The creative range of Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov is very wide. He wrote odes, satires, fables, eclogues, songs, but most importantly, how he enriched genre composition Russian classicism, tragedy and comedy. Sumarokov's worldview was formed under the influence of the ideas of the time of Peter the Great. But unlike Lomonosov, he focused on the role and duties of the nobility. A hereditary nobleman, a pupil of the gentry corps, Sumarokov did not doubt the legality noble privileges, but believed that the high post and possession of serfs must be confirmed by education and service useful to society. The nobleman should not humiliate the human dignity of the peasant, burden him with unbearable requisitions. He sharply criticized the ignorance and greed of many members of the nobility in his satires, fables and comedies.

Sumarokov considered the best form of government to be a monarchy. But the high position of the monarch obliges him to be just, generous, to be able to suppress bad passions in himself. In his tragedies, the poet depicted the disastrous consequences resulting from the oblivion of their civic duty by monarchs.

In his philosophical views, Sumarokov was a rationalist and looked at his work as a kind of school of civic virtues. Therefore, they put forward moralistic functions in the first place.

This course work is devoted to the study of the work of this outstanding Russian writer and publicist.

1. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY AND EARLY WORK OF SUMAROKOV

1.1 Brief biography of the writer

Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov was born on November 14 (25), 1717 in St. noble family. Sumarokov's father was a major military officer and official under Peter I and Catherine II. Sumarokov received good home education, 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 of Sumarokov were printed, 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 had big success, also wrote pastoral idylls (7 in total) and eclogues (65 in total). Describing Sumarokov's eclogues, VG Belinsky wrote that the author "did not think to be seductive or indecent, but, on the contrary, he was busy with 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), Dimitry the Pretender (1771) and others. In tragedies written in accordance with the canons of classicism, in full least manifested Political Views Sumarokov. So, tragic ending Khoreva stemmed from the fact that main character, the "ideal monarch", indulged his own passions - suspicion and incredulity. “The tyrant on the throne” becomes the cause of suffering for many people - this is the main idea of ​​the tragedy Demetrius 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.

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, etc.).

According to his philosophical convictions, Sumarokov was a rationalist, formulated his views on the device human life as follows: “What is based on nature and truth can never change, but what has other foundations is boasted, blasphemed, introduced and withdrawn at the will of each and without any reason.” 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 - Epistol about the Russian language and About poetry in one book Instruction for 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 the Epistle about the 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.

What was important for him was not the reproduction of the color of the era, but political didactics, which the historical plot allowed to carry out to the masses. The difference also consisted in the fact that in the French tragedies the monarchical and republican forms of government were compared (in Corneille's "Zinn", in Voltaire's "Brutus" and "Julius Caesar"), in Sumarokov's tragedies there is no republican theme. As a convinced monarchist, he could only oppose tyranny with enlightened absolutism.

Sumarokov's tragedies are a kind of school of civic virtues, designed not only for ordinary nobles, but also for monarchs. This is one of the reasons for the unfriendly attitude towards the playwright Catherine II. Without encroaching on the political foundations of the monarchical state, Sumarokov touches upon its moral values ​​in his plays. A conflict of duty and passion is born. Duty commands the heroes to strictly fulfill their civic duties, passions - love, suspicion, jealousy, despotic inclinations - prevent their implementation. In this regard, two types of heroes are presented in Sumarokov's tragedies. The first of them, entering into a duel with a passion that has seized them, eventually overcome their hesitation and honorably fulfill their civic duty. These include Horev (the play "Horev"), Hamlet (a character from the play of the same name, which is a free adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy), Truvor (the tragedy "Sinav and Truvor") and a number of others.

The problem of curbing, overcoming the personal “passionate” beginning is accentuated in the replicas of the characters. “Overcome yourself and ascend more,” the Novgorod boyar Gostomysl teaches Truvor,

During the life of Sumarokov, the complete collection of his works was not published, although many poetry collections were published, compiled according to genre.

Sumarokov died in Moscow, aged 59, and was buried in the Donskoy Monastery.

After the poet's death, Novikov published twice complete collection all the works of Sumarokov (1781, 1787).

1.2 Sumarokov as the founder of the tragic genre

Literary fame was brought to Sumarokov by tragedies. He was the first to introduce this genre into Russian literature. Admiring contemporaries called him "Northern Racine." In total, he wrote nine tragedies. Six - from 1747 to 1758: "Khorev" (1747), "Hamlet" (1748), "Sinav and Truvor" (1750), "Artiston" (1750), "Semira" (1751), "Yaropolk and Demiza ” (1758). Then, after a ten-year break, three more:

“Vysheslav” (1768), “Dmitry the Pretender” (1771) and “Mstislav” (1774).

Sumarokov widely used in his tragedies the experience of French playwrights of the 17th-18th centuries. - Corneille, Racine, Voltaire. But for all that, there were distinctive features in Sumarokov's tragedies. In the tragedies of Corneille and Racine, along with political ones, there were also purely psychological plays (“Sid” by Corneille, “Phaedra” by Racine). All the tragedies of Sumarokov have a pronounced political coloring. Authors French tragedies wrote plays on ancient, Spanish and "oriental" subjects. Most of Sumarokov's tragedies are based on domestic themes. In this case, an interesting pattern is observed. The playwright turned to the most distant eras of Russian history, of a legendary or semi-legendary nature, that “Take your love and master yourself” (Ch (3. S. 136), his daughter Ilmena echoes Gostomysl.

Sumarokov decisively reworks one of Shakespeare's best tragedies, Hamlet, specifically emphasizing his disagreement with the author. “My Hamlet,” Sumarokov wrote, “is hardly like Shakespeare’s tragedy” (10. p. 117). Indeed, in Sumarokov’s play, Hamlet’s father is killed not by Claudius, but by Polonius. Carrying out retribution, Hamlet must become the murderer of the father of his beloved In this regard, Hamlet's famous monologue, which begins with Shakespeare's words "To be or not to be?", changes beyond recognition:

What should I do now?

Don't know what to start? Is it easy to lose Ophelia forever!

Father! Mistress! About other names...

Before whom will I transgress? You are equally kind to me (3. S. 94 - 95).

The second type includes characters in whom passion triumphs over public debt. These are, first of all, persons vested with supreme power - princes, monarchs, i.e. those who, according to Sumarokov, should fulfill their duties especially zealously:

The monarch needs a lot of insight,

If he wants to wear a crown without censure.

And if he wants to be firm in glory,

Must be righteous and strict and merciful (3. p. 47).

But, unfortunately, power often blinds the rulers, and it is easier than their subjects to become slaves of their feelings, which most sadly affects the fate of people dependent on them. So, the victims of the suspiciousness of Prince Kyi are his brother and his brother's fiancee - Osnelda ("Khorev"). Blinded by love passion, Prince Sinav of Novgorod drives Truvor and his beloved Ilmena to suicide (“Sinav and Truvor”). The punishment for unreasonable rulers is most often repentance, pangs of conscience that come after a belated insight. However, in some cases, Sumarokov allows even more formidable forms of retribution.

The most daring in this regard was the tragedy "Dmitry the Pretender" - the only one of Sumarokov's plays based on reliable historical events. This is the first tyrannical tragedy in Russia. In it, Sumarokov showed a ruler convinced of his right to be a despot and absolutely incapable of repentance. The Pretender declares his tyrannical inclinations so frankly that it even harms the psychological credibility of the image: “I am used to horror, furious with villainy, // Filled with barbarism and stained with blood” (4. p. 74).

Sumarokov shares the enlightenment idea of ​​the right of the people to overthrow the tyrant monarch. Of course, the people are not meant to be commoners, but nobles. In the play, this idea is realized in the form of an open action by soldiers against the Pretender, who, in the face of imminent death, stabs himself with a dagger. It should be noted that the illegitimacy of the reign of False Dmitry is motivated in the play not by imposture, but by the tyrannical rule of the hero: “If you didn’t reign in Russia maliciously, // Dimitry or not, this is equal to the people” (4. p. 76).

The merit of Sumarokov before Russian drama is that he created a special type of tragedy, which turned out to be extremely stable throughout the entire 18th century. The unchanging hero of Sumarokov's tragedies is a ruler who has succumbed to some kind of pernicious passion - suspicion, ambition, jealousy - and because of this, causing suffering to his subjects.

In order for the tyranny of the monarch to be revealed in the plot of the play, two lovers are introduced into it, whose happiness is hindered by the despotic will of the ruler. The behavior of lovers is determined by the struggle in their souls of duty and passion. However, in the plays, where the monarch's despotism assumes destructive proportions, the struggle between duty and the passion of lovers gives way to the struggle with the tyrant ruler. The denouement of tragedies can be not only sad, but also happy, as in "Dmitry the Pretender". This testifies to Sumarokov's confidence in the possibility of curbing despotism.

The heroes of Sumarokov's plays are little individualized and correlate with the public role, which is assigned to them in the play: an unjust monarch, a cunning nobleman, a selfless military leader, etc. Lengthy monologues attract attention. The high structure of the tragedy corresponds to the Alexandrian verses (iambic six-footed with a paired rhyme and a caesura in the middle of the verse). Each tragedy consists of five acts. The unity of place, time and action is observed.

1.3 Comedies and satires

Sumarokov owns twelve comedies. According to the experience of French literature, the “correct” classical comedy should be written in verse and consist of five acts. But Sumarokov, in his early experiments, relied on another tradition - on interludes and on the commedia dell'arte, familiar to the Russian audience from the performances of visiting Italian artists. The plots of the plays are traditional: the matchmaking of several rivals for the heroine, which gives the author the opportunity to demonstrate their funny sides. The intrigue is usually complicated by the goodwill of the bride's parents to the most unworthy of the applicants, which, however, does not interfere with a successful denouement. The first three comedies by Sumarokov “Tresotinius”, “Empty Quarrel” and “Monsters”, consisting of one action, appeared in 1750. Their heroes repeat the characters of the commedia dellarte: boastful warrior, dexterous servant, learned pedant, greedy judge. The comic effect was achieved by primitive farcical techniques: fights, verbal skirmishes, dressing up.

So, in the comedy Tresotinius, the scientist Tresotinius and the boastful officer Bramarbas woo the daughter of Mr. Orontes - Clarice, Mr. Orontes - on the side of Tresotinius. Clarice herself loves Dorant. She feigningly agrees to obey her father's will, but secretly from him enters not Tresotinius, but Dorant into the marriage contract. Orontes is forced to come to terms with what has happened. The comedy Tresotinius, as we can see, is still very much connected with foreign models, characters, the conclusion of a marriage contract - all this is taken from Italian plays. Russian reality is represented by satire on specific person. In the image of Tresotinius, the poet Trediakovsky is bred. In the play, many arrows are directed at Trediakovsky, up to a parody of his love songs.

The next six comedies - “Dowry by deceit”, “Guardian”, “Likhoimets”, “Three brothers together”, “Poisonous”, “Narcissus” - were written in the period from 1764 to 1768. These are the so-called comedies of characters. The main character in them is given close-up. His "vice" - narcissism ("Narcissus"), slander ("Poisonous"), stinginess ("Likhoimets") - becomes the object of satirical ridicule.

The plot of some comedies of Sumarokov's characters was influenced by the “philistine” tearful drama; it usually depicted virtuous heroes who were materially dependent on “vicious” characters. The motive of recognition, the appearance of unexpected witnesses, and the intervention of representatives of the law played an important role in the denouement of tearful dramas. The play The Guardian (1765) is most typical for comedies of characters. Her hero is the Outsider, a type of miser. But unlike the comic versions of this character, Sumarok's miser is terrible and disgusting. Being the guardian of several orphans, he appropriates their fortune. Some of them - Nisa, Pasquin - he keeps in the position of servants. Sostrata prevents her from marrying a loved one. At the end of the play, Outlander's machinations are exposed and he must stand trial.

By 1772, “everyday” comedies include: “Mother is a daughter’s partner-in-law”, “Scrabble” and “Cuckold by imagination”. The last of them was influenced by Fonvizin's play "The Brigadier". In The Cuckold, two types of nobles are opposed to each other: the educated, endowed with subtle feelings Floriza and Count Cassander - and the ignorant, rude, primitive landowner Vikul and his wife Khavronya. This couple eats a lot, sleeps a lot, plays cards out of boredom.

One of the scenes picturesquely conveys the features of the life of these landowners. On the occasion of the arrival of Count Cassandra, Khavronya orders a festive dinner for the butler.

This is done enthusiastically, with inspiration, with knowledge of the matter. An extensive list of dishes colorfully characterizes the uterine interests of rural gourmets. Here - pork legs with sour cream and horseradish, a stomach with stuffing, pies with salted milk mushrooms, “frucas” from pork with prunes and “slurry” porridge in a “gritted” pot, which, for the sake of a noble guest, was ordered to be covered with “Venice” (Venetian) plate.

The story of Khavronya about her visit to the St. Petersburg theater, where she watched Sumarokov's tragedy "Khorev", is amusing. She took everything she saw on stage as a genuine incident, and after Khoreva's suicide, she decided to leave the theater as soon as possible. “A Cuckold by Imagination” is a step forward in Sumarokov's dramaturgy. Unlike previous plays, the writer here avoids too straightforward condemnation of the characters. In essence, Vikul and Khavronya are not bad people. They are good-natured, hospitable, touchingly attached to each other. Their trouble is that they have not received proper upbringing and education.

Sumarokov owns ten satyrs. The best of them - "On Nobility" - is close in content to Cantemir's satire "Filaret and Eugene", but differs from it in laconism and civic passion. The theme of the work is true and imaginary nobility. The nobleman Sumarokov is hurt and ashamed of his brothers in class, who, taking advantage of their position, forgot about their duties. Genuine nobility is in deeds useful to society:

The antiquity of the family, from the point of view of the poet, is a very dubious advantage, since the ancestor of all mankind, according to the Bible, was Adam. Only enlightenment gives the right to high positions. A nobleman of revezhda, a loafer nobleman cannot claim nobility:

And if I am not fit for any position, -

My ancestor is a nobleman, but I am not noble (4.S. 191).

In his other satires, Sumarokov ridicules mediocre but ambitious writers (“On the Bad Rhymers”), ignorant and greedy judicial officials (“On the Bad Judges”), gallomaniac nobles who disfigure Russian speech (“On the French Language”). Most of Sumarokov's satire is written in Alexandrian verse in the form of a monologue, full of rhetorical questions, appeals, exclamations.

A special place among Sumarokov's satirical works is occupied by "Chorus to the Perverted Light". The word "perverse" here means "other", "other", "opposite". "Chorus" was commissioned to Sumarokov in 1762 for the public masquerade "Triumphant Minerva" on the occasion of the coronation of Catherine II in Moscow. According to the plan of the organizers of the masquerade, it was supposed to ridicule the vices of the previous reign. But Sumarokov violated the boundaries offered to him and spoke about the general shortcomings of Russian society. “Chorus” begins with the story of the “titmouse”, who flew in from behind the “midnight” sea, about the ideal orders that she saw in a foreign (“perverse”) kingdom and which are sharply different from everything that she meets in her homeland. The “perverse” kingdom itself has a utopian, speculative character in Sumarokov. But this purely satirical device helps him to denounce bribery, the injustice of clerks, the nobles' disregard for science, and their passion for everything “foreign”. The verses about the fate of the peasants looked the most daring: “They don’t skin the peasants there, // They don’t put villages on the cards there, // They don’t trade people across the sea” (6. p. 280).

2. POETRY AND PUBLICISM OF A.P. SUMAROKOVA

2.1 Poetic creativity

Sumarokov's poetic work is extremely diverse. He wrote odes, satires, eclogues, elegies, epistles, epigrams. Among his contemporaries, his parables and love songs were especially popular.

With this word, denoting a short edifying story, the writer called his fables. Sumarokov can be considered the founder of the fable genre in Russian literature. He referred to him throughout his creative life and created 374 fables. Contemporaries spoke highly of them. “His parables are revered as the treasures of the Russian Parnassus,” N. I. Novikov pointed out in his “Experience of a Historical Dictionary of Russian Writers”. Sumarokov's parables reflect the most diverse aspects of Russian life of that time. Thematically, they can be divided into three main groups.

Sumarokov was the first in Russian literature to introduce diverse verse into the fable genre and thereby sharply increase its expressive possibilities. not content with allegorical images from animal and flora, the poet often turned to specific everyday material and, on its basis, created expressive genre scenes (“The Solicitor”, “Naughty”, “The Man and the Klyacha”, “Kiselnik”). In his parables, belonging, according to the poetic gradation of the classicists, to low genres, Sumarokov focused on Russian folklore - on a fairy tale, proverb, anecdote with their rude humor and picturesque spoken language. In Sumarokov, one can find such expressions as “she ate molasses” (“Beetles and Bees”), “his grumbling in her ear tickled her” (“Legsless Soldier”), “neither milk, nor wool” (“Bobblehead”), “ and spat in the eyes” (“The Disputant”), “what nonsense you are spinning” (“Naughty”). Sumarokov coarsens the language of his fables. In the very selection of vulgar words, he sees one of the means to humiliate, ridicule the phenomena of private and public life he rejects. This feature sharply distinguishes the parables of Sumarokov from the gallant, refined fables of Lafontaine. In the realm of fables, Sumarokov is one of Krylov's predecessors.

Love poetry in the work of Sumarokov is represented by eclogues and songs. His eclogues, as a rule, were created according to the same plan. First comes landscape painting: meadow, grove, stream or river; heroes and heroines are idyllic shepherds and shepherds with ancient names Damon, Clarice, etc. Their love languor, complaints, confessions are depicted. The eclogues end with a happy denouement of an erotic, sometimes quite frank, character.

Sumarokov's songs, especially love ones, enjoyed great success among his contemporaries. In total, he wrote over 150 songs. The feelings expressed in them are extremely diverse, but most often they convey suffering, the torment of love. Here is the bitterness of unrequited passion, and jealousy, and longing caused by separation from a loved one. Sumarokov's love lyrics are completely freed from all sorts of realities. We do not know either the names of the heroes, or their social status, or the place where they live, or the reasons that caused their separation. Feelings, detached from everyday life and social relations of the characters, express universal human experiences. This is one of the features of the "classicism" of Sumarokov's poetry.

Some of the songs are stylized in the spirit of folklore poetry. These include: “The girls walked in the grove” with a characteristic chorus “Is it my viburnum, is it my raspberry”; “Wherever I walk or go” with a description festivities. This category should include songs of military and satirical content: “Oh you, strong, strong Bendergrad” and “Savushka is sinful”. Sumarokov's songs are distinguished by exceptional rhythmic richness. He wrote them in two-syllable and three-syllable sizes and even dolniks. Their strophic pattern is just as varied. The popularity of Sumarokov's songs is evidenced by the inclusion of many of them in printed and handwritten songbooks of the 18th century, often without the name of the author.

Sumarokov wrote the first elegies in Russian literature. This genre was known in ancient poetry, and later became a pan-European property. The content of elegies was usually sad reflections caused by unhappy love: separation from a loved one, betrayal, etc. Later, especially in the 19th century, elegies were filled with philosophical and civil themes. In the XVIII century. elegies, as a rule, were written in Alexandrian verse.

In the work of Sumarokov, the use of this genre to a certain extent was prepared by his own tragedies, where the monologues of the characters often represented a kind of small elegy. The most traditional in Sumarokov's poetry are elegies with love themes, such as “Playing and laughter have already left us”, “Another sad verse gives rise to poetry”.

A peculiar cycle is formed by elegies connected with the theatrical activity of the author. Two of them (“On the death of F. G. Volkov” and “On the death of Tatyana Mikhailovna Troepolskaya”) were caused by the premature death of the leading artists of the St. Petersburg court theater - the best performers of tragic roles in Sumarokov's plays. In two other elegies - “Suffer, unfortunate spirit, my chest is tormented” and “All measures are now surpassed by my annoyance” - reflected dramatic episodes theatrical activity of the poet himself. In the first of them, he complains about the intrigues of enemies who have deprived him of his director's position. The second is called gross violation copyright. Sumarokov categorically objected to the performance of the role of Ilmena in his play "Sinav and Truvor" by the mediocre actress Ivanova, whom the Moscow commander in chief Saltykov sympathized with.

The author complained about the arbitrariness of Saltykov to the Empress, but received in response a mocking insulting letter. The works of Sumarokov significantly expanded the genre composition of Russian classic literature. “... He was the first of the Russians,” wrote N. I. Novikov, “began to write tragedies according to all the rules of theatrical art, but he managed so much in them that he earned the name “northern Racine.” (8. p. 36)

2.1 Journalism and dramaturgy

Sumarokov was also an outstanding journalist, he keenly felt the purely artistic tasks that faced Russian literature. He outlined his thoughts on these issues in two epistles: “On the Russian language” and “On poetry”. Subsequently, he combined them in one work called “Instruction to those who want to be writers” (1774). Boileau's treatise The Art of Poetry served as a model for the Instruction, but in Sumarokov's work one can feel an independent position dictated by the urgent needs of Russian literature. Boileau's treatise does not raise the question of the creation national language, because in France XVII V. this issue has already been resolved. Sumarokov, however, begins his “Instruction” with this: “We need such a language as the Greeks had, // What the Romans had, And following them in that // As Italy and Rome now say” (1. p. 360) .

The main place in the “Instruction” is given to the characteristics of genres new to Russian literature: idylls, odes, poems, tragedies, comedies, satires, fables. Most of the recommendations are related to the choice of style for each of them: “In poetry, know the difference in gender // And what you start, look for decent words” (1. P. 365). But Boileau and Sumarokov's attitudes to individual genres do not always coincide. Boileau speaks very highly of the poem. He puts it even above tragedy. Sumarokov says less about her, being content only with a description of her style. He never wrote a single poem in his entire life. His talent was revealed in tragedy and comedy, Boileau is quite tolerant of small genres - the ballad, rondo, madrigal. Sumarokov in the epistle "On poetry" calls them "trinkets", and in the "Instruction" he bypasses complete silence.

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 comply perfect image"sons of the fatherland" that bribery flourishes. 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. worldly and literary conflicts- in particular, the conflict with Lomonosov - is 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.

The extremely proud and obstinate nature of Sumarokov served as a source of endless quarrels and clashes, even with his closest relatives. To undermine the literary authority of Sumarokov is not for his enemies.

succeeded, but in the attitude towards him of many persons from the highest and literary circles there was a lot of unfairness. The nobles teased him and made fun of his rage; Lomonosov and Tretyakovsky pestered him with ridicule and epigrams. They brutally attacked I. P. Elagin, when he, in his "satire on petimeter and coquettes," addressed Sumarokov in such terms:

Bualov's confidante, our Russian Racine,

Defender of truth, persecutor, scourge of vices. (5. p. 34)

Sumarokov, for his part, did not remain in debt: in his absurd odes, he parodied the grandiloquent stanzas of Lomonosov, and Tredyakovsky was portrayed in Tressotinius, in the person of a stupid pedant, now reading clumsy and ridiculous verses, from which everyone flees, then talking about about which "firmly" correct ones - about three legs or about one. Emin and Lukin were also Sumarokov's opponents in the literary field, but Kheraskov, Maikov, Knyaznin, Ablesimov bowed to his authority and were his friends.

Sumarokov waged a constant struggle with censorship. In most cases, Sumarokov's intransigence was due to his relentless pursuit of the truth as he understood it. With the strongest nobles of his time, Sumarokov argued and got excited in the same way as with his fellow writers, and he could not be either a jester or a flatterer in his own right; nature. Sumarokov's relationship with I. I. Shuvalov was imbued with sincere and deep respect.

Sumarokov did not manage the theater for a particularly long time: due to some exactly unknown clashes with the artists and misunderstandings, or rather intrigues, Sumarokov was, in 1761, dismissed from the title of director of the theater. Although this did not cool his passion for writing, he was very upset and met with particular joy the accession of Catherine II. In a eulogy written on this occasion, he attacked in strong terms ignorance, strengthened by predilection and force, as the source of untruth in life; he begged the empress to fulfill what death prevented Peter the Great from fulfilling - to create "a magnificent temple of inviolable justice." Empress Catherine knew and appreciated Sumarokov and, despite the need to sometimes make suggestions to this "hot head", did not deprive him of her favor. All his writings were printed at the expense of the Cabinet.

It is curious both to characterize the time and customs, and to determine the mutual relations of Sumarokov and the Empress, his case with the owner of the Moscow theater Belmonti, whom he forbade to play his works. Belmonti turned to the Commander-in-Chief of Moscow, Field Marshal Count. P.S. Saltykov, and he, without delving into the matter properly, allowed him to play the works of Sumarokov.

CONCLUSION

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 him main merit that “Sumarokov demanded respect for poetry at the time neglect to literature."

Racine and Voltaire served as a model for Sumarokov. His tragedies are all different external properties pseudo-classical French tragedy - its conventionality, lack of live action, one-sided depiction of characters, etc. Sumarokov not only reworked, but directly borrowed from French tragedies the plan, ideas, character, even entire scenes and monologues. His Sinavas and Truvors, Rostislavs and Mstislavs were only pale copies of the Hippolytes, Britannics and Brutes of French tragedies.

Contemporaries of Sumarokov's tragedy liked the idealization of characters and passions, the solemnity of monologues, external effects, the striking contrast between virtuous and vicious persons; they established the pseudo-classical repertoire on the Russian stage for a long time. Being devoid of national and historical flavor, Sumarokov's tragedies had an educational value for the public in the sense that the sublime ideas of honor, duty, love for the fatherland that prevailed at that time in European literature were put into the mouths of the characters, and the images of passions were clothed in an ennobled and refined form. .

Sumarokov's comedies were less successful than tragedies. And they are, for the most part, alterations and imitations of foreign models; but in them there is much more of a satirical element addressed to Russian reality. In this regard, Sumarokov's comedies, of which the best is The Guardian, together with satyrs, fables and some eclogues, provide rich material for studying the spirit of the era and society. The purpose of the comedy Sumarokov.

In difficult moments, Sumarokov's soul was seized by a religious feeling, and he sought consolation from sorrows in the psalms; he translated the psalter into verse and wrote spiritual compositions, but there is as little poetry in them as in his spiritual odes. His critical articles and reasonings in prose are currently only of historical significance.

REFERENCES

1. Aldanov, M.S. Russian literature in the era of classicism. / M.S. Aldanov. M., 1992. 468 p.

2. Arend, X.V. Formation of Russian classical literature. / H.V. Rent. M., 1996. 539s.

3. Bulich, N.P. Sumarokov and contemporary criticism. / N.P. Bulich. SPb., 1954. 351s.

4. Gardzhiev K.S. Introduction to Literary Studies. -M.: Logos Publishing Corporation, 1997.

5. Mekarevich E. Legal revolution/UDialog.1999. - No. 10-12.

6. Sumarokov A.P. Poly. coll. all Op. Part 4

7. Novikov N.I. Selected Works M., L., 1951.

8. Pushkin, A.S. Collected works./ A.S. Pushkin. M., 1987. 639s.

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The writer was born on 14(25).XI.1717 in an old noble family, died on 1(12).X.1777 in Moscow.

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 home education 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 at the same time the future Peter II.

May 30, 1732 Sumarokov was admitted to the newly established land gentry cadet corps("knight's academy", as it was called back then) - the first secular educational institution of an increased type, preparing its pupils for "positions of 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 the shoulders of Sumarokov: he was a director and teacher of acting, selected repertoire, studied economic issues, even made posters and newspaper ads. 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 rare 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 must be a nobleman”), education (“and if the master’s peasant’s mind is not clearer, then I can’t distinguish any”), 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.

“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 ”(“ Image Deficiency ”).

Like most poets of the 18th century, Alexander Petrovich began his career with love lyrics.

The love poems (songs, eclogues, idylls, elegies) that 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, the composition without an image is mixed,"

"In vain do I hide the hearts of grief, 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),

"Demetrius 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 himself 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 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 sound 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 exposed in them (“Is it a nobleman, or a leader, a victorious, tsar Without virtue, a contemptuous creature”), and in “Demetrius 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 morals and political system 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 in different time 12 comedies were written, the drama The Hermit (1757), the opera 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. Yet in the process of becoming a Russian national dramaturgy his comedies have taken 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 Sumarokova 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, the satire “On Nobility” and “Chorus to the Perverted Light” should be noted.

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

The writer-educator, poet-satirist, 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 refused the writer literary talent, but still V. G. Belinsky was right when he said 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.

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 in friendly relations throughout his life, 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 gap in their relationship occurred, obviously, because of the wife's affair, the result of which was, in the end, a complete break. 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. 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 badly owned English language. 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.”
From the production of Sumarokovsky's "Hamlet" on February 8, 1750 to small stage The Winter Palace began the triumphal procession of Shakespeare's masterpieces 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 to the magazine small works, becoming one of the most published authors of the magazine - 98 poems and 11 translations for 1755 - 1758.

By 1756, Alexander Petrovich was already quite famous 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 THEIR. 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 German poets find tragic heroes in our own history and bring them to the stage, while the Russian 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), “Foreman Sumarokov even made it a law for himself that not a single Monthly book of the magazine 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. general guidance 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 customs and geography, by 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, relations between Alexander Petrovich and 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 of 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 paternal inheritance, on the basis that Alexander Petrovich, who by that time had despised 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 to permanent residence in Moscow, having sold in St. Petersburg own house, located on the ninth line of Vasilevsky Island and its 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 in the square, by order of the gentlemen, the servants made noise and the coachmen fought. 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) in 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, Seven Years' War, the death of Elizabeth and the accession of Catherine, the 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" 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 if they said that fairy tales more writings by the Rasinovs were distributed? 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, an 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 heritage 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 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

Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich (1717 - 1777), poet, playwright. Born on November 14 (25 N. S.) in Moscow in an old noble family. Until the age of fifteen, he was educated and brought up at home.

In 1732-40 he studied at the land gentry corps, where he began to write poetry, imitating Trediakovsky. He served as adjutant to Count G. Golovkin and Count A. Razumovsky and continued to write, at that time being strongly influenced by Lomonosov's odes.

After some time, he finds his own genre - love songs, which received public recognition and diverged in the lists. He develops poetic techniques for depicting mental life and psychological conflicts, which he later applied in tragedies.

Sumarokov's lyrics were disapprovingly received by Lomonosov, a supporter of civic themes. The controversy between Lomonosov and Sumarokov on questions of poetic style was milestone in the development of Russian classicism.

From love songs, Sumarokov moves on to poetic tragedies - "Khorev" (1747), "Hamlet" (1748), "Sinav and Truvor" (1750). In these works, for the first time in the history of the Russian theater, the achievements of French and German educational dramaturgy were used. Sumarokov combined in them personal, love themes with social and philosophical problems. The appearance of tragedies served as an impetus for the creation of the Russian Theater, the director of which was Sumarokov (1756-61).

In 1759 he published the first Russian literary magazine, Hardworking Bee, which acted on the side of the court group, which was guided by the future Empress Catherine II.

At the beginning of the reign of Catherine II literary glory Sumarokova reaches its zenith. Young satirists, grouped around N. Novikov and Fonvizin, support Sumarokov, who writes fables against bureaucratic arbitrariness, bribery, and the inhuman treatment of serfs by landowners.

In 1770, after moving to Moscow, Sumarokov came into conflict with the Moscow commander-in-chief P. Saltykov. The Empress took the side of Saltykov, to which Sumarokov replied with a mocking letter. All this worsened his social and literary position.

In the 1770s, he created his best comedies (“Cuckold by Imagination”, “Squawk”, 1772) and tragedies “Dmitry the Pretender” (1771), “Mstislav” (1774). Participated as a director in the work of the theater at Moscow University, published collections of "Satire" (1774), "Elegy" (1774).

The last years of his life were marked by material deprivation, loss of popularity, which led to addiction to alcoholic beverages. This was the cause of Sumarokov's death on October 1 (12 N. S.) 1777 in Moscow.

Brief biography from the book: Russian writers and poets. Brief biographical dictionary. Moscow, 2000.

(1717-1777) Russian poet and playwright

Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich belonged to that generation of writers who began to update Russian literature, focusing it on the European experience. It is with his works that the new Russian dramaturgy begins. In addition, Sumarokov entered the history of culture as a talented fabulist, as well as one of the first critics.

From the very birth Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich was in the midst of the historical events of his time. He was born in the small Finnish town of Vilmanstrand (modern Lappeenranta), where at that time there was a regiment commanded by his father during the Northern War.

Since the family constantly moved to new places of work of his father, the boy was raised by his mother, as well as home teachers. Only in 1732 did his father assign Alexander Petrovich to the St. Petersburg land gentry cadet corps. It was a privileged educational institution, where children of the highest nobility were admitted.

The model of education in the corps was later borrowed during the organization of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where, as you know, young men received the widest and most comprehensive education.

Alexander Sumarokov, like the rest of the pupils, was prepared for public service, so he studied the humanities, foreign languages, as well as the subtleties of secular etiquette. Literature was especially encouraged. In the corps was even created own theater, and the pupils employed in it were obliged to attend the performances of all foreign troupes who came to St. Petersburg. It is not surprising that in such an environment Sumarokov became interested in dramaturgy. He was considered the first student, and writing was easy for him.

The first poetic experiments of the young writer were odes dedicated to the Empress Anna Ioannovna. However, Alexander Sumarokov soon realized that they were much inferior to the works of the leading authors of that time - Lomonosov and Trediakovsky. Therefore, he left the ode genre and turned to love songs. They brought Sumarokov fame in court circles.

After graduating from the corps, he becomes an adjutant to the Vice-Chancellor of Russia, Count M. Golovkin. A talented and sociable young man attracted the attention of the all-powerful favorite of the Empress Count A. Razumovsky. He took Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov to his retinue and soon made him his adjutant.

Apparently, Sumarokov managed to win over Razumovsky, since less than three years later he already had the rank of adjutant general. Note that at this time he was not yet twenty years old.

But the opening court career was never the goal of Sumarokov's life. He devoted all his free time to literature. He attends theatrical performances, reads many books, in particular the works of Racine and Corneille, and even submits to the empress a scholarly treatise in verse from the Epistle on Poetry. In it, the author talks about the need to create a Russian literary language and about what should be done by Russian young people who want to devote themselves to literature. Later, the treatise became the manifesto of Russian classicism, on which all writers and poets later relied.

In the same year, 1747, Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov composed the first dramatic work - the tragedy "Khorev" based on a legendary plot from Russian history. Her performance took place on stage amateur theater The gentry corps. The tragedy was enthusiastically received by the audience, and rumors about this production soon reached the Empress. At her request, Sumarokov repeated the production already on the stage of the court theater in 1748 at Christmas time.

Encouraged by the success, the playwright wrote several more tragedies based on subjects from Russian history, as well as a reworking of W. Shakespeare's drama Hamlet.

Since in those years an entertaining comedy was supposed to be on stage simultaneously with the tragedy, Sumarokov had to turn to this genre as well. He creates several entertaining comedies in one act. The empress liked them so much that she appointed him director of the court theater. At the time, this was the most difficult position, because the director had to not only write plays, but also direct their productions, as well as select actors for the stage and train them.

The money allocated from the treasury was constantly not enough, and in order to continue working, Alexander Sumarokov had to sacrifice his own salary. Nevertheless, the theater lasted for five whole years. And only in 1761 Sumarokov ceased to lead him and went into journalism.

He began publishing a magazine, The Hardworking Bee. It was the first purely literary magazine in Russia. Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov also printed translations of the works of ancient and modern European authors - Horace, Lucian, Voltaire, Swift.

Gradually, a group of literary gifted young people gathered around him. They waged a fierce debate about the development of Russian literature with Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, as well as with M. Chulkov and F. Emin. Sumarokov believed that it was impossible to plant a cult of antiquity in literature, since the writer is obliged to respond to all the events of contemporary reality.

In the mid-sixties, he returned to dramaturgy and wrote a series of satirical comedies under the names "Guardian", "Likhoimets" and "Poisonous". Apparently, the playwright wanted to tell about the difficult events of his own life. Just at this time, the writer's father suddenly dies, and Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov finds himself involved in a long lawsuit over the division of the inheritance. Only in 1769 did he receive his share and immediately resign.

In order not to be distracted in the noisy and bustling Petersburg, Sumarokov moved to Moscow and completely immersed himself in literary work. For several years he has been diligently working with historical sources and writes his largest work - the historical tragedy "Demetrius the Pretender".

The plot of the play was based on the true events of Russian history and sounded extremely modern: quite recently, as a result of a coup, Catherine II came to power. This is probably why the tragedy was almost immediately staged on the St. Petersburg stage and enjoyed great success with the public.

Since Alexander Sumarokov collected a lot of historical material, he was able to start writing his own historical works. They told about the uprising of Stepan Razin, the streltsy riots in Moscow. In the same years, Sumarokov begins a new page in his work - he releases a collection of fables. They were written in simple and even rude language, but they were easy to remember and therefore became a model for many authors. By the way, I. Krylov turned to the fable only because he was inspired by the example of Sumarokov. The caustic denunciation of all sorts of vices did not please the Moscow authorities. It is known that in last years In his life, the writer suffered from the nit-picking of the Moscow mayor. Therefore, he was never able to get a permanent service in Moscow and lived in solitude and constant need. But he had many friends and followers who became famous writers - Y. Knyaznin, M. Kheraskov, V. Maikov, A. Rzhevsky.

When Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov died, he was modestly buried in the Donskoy Monastery. Only four years after his death, when his friend N. Novikov published a ten-volume collected works of the writer, the contribution that he made to the development of Russian culture became obvious to everyone.