November and December in History

November

11 Today is the centenary of actress Maria Babanova (1900-1983). Enormously popular in her early years at Vsevolod Meyerhold’s theater, she shined as Maria Antonovna in Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector General. Later, she distinguished herself as Juliet in a performance at the Mayakovsky Theater and in the role of Tanya in popular Soviet playwright Alexei Arbuzov’s play of the same name. But, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, theater-goers did not see much of Babanova: her fine acting talent was of no use in the mediocre plays of the period. Still, in 1954 she was awarded the prestigious title of “USSR People’s Actress.” This was largely in response to her work in radio dramas, interpreting the roles of classic foreign and Russian playwrights, and acting in radio programs for children.

12 This is the 65th birthday of actress Lyudmila Gurchenko (born 1935). A graduate of the State Institute of Cinema (VGIK), Gurchenko’s star first rose in 1956, when she was picked by director Eldar Ryazanov for his comedy The Carnival Night. Then a fourth grade student at VGIK, she became nationally famous. But she also became typecast as a comic actress and could not get more than incidental roles for the next two decades. Her luck changed in 1976, when she was offered the leading role as a factory director in the film Old Walls. In this film Gurchenko proved herself a talented dramatic actress, offering a complex psychological portrait of a modern, 40-ish Soviet heroine. Since that time, she has starred in dozens of films, many of them classics of Russian cinema: Twenty Days Without War, Siberiade, Five Evenings and A Railway Station for Two. Often eccentric in public, Gurchenko works hard to stay in top physical shape and continues to woo audiences with the singing abilities that brought her fame in her first film.

15 Today would have been the 75th birthday of Yuli Daniel (1925-1988), Russian writer and translator. A WWII veteran and graduate of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute, Daniel embraced a literary career in the late 1950s. In 1960-1963, together with another dissident writer, Andrei Sinyavsky, Daniel allowed a number of his works to be published abroad, under the pseudonym Nikolai Arzhak. These included his powerful stories “Moscow is Speaking,” “Expiation” and “A Man from Minap,” all of which were critical of the Soviet regime, highlighting the lack of personal responsibility and the mass psychosis of fear under totalitarianism. In 1965, Daniel was arrested. In 1966 he and Sinyavsky were subjected to a show trial and condemned to five years in prison for anti-Soviet propaganda (since that time, the historic pairing of “Sinyavsky and Daniel” overshadowed the individual personality of each writer). After his liberation, Daniel did translation work under the pseudonym Yuri Petrov.

16 Today is the centenary of playwright Nikolai Pogodin (real name Stukalov, 1900-1962), author of 40 plays, the most popular being the trilogy dedicated to Vladimir Lenin: A Man with a Rifle (1937) The Kremlin Clock (1956) and Third Pathetic (1958). Though it is tempting to catalogue Pogodin as a “court playwright,” given the subject of his trilogy, one has to admit his Soviet era plays enjoyed huge success over many decades at the Moscow Art Theater. In those years, the public generally did not question Lenin’s motives or tactics, and they were curious to know more about Lenin as a person.

19 This is the 230th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Kruzenstern (1770-1846), Russian navigator and geographer. Kruzenstern first earned his fame for his 1803-1806 cruise around the world with Captain-lieutenant Yuri Lisyansky on the ships Nadezhda and Neva. During the trip, Kruzenstern studied the western coast of Japan and the southern and eastern coasts of Sakhalin. The publication of his research in 1809 and 1810 was met with acclaim both at home and abroad. Today, a mountain on Sakhalin, a cape in Alaska, a strait in the Kurile islands and a tall sailing ship are all named for him.

20 Today is the 75th birthday of Maya Plisetskaya, one of the brightest stars of Russian ballet. A graduate of the Moscow School of Choreography (1943), Plisetskaya has spent most of her professional life at the Bolshoi Theater. She first rose to fame in 1945, when she excelled in the premiere of Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet, Cinderella, displaying flawless technique. Dozens of other solo roles followed: in the ballets Raymonda, Spartacus, and Bakhchisaray Fountain. Her husband, the composer Rodion Schedrin, composed a ballet based on Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen specifically for her. And this Carmen Suite has since become one of Plisetskaya’s most famous roles. Yet, it is her portrayal of the Dying Swan in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake which has become her signature piece. In the early 1990s, Plisetskaya split with the leadership of the Bolshoi and moved to Spain. There she continued her dancing career and was choreographer of a ballet troupe in the Spanish town of Murcia. The dance of the Dying Swan is almost always a part of her ballet recitals. Each year in St. Petersburg, there is an annual ballet contest bearing her name: “Maya.”

21 Today is the centenary of the actor Mikhail Astangov (1900-1965). His trademark “intellectual acting,” and his well-considered gestures have earned him many an admirer. Prior to joining the Moscow Theater named for Yevgeny Vakhtangov in 1945, Astangov worked in provincial theaters. Astangov was one of the first actors who showed that “negative heroes” could be played by handsome, refined actors. Thus did he excel in such roles as the Polish King Sigismund (invader of Russia), in the film Minin and Pozharsky, and as Arakcheev (the tsarist-era reactionary), in the film Suvorov.

25 This is the 75th birthday of the actress Nonna Mordyukova (born 1925). The London-based encyclopedia Who is Who placed Mordyukova in its list of the top ten most outstanding actresses of the 20th century. Her great acting talent is indeed multifaceted. Mordyukova rose to national fame in 1949—when she was still an acting student—for her role as Ulyana Gromova in a film based on Alexander Fadeev’s novel, Molodaya Gvardiya (The Young Guard). The movie was about a group of Soviet underground fighters (podpolshchiki) who fought the Nazis behind enemy lines, and who ended up being caught, tortured and shot. Mordyukova also brilliantly interpreted comic roles, such as her hilarious portrayal of the Soviet ideological watchdog in the film Diamond Arm. Recently, Mordykova starred in the movie Mama, based on the true story of a family of musicians which hijacked a plane. To many, both at home and abroad, Mordyukova is the incarnation of the Russian female character. Not surprisingly, actor and director Rolan Bykov called Mordyukova “The Russian Anna Magnani.”

28 Today is the 120th birthday of the poet Alexander Blok (1880-1921). Arguably Russia’s leading poet of the last century, his work and life are the subject of a longer article in this issue (see page 33).

December

2 Today is the 75th birthday of the singer Irina Arkhipova (born 1925). Her bright talent as a modern-day Russian bel canto has earned her a well-deserved place among the best of Russia’s opera singers, including Nadezhda Obukhova and Antonina Nezhdanova. Arkhipova sang some 40 solo parts in Russian and foreign operas and drew applause not only in Russia but also at La Scala, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera and the Grand Opera. Critics have been unanimous in praising her voice, diction and acting talent, as well as the refined culture and style of her performances. At present, Arkhipova heads the jury of the International Vocal Contests named for Glinka and Tchaikovsky. She also established the Moscow International Union of Music Artists, which has become famous for discovering new Russian opera stars. This was how world opera was enriched by baritone Dmitry Khvorostovsky and by Lyudmila Magomedova, dubbed by musical critics “the Russian Maria Callas” because of the strength of her voice and the unbelievable variety of her repertoire.

13 Today would have been the 70th birthday of the actor Nikolai Rybnikov (1930-1990), an idol of 1950s and 1960s Soviet cinema. The songs he sang in his very first movies, “Spring on Zarechnaya Street” and “Vysota” (“Height”) (both in 1956) are still sung here today. In his films, Rybnikov mainly played the role of “the hero of the neighborhood”—a typical working class guy who is kind-hearted, courageous and brave. Sadly however, in the 1970s-1980s demand for Rybnikov-esque characters declined, and he had very little acting work. But his best films are still beloved here, even though the working class they sought to glorify is no longer “the leading class.” Even watching another rerun of Rybnikov in Devchata (Girls, 1961), where he plays the head of a forest cutting team, is much preferred to the boilerplate TV films about mafiosi. Rybnikov’s disarming smile still inspires trust and confidence. He was the screen’s “talented hooligan,” with a sort of hussar intrepidity and audacity. Aside from his acting pursuits, Rybnikov was also a very good hockey player and excelled at fencing, horseback riding and guitar.

16 Today would have been the 85th birthday of composer and pianist Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998). Even those Russophiles who don’t know anything about classical music know one Sviridov tune: “Vremya, Vperyod!” (“Onward, Time!”), the intro music for the popular nightly TV news program, Vremya. In fact, in the post-Soviet era, the news program’s network, ORT, tried to change to a newer, updated anthem, but found nothing could replace it. Sviridov has many other works of genius in his musical legacy. His main theme was his homeland, her historical destiny and the life of the Russian people. His works included his vocal historical poem, “In Memory of Sergei Yesenin” (1956), and his “Oratorio Pathetic” (1959), with words by Vladimir Mayakovsky. The latter work was so widely praised in the Soviet musical press that it was awarded a Lenin prize. Also of special interest are his cantatas “Wooden Russia” (1938) and “Spring Cantata” (1964). Sviridov rejuvenated traditional vocal and symphonic genres, adding more variety — e.g. the vocal and symphonic oratorio poem, chamber vocal poems and a concert for choir without lyrics.

21 Today is the centenary of writer and playwright Vsevolod Vishnevsky (1990-1951). As a 14-year-old, Vishenvsky fought on the fronts of WWI. Later, he fought in three more wars: the Civil War (1918-1922), the war with Finland (1939-1940) and the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Vishnevsky’s play “Optimistic Tragedy” has become a classic of Russian Theater. The play’s heroine is a female commissar in a leather jacket. She tries to quell an anarchist-fueled mutiny in the Red Fleet, falls in love with a young marine, and later perishes. The play served as the basis for the classic Soviet film, The Commissar (1967).

29 225 years ago today the architect Carlo Rossi (1775-1849) was born. Rossi was remarkable both as an architect and an urban planner. As Rossi himself wrote: “The scale of my projects surpass those which the Romans deemed sufficient for their monuments. Why should we fear to be compared with them in magnificence? Here I am not aiming at surfeit decoration but rather at grandeur of forms, noble proportions, at indestructibility.” Rossi created or redesigned no fewer than 13 squares and twelve streets in the central part of St. Petersburg. He is also responsible for several prominent buildings in St. Petersburg: the architectural complex on Yelagin island, the General Staff Building on Dvortsovaya Square, Mikhalovsky Palace (now known as the Russian Museum), the Alexandrine Theater, the Senate and the Holy Synod Buildings.

— Valentina Kolesnikova