Famous Russian actress Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna: biography, personal life, theatrical roles

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna is an outstanding Russian actress of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, whose work had a significant impact on the development of theatrical art. Her life was short, but very eventful and bright. Many books, articles and dissertations have been devoted to the study of its phenomenon. There is a theater named after Komissarzhevskaya (St. Petersburg), she inspired poets to write poetry, a film was made about her fate. She remains a significant part of Russian art, even more than 100 years after her death.

Parents and early years

Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna was born on November 8, 1864 in St. Petersburg. Her mother, Maria Nikolaevna, was the daughter of the commander of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and her father was a well-known opera singer of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. He studied in Italy, then returned to Russia. Vera's parentsgot married secretly, it was a big story in the city. Over time, the father of Maria Nikolaevna came to terms with this. The couple had three daughters almost in a row. Vera and the sisters grew up in an artistic atmosphere, there were many actors, artists, and musicians in the house. Father was friends with M. Mussorgsky. Vera often participated in home performances and concerts. She had a good voice, and her father hoped that she would become a singer. Vera changed several educational institutions, but her addictive nature did not allow her to study hard. Her father eventually took her homeschooling.

Everything changed when Marya Nikolaevna's father died, she bought an estate near Vilna with the inheritance she received and gave her eldest daughter Vera to study at the prestigious Institute of Noble Maidens. The husband remained in St. Petersburg, continued to sing and was not slow to start a new romance. Marya Nikolaevna took the blame for the divorce on herself and, in order to pay the expenses, sold the estate. She led a very poor life for the rest of her life. Vera's mother was sure that the main purpose of a woman is her husband and children. So when her marriage fell apart, she was broken for the rest of her life.

Vocation

Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna was always closer to her father, they were kindred spirits, but when her parents separated, she stayed with her mother, as her father quickly remarried. To support her mother and sisters, Vera needed to get married, and she accepted the proposal of Count Vladimir Muravyov. But it was immediately clear that the marriage was unsuccessful. Muraviev liked to drink, he could raise his hand to his wife in a heated state. BUTthen he completely started an affair with Vera's younger sister, Nadezhda. Such a double betrayal dumbfounded the future actress. She, like her mother, took the blame for the divorce on herself and even landed in a psychiatric hospital. It was this suffering that led to the fact that the talent of a dramatic actress was revealed in her with great force. Doctors urged her to find some business to divert her thoughts. And she began to take acting lessons from an actor from Alexandrinka, Vladimir Davydov. He saw a great talent in her and advised her to enter the theater school. But life had its own way.

The start of the journey

In 1890, Vera's father broke up with his second wife and his daughters moved to live with him. Vera plays the guitar a lot, helps her father with his students. One day, a student named Stanislavsky asked her to help him in a performance at the Hunting House, where the actress fell ill. So Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna stepped on a real theater stage for the first time. At this time, doctors found she had a chronic throat disease, this was the last impetus for her decision to become an actress. She plays the role of Betsy in the play "The Fruits of Enlightenment" in the "Society of Arts and Letters" at the school where F. P. Komissarzhevsky. The season of work in this theater under the direction of Stanislavsky became a good school and a test for the aspiring actress. Soon the "Society" stopped staging performances due to financial difficulties. But Komissarzhevskaya has already found her way. She was noticed at the performance by P. Kiselevsky - an actor, a friend of his father. He invited her to playLumpy roles in two performances, she brilliantly coped with the assignment.

Novocherkassk

In 1893, Vera signed her first artistic contract to work in the N. Sinelnikov's enterprise in Novocherkassk. Helping Vera Kiselevsky highly, but narrowly assessed the abilities of the actress. He believed that her destiny was comedy. In addition, he did not build big plans for her, as he expected that she would only replace the sick actress for a while. Work in the entreprise was hellishly hard. In the first five months, she had to play 58 roles. This despite the fact that she had no experience, and each role required elaboration and reflection. And Komissarzhevskaya still managed to learn from her colleagues, kept a diary of observations of their game, analyzed performances. Sometimes she had to play two performances a day, during the night she had to master the role. During the day there were rehearsals, in the evening - playing on stage. Such in-line work did not give freedom for creativity and the search for one's own method, but gave the skill of playing on stage, helped to gain experience. The roles at that time she got the most insignificant, empty vaudeville, which were staged and did not imply the depth of dramatic experiences. But Vera took them seriously, considering each as an important lesson. She herself had to be her costume designer, make-up artist and even director. But the work did not go unnoticed, and criticism begins to note her game, first in a few words, then in whole paragraphs. Her authority grew along with her skill.

During the year, Komissarzhevskaya was able to understand herself a little, worked out tricks and began to think about more. She started her career too late, at the age of 29, and begins to rush to realize herself. At this time, she reads a lot of serious drama and dreams of real creativity. The entreprise strongly depended on the tastes of the public, and they were very unpretentious, the Cossacks did not want serious reflections from the theater, but only entertainment. But the Sinelnikov Theater, which at that time was the best among its kind, nevertheless sometimes decided on serious productions, for example, Woe from Wit and Fruits of Enlightenment.

For a year of work, the actress was able to show herself, but this did not add to her colleagues' love. Communication with her was not easy, as she was very demanding of herself and others. The season ended, but Komissarzhevskaya did not receive the expected offer to renew her contract. The ill Medvedev returned to the troupe, Kiselevsky saw that Vera did not want to be content with roles in vaudeville and lost interest in her, her stage colleagues envied her and did not understand her. Everything led to the fact that Komissarzhevskaya had to leave Sinelnikov's entreprise.

Tours

All the actresses of the Russian Empire of that time collaborated with entreprises to maintain their financial situation. There were few stationary theaters, mainly in big cities. Therefore, there were quite a lot of touring troupes. After leaving Novocherkassk, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, at the invitation of the Tiflis Artistic Society, goes on tour with them. Here she managed to play 12 roles, amongwhich comedies "Tomboy", "Money Aces" and others. Critics and the public are well received by the actress, even her father appreciates her game. Despite the success, Vera herself was not completely satisfied with herself, she continues to dream of a more serious repertoire. Such self-doubt prevented Komissarzhevskaya from finding a good engagement. After a tour in Tiflis, she returns to Moscow in the hope of finding a job, but she is afraid to go to the agency and sadly sees how the troupes fill up and leave, and she remains without work. Unexpectedly, a colleague from Tiflis invites her to take part in a tour in Ozerki and Oranienbaum. This entreprise was distinguished by a more serious repertoire, which Vera really liked. Here she manages to play 14 new roles in 3 months in such plays as "Treachery and Love" by F. Schiller, "Vasilisa Melentyeva" by A. N. Ostrovsky, "Steppe Bogatyr" by I. A. Salova.

Her success was very noticeable, which confirmed the invitation to work at the Alexandrinsky Theater. But she, again frightened by her inexperience, decided to accept an invitation from Nezlobin's enterprise in Vilna. The audience and repertoire of this troupe were much more serious than all the previous ones in which Komissarzhevskaya worked. Here, for 2 years, she played 60 roles, among which there were already undoubted successes: Larisa in A. N. Ostrovsky, Sophia in "Woe from Wit" by A. Griboyedov, Louise in "Deceit and Love" by Schiller. Here her game is appreciated by Nemirovich-Danchenko, Kachalov, Brushtein. At Nezlobin, Komissarzhevskaya fully developed and demonstrated herdramatic talent, which until then she was denied by some critics and her innovation. But she really lacks a good director who could manage her game.

Alexandrinsky Theater

In 1896, she herself began to fuss about entering the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater. She did not like the role of the petitioner very much, she had to worry and think about the play for her debut. All this for the 32-year-old actress was no longer easy. But she successfully played her debut play "Butterfly Fight" and was highly appreciated by critics. The actress brought a new style to the theater stage, built on inner experience. For six years in Alexandrinka, Komissarzhevskaya played her best roles, which made her a celebrity and pride of the Russian theater: this is Larisa in The Dowry, Nina Zarechnaya in The Seagull, Desdemona in Othello, Marikka in The Lights of Ivan Night, Margarita in " Faust." The performance "The Seagull" was very highly appreciated by Chekhov, who until the end of his days believed that it was the best embodiment of his author's intention. He corresponded with the actress for a long time, together they discussed the development of the psychological Russian theater. The performance "The Seagull" was not accepted by the public and criticism, this failure was a huge blow for the playwright and actress.

In the theater, Vera found a colleague - director E. P. Karpov, with whom they were not like-minded, but together they made their way on the new stage, together they looked for the right paths. Thanks to this collaboration, the actress realized how great the role of the director is in the fate of the actors. In this collaboration, Vera was able to understand her views on art, whichled her to find a new path.

Searching for a new theater

The actress passionately dreamed of a new theater, she was once infected with this idea from Stanislavsky and cherished the dream of her own theater in which she could be fully realized. The Alexandrinsky Theater imposed too many restrictions on it, it had its own conservative policy. In her letters and diaries, the theme of the journey, the search for a new theater, constantly arises. The acting theater of Komissarzhevskaya was built on psychologism, and in Alexandrinka she is required mainly external manifestations, without immersion in the depths of the character's soul. She feels that she is wasting her time, that her work on the Imperial stage is leading her nowhere. Therefore, in 1902, she decides to leave Alexandrinka. She has no money for her own theater, and therefore she has to go on long tours, she travels almost the whole country, works in Y alta, Kyiv, Siberia, Kharkov. But the repertoire was weak, the directing was of poor quality. She needed her own director, and she found him in the person of V. E. Meyerhold.

Own theater

The Komissarzhevskaya Drama Theater officially appeared in 1904, for which she rents the building. But the lack of money makes her immediately go on tour and for 2 years she travels around the country, earning money and playing in second-rate performances for the needs of the public. With heroic efforts and the help of like-minded people, an amount of 70 thousand rubles was collected, and Komissarzhevskaya finally begins to create a stationary, repertory theater in St. Petersburg. Her goal- a new artistic ideology, "the theater of the soul", for this she needed a special repertoire and troupe. Komissarzhevskaya reads a huge number of modern plays, she chooses Ibsen, Chekhov, Gorky for her theater. The theater is formed by a troupe of like-minded people who are eager to show the world a new look at theatrical art. In 1906, Meyrehold agreed to work in the theater, he puts on 13 performances, among them innovative versions of the plays "Hedda Gabler", "Balaganchik", "A Man's Life". But the relationship between the actress and the director is very difficult, which, combined with the failures of the performances, leads to a break. The Komissarzhevskaya Drama Theater is ambiguously accepted by the public, real scandals happen here. But this was the natural result of the troupe's revolutionary actions. Working in her theater, Vera had to deal with misunderstanding, betrayal, failures, but also with tremendous success.

Best roles

Vera Fedorovna Komissarzhevskaya, whose roles are still examples of the psychological school, played many brilliant, innovative characters in her heyday. Her playing style was exceptionally suitable for the embodiment of Chekhov's heroines. So, her Sonya from "Uncle Vanya", Sasha from "Ivanov" and Nina Zarechnaya from "The Seagull" were subtly feeling, struggling natures. Komissarzhevskaya understood the author's intention, felt his artistic intention. And despite the fact that many viewers did not accept such an interpretation, the playwright himself considered her interpretation to be the best.

Also among the outstanding rolesKomissarzhevskaya is attributed to Larisa from A. Ostrovsky's "Dowry", Natasha Bobrov from I. Potapenko's "Magic Tale", Nora in G. Ibsen's "A Doll's House", Varvara in Gorky's "Summer Residents". In each image, she found her own interpretation, was able to discern the grain of the role and convey the deepest feelings of the character.

Disappointment in the theater

In 1908, the Drama Theater, already known as the Komissarzhevskaya Theater (St. Petersburg), makes a tour of the United States, where Vera receives exceptionally laudatory reviews. She has been called one of the greatest actresses of the 20th century. But Komissarzhevskaya herself is bitterly disappointed with her theatre. Working with the symbolist Meyerhold killed the spark in the actress, she did not feel her talent was in demand. Vera sees that what is conceived is almost never realized in performances, that actors and directors do not understand each other, misinterpret the expressive ideas of the new theater. Each new performance by Komissarzhevskaya seems to be a failure. In 1909, she makes the very difficult decision to leave the theater.

New hopes

Komissarzhevskaya, an actress of incredible talent who dreamed of a beautiful, psychological theatre, realized that nothing could be done with actors brought up in the old traditions. And the idea comes to her to open a theater school in order to educate actors of a new formation. She planned to recall the lessons of her father, who was a good theater teacher, and the experience of Stanislavsky, who created his own system of artistic acting. She wanted to teach herself in order to pass on her experience gained with suchlabor, as well as to invite her outstanding friends-actors and directors, she also wanted to call A. Bely, D. Merezhkovsky, V. Ivanov to teach subjects that broaden her horizons. Inspired by new ideas and hopes, Komissarzhevskaya goes on her last tour of Siberia.

Private life

Vera Komissarzhevskaya, whose biography is so short and so full of theater, did not dare to marry again. Too big a blow was de alt to her by her first husband, Vladimir Muravyov. But in 1887, during her treatment in Lipetsk, she met Sergei Siloti, an officer, a highly educated man, a lover of literature and theater. A very warm relationship develops between them, Sergey even brings Vera to the estate to his parents and introduces him as a bride. It was always very warm and cozy in this house of Komissarzhevskaya. All her life she was friends with the whole Siloti family, she often visited them in Znamenka. But she never married Sergei.

Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna, whose personal life was dramatic, gave a lot of time and energy to experiences on stage and that was enough for her. Contemporaries said that A. Chekhov was in love with her, but did not dare to admit it to her. Although, it is possible that he was in love with her talent as an actress, and not with a woman. She had several novels: with director E. P. Karpov, with a young actor N. P. Roschin-Insarov, with diplomat S. S. Tatishchev, with the poet V. Bryusov, but none of them grew into marriage, since the theater has always remained the main thing in her life.

Care

Tours in Siberia and the Far EastVostok was very tired of Komissarzhevskaya, she complained to the doctor about pain in her ears. These sensations did not allow her to sleep, she felt worse every day. The doctor invited to her offered her the only method of treatment - craniotomy. The malaise did not go away, and when already in Tashkent several actors of the troupe fell ill with smallpox, Vera Fedorovna's condition also worsened, it turned out that she also had smallpox. Her pains were unbearable, on January 27 she lost consciousness. Ulcers covered her entire body, the pain only intensified. In mid-February, the actress dreamed of A. P. Chekhov, she regarded this as a good sign. But a few days later, the condition worsened significantly, on February 23, paralysis of the heart set in and the great Komissarzhevskaya died. According to her will, letters and diaries from her box were destroyed in the first hour after her death. She ordered to bury herself with her face covered so that people would not see how her illness disfigured her. Komissarzhevskaya Vera Fedorovna (1864-1910) was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Memory

The departure of the greatest actress was a real shock for Russia, only after the loss they suddenly realized the incredible value of her artistic method and the magnitude of her talent. The memory of Komissarzhevskaya is still preserved by her native country. The Komissarzhevskaya Theater (Novocherkassk) proudly recalls the times when this actress shone here. Just like the theater in Ussuriysk. Her life's work is the Komissarzhevskaya Drama Theater in St. Petersburg. He is known throughout the world. There is Komissarzhevskaya Street in Tyumen, Donetsk and Voronezh. Her image is captured inmany poems by A. Blok and V. Bryusov. Her talent inspired the creation of music, so A. Knaifel wrote an essay for string instruments "Vera", P. Gapon wrote a w altz in her memory "Broken Strings". The wonderful feature film “I am an actress” by Viktor Sokolov is dedicated to her life and work. The role of Vera was excellently performed by the actress Natalya Saiko. The director did not want to shoot a chronological picture, he chose an innovative method - he created a film from separate, unrelated episodes that reveal different facets of the deep nature of the actress. The film shows the tragedy of life, in which the price of talent is peace and personal happiness.