motonis (? - 1787) and Grigory Kozitsky (1724 - 1775), who had known each other since their studies at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, participated in the creation of the first issue of the "Hardworking Bee" together with Alexander Petrovich. In the article of the first issue “On the Benefits of Mythology”, Kozitsky pointed to the allegorical meaning of the magazine’s title: “... so that readers, learning and practicing in this (mythology) like industrious bees, only collect from it, that their knowledge is multiplied, moralizing them to give and well-being may be their cause."
The first issue of the journal was foreshadowed by an epigraph dedicated to the Grand Duchess EKATERINA ALEXEEVNA:
Mind and beauty, and the mercy of the Goddess,
O enlightened GRAND DUCHESS!
THE GREAT PETER opened the door to the sciences of the Rosses,
And EVO the wise DAUGHTER introduces us into it,
With EKATERINA PETER, like now,
And the sample is given by PETER to EKATERINA:
Exalt this low labor by examples of it,
And patronage, Minerva be mine!

The censor of the journal was Professor of Astronomy N.I. Popov (1720 - 1782), drinking without any restraint and in a drunken stupor strove to edit Sumarokov's texts. Alexander Petrovich bothered the Rozumovsky brothers with this, and four months later other censors were appointed to him - a professor of mathematics, 36-year-old S.K. Kotelnikov (1723 - 1806) and 25-year-old adjunct in astronomy S.Ya. Rumovsky (1734 - 1812), but Kotelnikov also could not work with Alexander Petrovich, and asked the leadership to release him from this duty.
In the July issue, Alexander Petrovich wanted to print three parodies of Lomonosov's odes, who, having learned about this, forbade the proofreader to type them. In fact, Lomonosov became Sumarokov's censor. The conflict flared up more and more. As a result, Sumarokov himself could not stand it and completed the publication of the journal with the last, twelfth, issue of 1759.
The December issue of The Hardworking Bee included nine publications:
I. Speech on the usefulness and superiority of the free sciences.
II. Aeschines the Socratic Philosopher on Virtue.
III. From Titus Livius.
IV. Dream.
V. From the Holberg Letters.
VI. To the publisher of the Industrious Bee.
VII. About copyists.
VIII. To senseless rhymers.
IX. Parting with the Muses.
On the last page of the magazine, between the poem "Parting with the Muses" and the traditional table of contents, there is typed: "THE END OF THE HARD-WORKING BEE."
With a heavy heart, Alexander Petrovich parted with his beloved brainchild:
For many reasons
I hate the writer's name and rank;
I descend from Parnassus, descend against my will,
During the forest, I am my heat,
And I will not ascend, after death, I am no longer in heaven;
The fate of my share.
Goodbye muses forever!
I will never write again
(Parting with the Muses)

Throughout the autumn of 1762, coronation celebrations were held in Moscow. Sumarokov was sent to Moscow to participate in the preparation of an entertainment spectacle for the people, culminating in the masquerade "Triumphant Minerva"
To create a masquerade, the largest talents and "inventory" of that time were involved: the actor and, as they said, the Empress's secret adviser, Fyodor Grigoryevich Volkov, an assessor of Moscow University Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov (1733 - 1807) and director of the Russian theater Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov.
Volkov owned the plan itself, the actions; Kheraskov composed poems - comments on the masquerade and monologues of its main characters; and Sumarokov - choirs for each action that are addressed to the vices or are pronounced by the vices themselves. The general management of the event was handled by I.I. Betskoy (1704 - 1795). The masquerade lasted three days - January 31, February 1 and 2, 1763.

In 1764, Alexander Petrovich turned to Catherine II with a request to send him on a trip to Europe in order to describe her manners and geography, a direct native speaker of the Russian language, which no Russian had ever done before, and all information about Europe was available only in the presentations of foreigners. His request was denied.
This project could be realized only 25 years later N.M. Karamzin (1766 - 1826), which resulted in the book Letters of a Russian Traveler (1791).

Until the end of his life, Alexander Petrovich's relationship with Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov (1744 - 1789), who, in the epitaph on the death of Lomonosov (1765), written in French and published in Paris, denounced Sumarokov's poetic talent for "all Europe", called him "A reckless copyist of Racine's defects, discrediting the wondrous Muse of Northern Homer."

In 1766, Alexander Petrovich finally breaks off his relationship with his first wife Johanna Christian, but there was no official divorce, and begins to live in a civil marriage with his coachman's daughter Vera Prokhorova (1743 - 1777).
In December of the same year, Alexander Petrovich's father died and he was embroiled in an impartial litigation regarding the inheritance.
The husband of his late sister Elizabeth (1759) Arkady Ivanovich Buturlin (1700 - 1775), a real chamberlain, decided to completely and completely “deprive” his son of his father’s inheritance, on the basis that Alexander Petrovich, who had despised by that time the bonds of marriage lit by the church, was in illegal relations with the serf. By the way, for the same reason, Sumarokov could not stay at his home.
On the side of the son-in-law, the mother of Alexander Petrovich also spoke, with whom he mercilessly cursed about this. In this regard, Praskovya Ivanovna wrote to the Empress:
“... this September 9th day, he suddenly came to my house from anger, completely out of his mind, began to slander me with such obscene and blasphemous words in my eyes, which I now can’t even remember<...>And in the end, running out into the yard and taking out a sword, he repeatedly ran to my people, although to cut them,<…>. Well, his fury and arrogance continued for several hours.
Having sorted out the family conflict of the Sumarokovs on December 2, 1768, Catherine II wrote to M.N. Volkonsky (1713 - 1788):
“I hear that the main instrument of the displeasure of the mother of the State Councilor Sumarokov against her son is their son-in-law Arkady Buturlin. Why call him to you and declare in my name that I accept with great displeasure that he, even at the time when I try to reconcile mother and son, does not cease to instill even greater discord and disagreement between them, and tell him to he henceforth refrained from such ungodly and depraved deeds under the fear of our wrath.

By 1768, Alexander Petrovich became disillusioned with the reign of Catherine II, whose ascent to the throne he actively supported.
Reissuing his tragedy "Khorev" in 1768, 21 years after the first publication, Sumarokov at the beginning of the fifth act replaced the previous monologue of Kyi connected with the content of the play with a new one, completely unnecessary for the development of the plot and outlining the character of the hero, but representing a clear, understandable to everyone attack against Catherine: at this time, the Empress was especially proud of her Commission for drafting the New Code, which was supposed to give the country new laws, and Catherine's personal life, her ongoing love affairs with favorites were well known in St. Petersburg and beyond.

In March 1769, Sumarokov moved permanently to Moscow, having sold his own house in St. Petersburg, located on the ninth line of Vasilyevsky Island, and his entire extensive library through the bookseller Shkolaria. In the same year, his first wife Johanna Khristiannovna died.

In the middle of 1770, J. Belmonti staged the drama of Beaumarchais (1732 - 1799) Eugene (1767) in his theater; this play did not belong to the classical repertoire and, being unfashionable, was not even successful in Paris. The Petersburg theater also did not accept her. "Eugene" in Moscow appeared in the translation of the young writer N.O. Pushnikova (1745 - 1810), was a great success and made full collection.
Sumarokov, seeing such a rare success, was indignant and wrote a letter to Voltaire. The philosopher answered Sumarokov in his tone. Fortified by the words of Voltaire, Sumarokov resolutely rebelled against "Eugenia" and scolded Beaumarchais, what the world stands on.
But they didn't listen to him. Belmonti still continued to give it in his theater, the Moscow audience continued to fill the theater during performances and still applauded the “tearful petty-bourgeois drama,” as Voltaire and Sumarokov and the classics called this new kind of play. Then the indignant Sumarokov wrote not only a sharp, but even a daring article against the drama, and against the actors, and against the public, deliberately calling the interpreter a "clerk" - he could not think of a worse name:
“We have introduced a new and nasty kind of tearful dramas. Such a stingy taste is indecent to the taste of the Great Catherine ... "Eugenia", not daring to come to St. Petersburg, crawled into Moscow, and no matter how stingily she is translated by some clerk, no matter how badly they play her, she is a success. The clerk became the judge of Parnassus and the approver of the taste of the Moscow public. Of course, the end of the world will soon come. But is Moscow really more likely to believe a clerk than Mr. Voltaire and me?
With these words, both the entire Moscow society of that time, and the actors with the owner of the theater, were very offended and vowed to take revenge on Sumarokov for his antics. Sumarokov, sensing the approach of a thunderstorm, concluded a written agreement with Belmonti, according to which the latter pledged under no circumstances to give his tragedies at his theater, pledging, otherwise, to pay for violation of the agreement with all the money collected for the performance.
But this did not prevent the enemies of Sumarokov from carrying out their plan. They begged the Moscow governor P.S. Saltykov (1698-1772) to order Belmonti to stage "Sinava and Truvor" because, as they said, this was the desire of all of Moscow. Saltykov, suspecting nothing, ordered Belmonti to stage this tragedy. Belmonti, like the actors, was very happy to annoy Sumarokov and ordered the actors to distort the play as much as possible. On the appointed evening, the theater was filled with an audience hostile to Sumarokov, the curtain went up, and as soon as the actors managed to deliberately utter a few words badly, whistles, screams, knocking with their feet, curses and other outrages, which dragged on for quite a long time, rang out. Nobody listened to the tragedy, the audience tried to fulfill everything that Sumarokov reproached her for. Men walked between the armchairs, looked into the boxes, talked loudly, laughed, slammed doors, gnawed nuts right next to the orchestra, and servants and coachmen fought in the square, at the behest of the gentlemen. The scandal came out colossal, Sumarokov from all this action came into a furious rage:
All measures were now surpassed by my annoyance.
Go, Furies! Get out of hell.
Gnaw your chest greedily, suck my blood
In this hour, in which I am tormented, I cry, -
Now among Moscow "Sinava" is represented by
And this is how the unfortunate author is tormented ...
In the heat of the moment, Alexander Petrovich complains about Saltykov to Catherine II, but instead of support he received a rebuke:
“You should have conformed to the desire of the first government dignitary in Moscow; and if it pleased him to order the tragedy to be played, then it was necessary for him to fulfill his will unquestioningly. I think that you know better than anyone what respect deserves people who served with glory and are whitened with gray hair. That is why I advise you to avoid such bickering in the future. In this way you will preserve the peace of mind necessary for the works of your pen; and it will always be more pleasant for me to see the representation of passions in your dramas than in your letters.
Moscow continued to savor the defeat of Alexander Petrovich, to which he responded with an epigram:
Instead of the nightingales, the cuckoos are cuckooing here
And with the wrath of Diana's mercy they interpret;
Although the cuckoo rumor is spreading,
Can cuckoos understand the goddess's words? ..
The young poet Gavrila Derzhavin (1743 - 1816) was involved in the conflict, and he retorted Sumarkova with a caustic epigram:
Magpie that will lie
Everything is reputed to be nonsense.

In November 1770, a plague epidemic broke out in Moscow, killing more than 56,000 people in two years. In the face of possible death, Alexander Petrovich decides to legalize his relationship with his common-law wife Vera Prokhorova and marries her in a village near Moscow, where he hid a new family from the plague.

In 1773, Alexander Petrovich returned to St. Petersburg with the hope of literary success and settled in the Anichkov Palace, which by that time had passed into the possession of K.G. Razumovsky, the brother of his patron A.G. Razumovsky:
“At the end of his gentle century,
I live in a man's house,
whose death to me
Tears extracted currents,
And, remembering whom, I cannot wipe them off.
You know whose death
In Moscow, strike me with a sim alkala blow.
His kind brother owns this house,
Toliko, like him, is not angry and good-natured.
(Letter to a friend in Moscow. January 8, 1774)

Sumarokov wrote his last tragedy, Mstislav, in 1774. In August of the same summer, the young son of Sumarokov, Pavel, was enrolled thanks to the patronage of the new favorite of Catherine II, G.A. Potemkin (1739 - 1791) to the Preobrazhensky Regiment. On behalf of his son, Alexander Petrovich writes a laudatory stanza:
……
I am fortunate to join this regiment by fate,
Which was to PETER for future successes,
Under the name of evo infantile joy:
Potemkin! I see myself in seven regiments with you.
…….
In the same year, Alexander Petrovich, calling out to Pugachev's uprising, publishes the Abridged Tale of Stenka Razin.
The 14-page pamphlet was issued in an edition of 600 copies. The Tale is a retelling of the German anonymous pamphlet Kurtze doch wahchafftige Erzchlung von der blutigen Rebettion in der Moscau angerichtet durch den groben Verrather und Betrieger “Stenko Razin, denischen Cosaken…” (1671). Perhaps erroneously, Jan Janszoon Struys (1630 - 1694), a traveler from the Netherlands, an eyewitness to the capture of Astrakhan by the Cossacks, who personally met with Ataman Stepan Razin, was considered the author of this work.
Alexander Petrovich tries to express his craving for history in the collection “Solemn Odes” published by him in 1774, in which Sumarokov arranged the works in historical sequence: the life and death of Peter I, the accession to the throne of Elizabeth, the Seven Years' War, the death of Elizabeth and the accession of Catherine, development of trade in the eastern direction and Catherine's journey along the Volga, the beginning of the war with Turkey and its main episodes, unrest in Moscow in the "plague" of 1771, victory over Turkey.

Alexander Petrovich's hopes for literary success in St. Petersburg did not come true. In this regard, the editor of the magazine "Painter" N.I. Novikov (1744 - 1818) wrote:
«<…>Today, many of the best books have been translated from various foreign languages ​​and printed in Russian; but they don't even buy a tenth of them against novels.<…>As for our authentic books, they have never been in fashion and are not at all sold; and who should buy them? our enlightened gentlemen do not need them, and the ignorant ones are not at all suitable. Who in France would believe it if they said that Fairy Tales were sold more than the works of the Rasinovs? And here it comes true: "A Thousand and One Nights" sold much more of Mr. Sumarokov's works. And what London bookseller would not be horrified to hear that we have two hundred copies of a printed book sometimes sold out by force in ten years? O times! oh manners! Take heart, Russian writers! your writings will soon cease to be bought altogether.
At the end of 1774, in debt and despair, Alexander Petrovich returned to Moscow. The final verdict of his literary career was issued by the order of January 4, 1775 of Catherine II:
«<…>The writings of the State Councilor and Chevalier Count Sumarokov will no longer be published without censorship from the Academy of Sciences.

From the letters of Alexander Petrovich it is clear that from now on he vegetated in poverty, looking for money to pay off debts and just to live, in illness and in difficult experiences for the fate of his wife, children and his creative heritage.
In a letter dated July 10, 1775, Alexander Petrovich wrote to Count Potemkin:
«<…>But tomorrow my house will be taken away, I don’t know by what right, because this year my house has already become more than a thousand rubles due to the addition; and it was valued at 900 rubles, although it cost me, apart from the furniture, sixteen thousand rubles too much. I owe Demidov only 2000 rubles, and he, angry with me for the rogue of his attorney, whom he himself knocked out of the yard, now demands both interest and recambia, although he promised me not to think about it.<…>»
Jerky, impoverished, ridiculed by the nobility and its empress, Sumarokov took to drink and sank. He was not even comforted by the fame he enjoyed among writers:
….
But if I decorate Russian Parnassus
And in vain in a complaint to Fortune I proclaim,
It’s not better if you always see yourself in torment,
Rather die?
Weak consolation to me that glory will not fade,
Which the shadow will never feel.
What need do I have in mind
If I only carry crackers in my bag?
What an honor to me as a writer,
If there is nothing to drink or eat?
("Complaint" 1775)

In May 1777, the second wife of Alexander Petrovich dies and in the same year he marries for the third time to his other serf Ekaterina Gavrilovna (1750 -?), the niece of his second wife who has just died, again neglecting the blessing of his mother.
In connection with the death of his second wife, Alexander Petrovich writes to the director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, S.G. Domashnev (1743 - 1795): "I am writing to your highness for the reason that I am very ill and I myself can neither read nor write, and especially since my wife died, I cried unceasingly for twelve weeks."
Two days before the death of Alexander Petrovich, his Moscow house "in a wooden structure and with a garden, and under the mansions with a stone foundation" was sold for 3572 rubles. The house was purchased by the merchant P.A. Demidov (1709 - 1786).
According to M.A. Dmitrieva (1796 - 1866): “Sumarokov was already committed to drunkenness without any caution. Often my uncle saw how he went on foot to the tavern through Kudrinskaya Square, in a white dressing gown, and over his camisole, over his shoulder, was the Annen ribbon. He was married to some of his cooks and knew almost no one ... ".

Having lived only four months in his third marriage, on October 1, 1777, Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov died.

The creative legacy of Alexander Petrovich consisted of nine tragedies: "Khorev", "Aristona", "Semira", "Dmitry the Pretender", "Sinav and Truvor", "Yaropolk and Demiza", "Vysheslav", "Mstislav", "Hamlet" ; 12 comedies; 6 plays, as well as numerous translations, poetry, prose, journalism and criticism.

Complete lack of money, hostile relations with relatives led to the fact that the new wife of Alexander Petrovich did not even have money for his funeral. He was buried by the actors of the Moscow theater at their own expense. The collected money was so small that the actors had to carry his coffin in their arms from Kudrinskaya Square, where he died, to the cemetery of the Donskoy Monastery (6.3 km?!). None of Alexander Petrovich's relatives were present at the funeral.
Among the actors who participated in Sumarokov's funeral was the actor of the Moscow theater Gavrila Druzherukov, whom Sumarokov insulted shortly before his death, mistaking for the author of caustic epigrams addressed to him:
Magpie that will lie
Everything is reputed to be nonsense.
Signed with two letters "G.D."
In fact, the author of this epigram was Gavrila Derzhavin, who at that time was completely unknown to Sumarokov.
(N.P. Drobova, referring to Nikolai Struysky, considers F.G. Karin (1740 - 1800) the author of this epigram, but data to confirm or refute this statement could not be found)
The brother of the unjustly slandered actor, an insignificant official of the office of the Moscow Governor General Alexei Druzherukov, nevertheless responded to the death of the great poet of his time in the poem “Conversation in the Realm of the Dead Lomonosov and Sumarokov” (1777) where, in particular, there are such lines on behalf of Sumarokov:

Lying me senseless in a coffin
No one wanted to see for the last time.
No pity for me is natural to have.
Arkharov and Yushkov only revealed that
After death, they kept love for me.
In the actors I found sensitive hearts:
Having learned the death of Semirin the creator,
Moaning sadly shed streams of tears,
With pity, my ashes were hidden in the earthly womb.

Thus, in addition to the actors of the Moscow theater, the Moscow Chief of Police Major General Arkharov N.P. was present at the funeral of Alexander Petrovich. (1742 - 1814) and former (until 1773) Moscow civil governor Yushkov I.I. (1710 - 1786). In addition to Arkharov N.P. and Yushkov I.I. P.I. Strakhov, then a young physicist and mathematician, and later a professor and rector of Moscow University (1805 - 1807) and a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (since 1803), was also present at this funeral.

It is believed that the grave of A.P. Sumarokov was abandoned and forgotten, so in 1836 professor of Moscow University P.S. was buried in his grave. Shchepkin (1793 - 1836), where during the burial it turned out that this was the grave of A.P. Sumarokov.

SUMAROKOV Alexander Petrovich was born into an old noble family - a writer.

His father, Pyotr Pankratievich, was a military man of the time of Peter the Great and rose to the rank of colonel. In 1737, Pyotr Pankratievich entered the civil service with the rank of state councilor, in 1760 he received the rank of privy councilor, and upon his resignation in 1762 - a real privy councilor.

Alexander Petrovich received a good education at home under the guidance of his father (“I owe my father for the first foundations in Russian”) and foreign tutors, among whom is the name of I. A. Zeikan, who taught the future Peter II at the same time.

On May 30, 1732, Sumarokov was admitted to the newly established Land Gentry Cadet Corps (the "knight's academy", as it was then called) - the first secular educational institution of an advanced type, which prepared its pupils for "officers and officials". Teaching in the corps was rather superficial: the cadets were taught, first of all, good manners, dancing and fencing, but the interest in poetry and theater, which was widespread among the students of the "knight's academy", turned out to be useful for the future poet. The cadets participated in court festivities (performed in ballet divertissements, dramatic performances), brought congratulatory odes to the empress of their composition (at first without the name of the authors - from the entire "Shlyakhetskaya Academy of Sciences of Youth", and then poems signed by Mikhail Sobakin began to be added to them).

In 1740, the first literary experience in print took place, two congratulatory odes to Anna Ioannovna are known “on the first day of the new year 1740, composed by the cadet corps through Alexander Sumarokov.

In April 1740, Alexander Petrovich was released from the gentry corps and appointed to the post of adjutant to the Vice-Chancellor Count. M. G. Golovkin, and soon after the arrest of the latter he became the adjutant of gr. A. G. Razumovsky - the favorite of the new Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The post of adjutant general of major rank gave him access to the palace.

In 1756, already in the rank of foreman, he was appointed director of the newly opened permanent Russian theater. Almost all the worries about the theater fell on Sumarokov's shoulders: he was a director and teacher of acting, selected repertoire, dealt with household issues, even compiled posters and newspaper announcements. For five years he worked tirelessly in the theater, but as a result of a series of complications and repeated clashes with K. Sievers, who was in charge of the court office, who had the theater under his control since 1759, he was forced to resign in 1761.

From 1761, the writer did not serve anywhere else, devoting himself entirely to literary activity.

In 1769 he moved to Moscow, where, with occasional trips to St. Petersburg, he lived until the end of his days.

The socio-political views of Alexander Petrovich were of a clearly expressed noble character: he was a supporter of the monarchy and the preservation of serfdom in Russia. But the demands that he made on both monarchs and nobles were very high. The monarch must be enlightened, for him the “good” of his subjects is above all, he must strictly observe the laws and not succumb to his passions; the nobility must also justify their privileges by zealous service to society (“not in title - in action one should be a nobleman”), education (“and if the mind of the master’s peasant is not clearer, || so I don’t see any difference”), humane attitude towards serfs ( "Ah! Should cattle have people? || Isn't it a pity? Can a bull sell people to a bull?"). But, since over time the reigning empress and the nobility surrounding the writer less and less corresponded to the ideal created by Sumarokov, his work took on a sharper satirical and accusatory orientation. Being mainly a rationalist in his philosophical and aesthetic views, he was no stranger to sensationalism. Having categorically declared that “the mind always abhors dreams”, Sumarokov at the same time could say:

“He works in vain,

Who with his mind only infects the mind:

Not a poet yet

Who only depicts a thought,

Having cold blood;

But the poet is the one who infects the heart

And the feeling depicts

Having hot blood" ( "Lack of Image").

Like most poets of the 18th century, Alexander Petrovich began his career with love lyrics. Love poems (songs, eclogues, idylls, elegies), which he wrote throughout his entire literary career, were still quite conventional, but in the best of them the poet managed to express sincere emotional experiences, immediacy of feelings

“O beings, composition without an image is mixed”,

"In vain do I hide the hearts of sorrow of the fierce",

"Don't cry so much, dear" and others.

In some of his songs he used elements of folk poetry

"The girls were walking in the grove",

"Oh, you are strong, strong Bendergrad",

"Wherever I walk, wherever I walk" and others.

The love works of the writer gained great popularity among secular society, causing many imitators, they also penetrated into the democratic environment (in handwritten songbooks). Diverse in stanza, rich in rhythm, simple in form, his songs favorably differed from the previous love lyrics and played a positive role in the development of Russian poetry. Sumarokov won the greatest fame among his contemporaries as a playwright, and primarily as an author of tragedies. He wrote nine tragedies:

"Khorev" (1747),

"Hamlet" (1748),

"Sinav and Truvor" (1750),

"Aristona" (1750),

Semira (1751),

"Demiza" (1758, later remade into "Yaropolk and Demiza"),

"Vysheslav" (1768),

"Dimitri the Pretender" (1771),

"Mstislav" (1774).

Sumarokov's tragedies are sustained in the strict rules of the poetics of classicism, which for Russian literature were formulated by him in the "epistole" on poetry (in the brochure "Two Epistles". The first suggests about the Russian language, and the second about poetry ", St. Petersburg, 1748).

In the tragedies of the writer, the unity of action, place and time is observed; sharply carried out the division of characters into positive and negative; the characters are static, and each of them was the bearer of any one "passion"; a well-proportioned five-act composition and a small number of characters helped the plot to develop economically and in the direction of revealing the main idea. The author's desire to convey his thoughts to the viewer was served by a relatively simple and clear language; The “Alexandrian” verse (iambic six-foot with paired rhyming), with which all tragedies are written, sometimes acquired an aphoristic sound.

In tragedies, persons were removed from the aristocratic environment; the plots for most of them the playwright took from national history. Although the historicism of the writer's tragedies was very conditional and was limited mainly to the use of historical names, nevertheless, the historical and national themes were a hallmark of Russian classicism: the Western European classicist tragedy was built mainly on the material of ancient history. The main conflict in the tragedies of Sumarokov A.P. usually consisted in the struggle of "reason" with "passion", public duty with personal feelings, and the social principle won in this struggle. Such a conflict and its resolution were intended to educate the civic feelings of the noble spectator, to inspire him with the idea that state interests should be above all else. In addition, the public resonance of Sumarokov's tragedies was further aggravated by the fact that they began to acquire a political orientation more and more, the tyrant autocrats were more and more sharply denounced in them (“Is it a nobleman, or a leader, a victorious, tsar || A contemptuous creature without virtue”), and in "Demetrius the Pretender" the playwright demanded to overthrow the tyrant tsar from the throne: he is "Moscow, Russia, an enemy and torturer of subjects." At the same time, it is characteristic that the “people”, who first appeared here on the Russian stage, had to overthrow the villainous ruler. Transferring the action of the tragedy to the relatively recent past of the Russian state, the author filled "Demetrius the Pretender" with burning questions of his time - about the nature of political power in the country. Of course, Sumarokov could not openly declare the reign of Catherine II despotic, but with many topical and fairly transparent hints he quite definitely expressed his negative attitude towards Catherine's regime. However, the pronounced tyrannical orientation of this tragedy should not be taken as S.’s condemnation of the very monarchical principle of government: even in the most pathetic passages of Demetrius the Pretender, it was about replacing the tyrant king with a “virtuous” monarch. But the objective impact of the tragedy could be much wider than the subjective, class-limited intent of the playwright. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the interpretation that was given to its translation into French, published in Paris in 1800 (“its plot, almost revolutionary, is obviously in direct conflict with the mores and political system of this country ...”). "Dimitri the Pretender" marked the beginning of the Russian political tragedy.

The merits of Sumarokov, the tragicographer, should also include the creation of a whole gallery of various, attractive female images. Tender and meek, courageous and strong-willed, they were distinguished by high moral principles.

In addition to tragedies, Alexander Petrovich wrote 12 comedies at different times, the drama The Hermit (1757), operas Cephalus and Prokris(1755) and "Alceste" (1758).

His comedies were less successful than tragedies, as they touched on less significant aspects of social life and served as an addition to the main part of the performance. Nevertheless, in the process of the formation of Russian national dramaturgy, his comedies took a certain place. Like tragedy, comedy, according to Sumarokov, pursued educational goals, satirically ridiculed personal and social shortcomings. Her characters were most often faces taken from the environment ("originals"). Hence the pamphlet character of most of Sumarokov's comedies:

Tresotinius,

"The Tribunal"

"Quarrel between husband and wife"

"Guardian"

"Likhoimets" and others. The playwright himself pointed out the connection of his comedies with living reality: “It is very easy for me to compose prosaic comedies ... seeing stupidities and delusions everyday in ignoramuses.” In the comedy work of the Sumarokov, ignorant nobles, gallomantic dandies and dandies, bribe-takers-officials, misers, litigants, pedants-“Latinschiks” were ridiculed. This was already the world of an ordinary, ordinary person, sharply different from the world of the heroes of the tragedy.

Among the best achievements in the creative heritage of Sumarokov A.P. his fables (“parables”) should also be attributed. He created 378 fables, most of which were published during his lifetime (2 parts of the "parables" were published in 1762, part 3 - in 1769). Filled with topical satirical content, written in a simple (with the inclusion of "low" words), living language, close to colloquial, Sumarokov's fables earned high praise from his contemporaries: “His parables are revered as the treasure of Russian Parnassus; and in this kind of poem he far surpasses Phaedrus and de la Fontaine, the most glorious in this kind ”(N. I. Novikov). Sumarokov's parables greatly facilitated the path of Krylov the fabulist.

Of his other works, satire should be noted. "About nobility" And "Chorus to the Perverse Light".

“Chorus to the Perverted Light” is perhaps Sumarokov's most harsh satirical work. In it, the writer condemned many aspects of social reality.

Enlightener writer, satirist poet, who fought against social evil and human injustice all his life, enjoyed well-deserved respect from both N. I. Novikov and A. N. Radishchev, Sumarokov in the history of Russian literature of the 18th century. occupies a prominent position. Later, many Russian writers denied the writer literary talent, but still V. G. Belinsky was right, saying that “Sumarokov had tremendous success with his contemporaries, and without talent, your will, you cannot have any success at any time.”

The personal life of the writer was unsuccessful. He divorced his first wife Johanna Khristianovna (camer jungfer of the then Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna), the subsequent marriage with the serf girl Vera Prokhorovna led to a scandal and a final break with noble relatives. Shortly before his death, the writer married a third time, and also to the serf girl Ekaterina Gavrilovna.

Alexander Petrovich spent the last years of his life in poverty, the house and all his property were sold to pay off debts.

Died -, Moscow.

The brightest representative of the classic was Alexander Sumarokov (1717 - 1777). However, already in his work there are differences from the high "calm", which he declared. In "high tragedy" he introduced elements of medium and even low style. The reason for this creative approach was that the playwright sought to give life to his creations, coming into conflict with the previous literary tradition.

The purpose of creativity and the ideas of Sumarokov's plays

Belonging to an ancient noble family and brought up on the ideals of nobility and honor, he believed that all nobles should meet this high bar. Education in the gentry corps, friendship and communication with other young idealist nobles only strengthened his idea. But the reality did not match the dreams. The playwright everywhere encountered laziness, cowardice in high society, was surrounded by intrigues and flattery. This made him very angry. The unbridled nature of the young talent often led the writer to conflicts with the noble society. For example, Alexander could easily throw a heavy glass at the landowner, who enthusiastically talked about how he punishes his serfs. But the future genius got away with a lot, as he gained fame as a court poet and enjoyed the patronage of monarchs.

A.P. Sumarokov, art. F. Rokotov

The goal of his work - both dramaturgy and poetry - Sumarokov considered the education of noble character traits among the nobles. He even risked teaching royal people, because they did not correspond to the ideal he had drawn. Gradually, the author's mentoring began to irritate the court. If at the beginning of his career the playwright had special immunity, then at the end of his life the playwright lost the patronage of even Catherine II, who never forgave him for vicious epigrams and messages. Alexander Petrovich died alone and in poverty at the age of 61.

His dramaturgy was frankly didactic in nature. But this does not mean that it was uninteresting or unoriginal. Sumarokov's plays are written in brilliant language. The playwright gained fame among his contemporaries

"northern Racine", "confidant of Boileau", "Russian Molière".

Of course, in these plays there is some imitation of Western classicists, but it was almost impossible to avoid this. Although the Russian drama of the 18th century was deeply original, it could not but use the best Western models to create Russian dramatic works.

Tragedies of Sumarokov

Peru Alexander Petrovich owns 9 tragedies. Literary critics divide them into two groups.

The first includes tragedies written in 1740-1750.

These are Horev (1747), Hamlet (1748), Sinav and Truvor (1750), Ariston (1750), Semira (1751), Dimiza (1758).

The second group of tragedies was written after a 10-year break:

"Yaropolk and Dimiza" (1768) (revised "Dimiza" 1958) "Vysheslav" (1768), "Dimitri the Pretender" (1771), "Mstislav" (1774).

From tragedy to tragedy, the tyrannical pathos of the author's works increases. Heroes of tragedies, in accordance with aesthetics, are clearly divided into positive and negative. In tragedies, there is practically a minimum of action. The main part of the time is occupied by the monologues of the main characters, often addressed to the viewer, and not to what is happening on the stage. In monologues, the author, with his characteristic directness, sets out his moralizing thoughts and principles of morality. Due to this, tragedies lose in dynamics, but the essence of the play turns out to be contained not in the actions, but in the speeches of the characters.

The first play "Khorev" was written and staged by the playwright while still studying in the gentry corps. She quickly gained recognition and popularity. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself loved to watch it. The action of the play is moved to the era of Kievan Rus. But the "historicity" of the play is very arbitrary, it is just a screen for expressing thoughts that are quite modern for the era of the playwright. It is in this play that the author claims that the people are not created for the monarch, but the monarch exists for the people.

The tragedy embodies the conflict characteristic of Sumarokov between the personal and the public, between desire and duty. The protagonist of the play, the Kiev Tsar Kiy, is himself guilty of the tragic outcome of the conflict. Wanting to test the loyalty of his subject Khorev, he instructs him to oppose the father of his beloved Osmelda, Zavlokh, once expelled from Kyiv. The finale of the tragedy could have been happy (as in a free translation of Hamlet with a changed ending), but court intrigues ruin the beloved. According to Alexander Petrovich, the reason for this is the despotism and arrogance of the king.

The tyrannoborst thought was most embodied in his last tragedy, Demetrius the Pretender. The play contains direct calls for the overthrow of the royal power, set out through the mouths of minor characters: Shuisky, Parmen, Xenia, Georgy. How strong the resonance was caused by the publication and staging of the tragedy can be judged by the reaction of Catherine II, who read the essay and said that it was "an extremely harmful little book." At the same time, this tragedy went on in theaters until the 20s of the 19th century.

Comedy Sumarokov

The author's comedies, despite the fact that their artistic features are weaker than the "high tragedies", are of great importance in the formation and development of Russian drama. Like tragedies, his comedy plays were written for "educational", enlightening purposes, and are distinguished by accusatory pathos. Comedies, unlike tragedies, are written in prose and are not very large in volume (1-2, less often 3 acts). They often lack a clear plot, what is happening in them looks like a farce. The protagonists of the playwright's comedies are people he noticed in ordinary life: priests, judges, peasants, soldiers, etc.

The greatest strength of the comedies was their colorful and deeply original language. Despite the fact that the author spent much less time creating comedies than tragedies, he managed to convey the flavor of contemporary folk life. Of the 12 comedies he wrote, the most famous comedy called. "A Cuckold by Imagination", in which the playwright ridiculed the denseness and despotism of the landowners.

On the significance of the playwright's activity in the creation and development of the Russian theater -