March and April in Brief

MARCH

2 Today is the bicentennial of the poet Yevgeny Baratynsky (1800-1844), a contemporary of Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov. He made his literary debut at the age of 19, immediately earning a place as a leading light of Russian poetry. Upon reading Baratynsky’s elegy, “Confession,” Pushkin wrote: “Baratynsky is a delight and a miracle ... ‘Confession’ is perfect. After him, I will never publish my elegies.” Baratynsky was not only an author of profound lyrical verses but also a philosopher, preoccupied with the riddles of the universe and of humans, with the contradictions between the senses and reason.

5 Maslenitsa (“Butter Week”), the pre-Lenten week of feasting (see Russian Cuisine, page 58) begins.

6 This is the 185th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Yershov (1815-1869) a writer and a talented teacher. In 1834, as a 19-year-old student at St. Petersburg University’s Faculty of Philosophy and Law, Yershov wrote his only famous literary work, “Konyok-Gorbunok” (The Little Humpbacked Horse). The poem’s lively, vivacious and colorful language made it a bedtime book for many parents and nannies. After graduating from university, Yershov did not pursue a professional career as a writer, but returned to his hometown of Tobolsk, where he worked at a local gymnasium the rest of his life.

8 International Women’s Day

10 Today is the 60th anniversary of the death of Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (1891-1940), arguably Russia’s best 20th century writer. Like so many Russian writers, Bulgakov began his professional career as a doctor (of venereal diseases). Yet literature was his life’s passion. Bulgakov’s literary heritage includes the masterpiece, Heart of a Dog (1924), only published in the USSR in the late 1980s. It was a trenchant critique of the absurdity of Soviet society, where ignorant peasants and proletarians were transformed into rulers. His largely autobiographical novel The White Guards (1925) was adapted as a play with the title The Days of the Turbins (1926), which ran at the Moscow Art Theater (MKhAT). It became one of the most popular plays of the Soviet era (Stalin reportedly saw it at least 15 times). Bulgakov’s health deteriorated toward the end of his short life. He was debilitated by a fatal kidney disease, to some extent brought on by years of unemployment. He had been ostracized at MKhAT (despite the fact that millions saw his play from 1926-1941), based on orders from “the top.” In a now famous letter to the Soviet government, the writer asked for help getting a job in the theater or to be allowed to go abroad. Stalin later responded to Bulgakov with an equally famous personal phone call—part of the cat-and-mouse game the General Secretary played with the maverick writer. Some aspects of this relationship were reproduced in the dialogues between Pilate and Christ in the writer’s most outstanding novel, The Master and Margarita—published in Russia only in 1966, when Bulgakov’s works were “rediscovered,” after 25 years of being blacklisted under Stalin.

11 Fifteen years ago today, Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Initially, Gorbachev sought to effect limited reforms to the country from within and above. Yet he ended up setting in motion forces that, in just under seven years, had brought an end to the USSR, ended the communist empire in Eastern Europe, and introduced market forces into the economy and democracy into the governance of the former soviet and east european states.

13 Today is the 90th birthday of Russian animal trainer Irina Bugrymova (born 1910). This fragile woman of small stature began lion-taming on stage at the age of 19. Later, for thirty years (1946-1976) Bugrimova performed on the circus stage with tigers.

17 Yulia Borisova (born 1925) celebrates her 75th birthday today. Borisova remains one of the leading actors at the Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theater, on the Arbat. She owes her fame to her portrayals of Princesse Tourandot (in the play of the same name, by Karlo Gozzi), and of Nastasia Filippovna in Ivan Pyriev’s film adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel, The Idiot (1958). But perhaps Borisova’s most exquisite and refined performance was her leading role in The Ambassador of the Soviet Union (1970, based on the real Soviet diplomat Alexandra Kollontai), where she played Yelena Koltsova.

19 Lovers of opera today mark the 70th birthday of bass Boris Shtokolov (born 1930). His singing career was launched by the legendary Marshall Georgy Zhukov who, upon hearing Shtokolov at a graduation party at the Special School of the Soviet Air Fleet, declared: “We have plenty of guys like you in aviation, Shtokolov. But your calling is to sing.” Shtokolov was enrolled in the Ural Conservatory named for Modest Mussorgsky. After graduation, he sang in the Sverdlovsk and then the Leningrad opera. His singing later earned him the title of People’s Artist of Russia. His solos in the operas Yevgeny Onegin, Boris Godunov, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Ivan Susanin and others are widely known, as is his performance of romances—few Russians have not heard his unparalleled interpretation of the poignant “ÉÓË-„ÓË ÏÓfl Á‚ÂÁ‰‡!” (Shine, Shine My Star).

24 The centenary of another outstanding singer, Ivan Kozlovsky (1900-1993), is celebrated today. One of the greatest tenors of the 20th century, Kozlovsky enjoyed a long creative life. He graduated from the Kiev Institute of Music and Drama in 1920 and in 1925 became a soloist at the Bolshoy, where he performed for almost six decades. Listeners adored his portrayal of Lensky in Yevgeny Onegin and his Herzog, in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Like Shtokolov, Kozlovsky devoted much time to concerts, where he performed his beautiful romances “ü ‚ÒÚÂÚËΠLJÒ!” (I Met You). In his 80s, Kozlovsky sang with a boy’s chorus at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Moscow Conservatory.

28 Today would have been the 75th birthday of the actor Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1925-1994). Many local critics called Smoktunovsky “great and outstanding,” but the humble actor reportedly hated such acclaims. Many of his roles became legendary in the annals of Russian cinematography—e.g. Hamlet, Yuri Detochkin (in the comedy Watch Out for the Automobile), Mozart (in Mozart and Salieri), and Porfiry Petrovich (in Crime and Punishment). Smoktunovsky, in his posthumously published autobiography, Byt (To Be!), said he felt his best performance was as Count Myshkin in the film based on Dostovevsky’s The Idiot. “Frankly speaking,” he wrote, “none of my work, neither before, nor after, was anywhere near this level.”

APRIL

1 April Fool’s Day is widely celebrated in Russia as a day of practical joking. Newspapers commonly run false yet believable stories, only to disclaim them the following day.

3 This would have been the 80th birthday of one of the best writers of the Soviet era, Yuri Nagibin (1920-1994). Nagibin began his writing career as a war correspondent for Trud (1943-5). Thus, the subject of war was at the center of many of his later stories, notably his “The Great Heart.” Nagibin also wrote many biographical novels, including ones on Ivan Bunin, Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet. In recent years he astonished readers with his Diary—a poignant, outspoken and uncompromising book about himself that was a truthful epic his era. Many readers rediscovered Nagibin’s talent in his latest collection, Moscow Stories (1997) and in his apocalyptic indictments of modern Russian history, Dark at the End of the Tunnel.

7 Annunciation (Russian Orthodox). Today is the centenary of the actress Yelena Gogoleva (1900-1993). Gogoleva made her debut at Moscow’s Maly Theater at the age of 18 and performed at the Maly until the end of her life. She was a leading light of Russian theater, alongside such actors as Mikhail Shchepkin, Alla Tarasova and Maria Yermolova. Gogoleva had a uniquely deep, noble voice and a very majestic stature. Even at an advanced age, Gogoleva reigned on the Maly’s stage with roles in Ostrovsky and Saltykov-Shchedrin plays.

14 70 years ago the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) committed suicide. His work was canonical in the Soviet era, which he later “paid for” when post-Soviet critics heaped him with over-simplistic criticisms. Nonetheless, he himself said he was a “vociferous agitator” of the Soviet regime, welcoming the October Revolution (“No question to accept it or not, it was my revolution.”), and many of his poems are brutally inhumane. And then there is the claim by Stalin, to whom Mayakovsky was “the best and most talented poet of the Soviet epoch.” Despite all this, Mayakovsky was a tremendous talent—“the most masculine of all poets,” according to Russian actor Oleg Basilashvili. He was also a prodigious lover and had numerous love affairs and even an illegitimate American daughter. While some called him the “cantor of socialism,” his pre-revolutionary works display a true mastery of the art. His death is still considered a mystery to some (according to a recent version citing KGB archives, he did not commit suicide, but was murdered).

18 This is the 60th birthday of the legendary dancer at the Bolshoy, Vladimir Vasiliev (born 1940). Vasiliev was accepted into the Bolshoy Theater Troupe almost immediately after graduating from the Moscow School of Choreography. Over his 35-year-long dancing career, Vasiliev earned many epithets, such as “legend of the 20th century,” “the God of dance,” “the dancer of the epoch.” He possessed a unique jump and a bright, dramatic gift which made him a star in the Bolshoy’s ensemble. Both Russian and foreign choreographers staged ballets specifically for Vasiliev, including Maurice Bejart (who staged Petrushka). His dance was always thoughtful and spiritual, yet sober and reserved. This shined through in his solos in The Nutcracker (1966) and as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1973). But the role which catapulted him to international fame was as Spartacus in the ballet of the same name, staged by Aram Khachaturyan (1968). Vasiliev is the partner (both in life and on stage) of the famous ballerina Yekaterina Maximova, now a teacher at the Boshoy. As a choreographer, Vasiliev has staged such ballets as Ikarus (music by Sergei Slonimsky), Macbeth (Kiril Molchanov) and, most recently, Giselle. On December 31, 1999, Vasiliev staged a large-scale performance, New Year’s Ball-2000.

22 Today is the 130th birthday of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin). Venerated for 70 years as the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and founder of the Soviet Union, he died in 1924 after suffering several strokes. Still (at press time) lying in state in his tomb on Red Square, Lenin remains a figure respected by many Russians, thanks to seven decades of relentless propaganda. Yet he invented the modern labor camp and laid the foundation for the first totalitarian state.

30 Orthodox Easter.