Preparing to take her fourth and final trip to St. Petersburg, Polina has been maintaining a rather unusual and somewhat mysterious cordial relationship with the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev for about ten years. “Only ten years,” we would say, knowing that this relationship would practically not cool down (despite short periods of distance) until the writer’s death in 1883. How much gossip this “special friendship” caused during Madame Viardot’s lifetime, how much ink was translated because of it after the singer’s death! Many questions remain unanswered. Is it possible to imagine that this love at first sight, which captured Ivan (more than Polina) in 1843, resulted only in a platonic romance lasting forty years? Is it really possible for a man to fall in love for life, knowing that this love is doomed to be one-sided, and even remaining sincere, true friendship with the husband of the woman you love? Does this mean that Louis, Polina and Ivan are living proof of a successful, so to speak, conflict-free threesome marriage with only one condition: not to allow any ambiguity? Let's try to figure this out.
Pauline Viardot met Ivan Turgenev, as we said, in November 1843. She begins her first St. Petersburg season, and princes, artists, writers are introduced to her - a whole retinue of ardent admirers. Ivan, along with other passionate admirers nova, was allowed into her restroom more than once. That winter, Polina is 22 years old, Ivan is 25. Next to her, so miniature, he looks like a hero. He is handsome, courteous, educated, speaks extremely refined French, as befits a well-bred young aristocrat. In the person of Polina, Ivan met France, its culture and civilization. He reminds me a little of Berlioz: French composer He saw in his wife Harriet Smithson the Shakespearean Ophelia he extols, but Turgenev idealizes France, having mastered its language perfectly since childhood, and transfers this passion to the young singer. Polina's homeland, which until then had been for him only an intellectual, almost abstract concept, thanks to her acquired concreteness, suddenly approached, promising, perhaps, a warm welcome. From now on, he becomes a faithful knight of this muse flown from heaven, adorned with high virtues. After Polina's departure, he was haunted by the desire to visit her in France - it would come true in the summer of 1847, when he visited her in Courtavnel.
Then the correspondence begins - a flow that has almost never dried up for forty years, with the exception of periods when they live in close proximity. She looks like expensive 19th century endless epistolary relationships that were supported by George Sand, Marie d'Agoux, Balzac, Berlioz or Tchaikovsky. That century writes a lot, sometimes commenting on significant events in literary, artistic or political life, sometimes pouring out his soul or sharing small everyday hardships. Turgenev is one of those people of high culture for whom correspondence is not only a way to break loneliness: by bringing together dozens of distant interlocutors, it represents literary form, equivalent to a story or novel. A subtle draftsman, he often complements his writing with a small sketch of a landscape or a caricatured portrait. Henri Grandzhar begins the preface to the collection of unpublished letters of the Russian writer Pauline Viardot with the following words: “Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883) sent 6264 letters (including notes) to numerous correspondents, published with comments in the so-called thirty-volume academic Russian edition of his works and letters... This correspondence, the scale of which testifies to the glory of Turgenev, is, however, only a part of what he wrote to his friends and acquaintances in Russia, Europe and even America...” Let's take note!
Ivan loves to write. Moreover, he is an incorrigible talker. When, in a letter to Polina on May 14, 1850, he promises to “tell it all briefly,” he will need to write five or six sheets of paper in small handwriting. He is not strong in the art of synthesis. There are other striking features in the letters addressed to his muse. No matter what period of life and their relationship we are talking about, he addresses her in the same way: until 1847 simply “Madame”, later - “Dear Madame Viardot” or “Dear good Madame Viardot”, which shows how much she was for him and Concern for decorum will be important, particularly in relation to Louis. He will never write “Dear Polina,” which seems quite normal between good friends. Polina, for her part, always answers: “Dear Turgenev” or “Dear, kind Turgenev,” and by the end of the 1860s, “Dear Turglin.” A characteristic feature of European-educated writers of the 19th century, a mixture of languages is present in most letters: he easily switches from French to German, Spanish or English. Since it was strictly forbidden to speak Russian in the Turgenev house, he had to secretly practice native language with an old footman, and meanwhile the Russian language defended its rights in literature and opera. Knowing German as well as French and knowing that Polina reads German perfectly, sometimes he likes to start a letter with the greeting: “Teuerste Freundin.” It is in German that he more often allows himself to pour out his feelings from the first words of the message. Thus, in a letter dated October 13, 1848, we read: “Guten Tag, liebste, teuerste Frau, guten Tag, einziges Wesen!” Continuing this letter the next day, he cannot resist repeating: “Hello again, liebste, teuerste, einzige!” The same enthusiasm on July 23, 1849: “Guten Morgen, liebstes, teuerstes, bestes Wesen! Gott segne Sie tausend Mal!”
Polina is truly the only one in his eyes - as a woman and as an artist, and he is proud of her, having once read an article by Jules Janin, where the author calls her “la Viardot”: “What do you say about this la, which means glory for a woman, as for a man?” - lack of Mr<г-н>before the last name? This also means that, besides her, Turgenev does not honor any singer or singer with favor. Next to the ideal star, any other one seems just a pale imitation. This is another constant of this vast correspondence, giving it a kind of funny cast, while on the whole its tone is rather serious. Let us give a few illustrative examples to judge this. In 1846, the Italian season in St. Petersburg continues without Pauline Viardot. This is a reason to cast a shadow on her successor: “Madam Moltini (last year), you remember, received some applause from time to time; this one - nothing, well, literally nothing; it must be admitted, therefore, that a more outstanding fool (excuse the expression) has never appeared on stage Bolshoi Theater... Imagine that Mrs. Moltini, in addition, imitates you! Can you imagine it? One after another, the letters make it easy to deal with all of Polina’s rivals in turn: Mrs. Julie lacks taste and nobility, and in “Norma” she sings “Castadiva” so melodramatically, “as if she were in love with the moon”; Mademoiselle Masson - “unsuitable large fruit, raw and sour”; Mrs. Alboni in The Prophet is “just a schoolgirl, there is no more drama in her singing than in my boot. She slavishly copies you... She is dressed like you, only she was also covered with a large cloak of the same color to hide her thickness. She begins a recitative: good pronunciation, the voice is viscous, thick, but smooth and pleasant to the ear... She is not stupid, and she manages well to take advantage of her obesity, portraying her mother quite naturally.” As soon as a compliment is hinted at, criticism is right there: “Mademoiselle Schroeder - her face looks pleasant on stage: the acting is useless, the movements are clumsy and monotonous, the physiognomy does not express anything, the pronunciation is incorrect; her voice seems weak, weak, especially at the beginning, but she sings very well, very correctly, with great taste and grace. It was too subtle for the audience - and for the loudmouths around them."
A few examples only prove the writer’s undivided admiration for Madame Viardot to the detriment of any other artist and an obvious bias, which is unnecessary to comment on. But Turgenev's inability to appreciate major composers and noteworthy works of our time never ceases to amaze. The explanation is primarily that he almost exclusively prefers the works and creators of the past, starting with Mozart. This almost blind bias makes it difficult to approach modern works, especially those that are not performed by Polina. Turgenev's susceptibility musical field incommensurate with the breadth of views of his muse, who constantly discovers new masterpieces and new talents. Surprising in this regard is his lack of understanding of Verdi's work. The opera “Ernani” in St. Petersburg in 1846 hardly impresses him, he speaks with regret about the vulgarity of Verdi’s melodies; listening to “The Lombards” in Paris a year later, he finds the music in general extremely bad, and some places disgusting; no less caustic is his review of “The Robbers” in London with a hoarse Jenny Lind, and in 1859 in St. Petersburg he will be annoyed at having to listen again to Verdi, who, as he repeats to his dear correspondent, is no match for Mozart: “I I go to the theater quite rarely; they give Verdi or Flotov - you will agree that this is not very attractive. However, recently they showed Don Juan; the execution was bad, but even bad execution can’t kill a masterpiece.” With the same myopia, he judged Les Troyens a few years later, and meanwhile Berlioz’s opera practically received a start in life in the salon of Pauline Viardot and was then performed in Baden in the summer of 1859, before it was staged by the Lyric Theater: “This is the creation of a scientist and an inventive impotent, he pushes himself, tries his best, but is unable to create anything - just parodies or some bizarre things. His main goal is something big and strong (another symptom of impotence), but the only thing he succeeds in is a kind of languid reverie, nervous and sensual. Turgenev would go so far as to openly criticize Gounod’s main works (“Faust,” “Romeo and Juliet”), although, as we know, he spent wonderful hours at Courtavnel, supporting the young composer with advice, encouraging him and admiring him during the period of work on “Sappho.” "
Reading these lines, one might think that their author is an inveterate grumbler, prematurely aged and ready to scold everything in the world. Obviously, to think so means to forget with what enthusiasm he draws beautiful landscape(his novels are full of such magnificent pictures of nature) or describes the dignity of a person, shares the sorrows of others, lights up with a great goal, or captures in living sketches a lot of little things of life. After all, it was all this that captivated Louis Viardot and prompted him to accept the Russian writer into the circle of his family: he never tried to alienate the person who seemed to give him every reason to be jealous. Louis and Ivan are, first of all, real intellectuals who are concerned with the same literary and artistic impressions. Turgenev enriches Louis's more rational erudition with a bit of Slavic fantasy. He, in turn, inspires Ivan’s pen in his own way, and, importantly, his strict control is beneficial for the translations of Turgenev’s novels published in France.
Both are lovers of hunting. Polina's husband shows his hunting talent in all countries wherever he visits. Ivan infected him with a passion for hunting in Russia - best places This activity cannot be found in all of Europe: only here hunting is certainly associated with adventure, endless space and exciting risk. One of Ivan’s earliest letters to Louis dates back to the Viardot couple’s first visit to St. Petersburg and is nothing more than an invitation to hunt. A few years later, he boasts to Louis that he is going to the wildest district of the Novgorod province, where he is promised thirty bears: he hopes to meet at least three!
© T.N. Neff
The French writer, as we know, writes “Hunting Memoirs” - not just a listing of trophies, but also a subtle study of the morals and psychology of peoples different countries. Russian writer - author of "Notes of a Hunter": the book, one of the best in his work, consists of a number of stories that previously appeared in the press as an ongoing publication. This most acute revealing work of Turgenev played a role in Russia comparable to the role of the famous “Uncle Tom's Cabin” by Beecher Stowe in the USA. Drawing sharp portraits of landowners, peasant women, and ordinary men, the author mercilessly, but at the same time restrained and impartially reveals the rudeness everyday life, the countless injustices of a society that still remains feudal and meekly awaits the triumph of humanity. Lamartine highly appreciates the Russian writer’s “keen gaze, all-responsive soul.” In a calm tone, almost without revealing his emotions, he conveys deep observations of actions and characters: just as a hunter tracks and studies game, the narrator, as if under a magnifying glass, examines existence the poorest people, outcasts of the tsarist regime. Without trying to create a pamphlet, he shows the pitiful position of the peasant and the serf, their backs bent under the burden - something that the Wanderers artists would soon depict with such dramatic force in their paintings. The writer presents things sharply and directly, in the spirit of Maupassant, without softening them, but also without turning into a political tribune subject to passions: the restraint with which he reveals reality to us enhances the impression. Anyone who has read Turgenev's pages will not forget the portraits of these outcasts. Touching Arina, expelled in disgrace by the master for twice daring to ask permission to marry her loved one, eventually becomes the wife of the unknown miller who “bought off” her. The handsome coachman Kuzma, renamed by his mistress's arbitrariness, and then demoted to fishermen (they say he is too unprepossessing for a coachman): now he is quite happy with the fact that he is given grub instead of a salary. The courtyard girl Lukerya, glowing with meekness, was sent by her masters to the farm when she was paralyzed: she lives with dreams and looks kindly at everything around her. Dwarf Kasyan - they mock him for his shortcomings, and at the same time they are afraid of him, like all the “fools”, to whom the Russian people attribute the mysterious abilities of healers and sorcerers: the image of a poor cripple embodies the whole drama of serfdom and the fatalism of a peasant, resettled against his will a hundred miles away from their native places.
It is clear how close Ivan Turgenev and Louis Viardot are politically: both consider themselves participants in the struggle for social progress and the development of liberal ideas in an environment where there is very little liberalism. Louis, as we know, is an eternal fighter for anti-clerical and republican ideas. In the periodicals he founded or headed, in opposition to the July Monarchy, then the Second Empire, he took a position that turned him into an outcast of Parisian society and created many enemies for his wife. After traveling to Russia in 1844, he spoke out in “Hunting Memoirs” against the serfdom of millions of people as “an antisocial, anti-religious, inhumane state of affairs.” He was one of the first in France to predict the abolition of serfdom, which became a reality in 1861: “Happy is the monarch who will glorify his name with this great and holy deed! Let Europe wash away the stain of the terrible word “slavery.”
Ivan is surrounded by people who have liberalism in their blood. It is no coincidence that he becomes close to Nikolai Turgenev - a namesake, but not a relative: he was a participant in the Decembrist conspiracy (which aimed to establish parliamentarism in Russia) before the brutal repressions of Nicholas I nipped it in the bud. Nikolai Turgenev, who managed to leave Russia in time, is fighting in Paris, exposing the crimes of tsarism and preserving the memory of friends destroyed or exiled to Siberia. Like him, Ivan Turgenev fights for the abolition of serfdom, and his literary creativity will become an important link in this great and long struggle. Tsar Nicholas I, despite his harshness, was already considering a plan that Alexander II would implement on March 3, 1861, ending several centuries of slavery, although without solving the problem of poverty common people. Turgenev, who freed his peasants without waiting for the Manifesto, is aware of the role he played: “Emperor Alexander,” he tells the Goncourt brothers, “ordered it to be conveyed to me that reading my book was one of the important motivations for his decision.” It is clear that he shares the Viardot family's jubilation when the Parisian Revolution of 1848 occurs and the Second Republic is born!
A sincere friend of Louis, Turgenev soon becomes a gentle “godfather” for Viardot’s children, whom he loves no less, if not more, than his own daughter, and yet his thoughts and feelings are entirely focused on Polina, “dearest, most beloved, only” - incomparable and unattainable heavenly body. The passion that flared up as soon as they met during Madame Viardot's first Russian seasons is rather one-sided. Ivan is shocked, but Polina is surrounded by crowds of admirers, as polite, educated and charming as he is. In fact, does she notice him, does she distinguish him from others? This cannot be said from the first letters sent from Paris to Russia from 1844 to 1846: Louis most often answers Ivan, and Polina limits herself to a few lines of postscript or a friendly greeting. Moreover, it was in the summer of 1844 that Maurice Sand especially persistently courted her. Her thoughts are far from Turgenev.
Things take a different turn in 1845 and 1847, when Ivan makes his first trips to France. His goal is to finally get acquainted with the land of his dreams, and also to see again the singer who owns his thoughts. Now he won’t get lost in the crowd of St. Petersburg’s loyal knights. This man is made of flesh and blood, still as handsome and seductive, literally at her feet. One day he will write: “God, I would like to spread my whole life like a carpet under your dear feet, which I kiss a thousand times.” Polina does not remain indifferent. At the beginning of 1848, for a very short time (and this will never happen again), she transmits letters to Ivan through her mother, without her husband’s knowledge. The writer responds with a German phrase that Madame Viardot will take from the 1907 publication: “May you be blessed forever, noble, dear and enchanting creature.” The only moment in the lives of these two people dates back to 1848 when one can imagine something more than deep friendship on Polina’s part, although there is no evidence to suggest that there was a real love affair between them. One response letter from Ivan in German causes some confusion: “A thousand, a thousand thanks for... You know what... You are the best, dearest of women... What happiness it was for me!” A few days later he continues, again in German: “Give me your kind hands so that I can squeeze them tightly and kiss them for a long time... Everything that can be said and felt, I think, I say and feel now... Remain supportive of your old friend, unfailingly faithful and devoted.” The enthusiastic period lasts until July 1849, and on June 26 he makes a mysterious note in notebook: “First time with P.” After a short stay in Courtavnel, he sends a letter of gratitude for the hospitality shown; Madame Viardot, being in old age, will exclude from the publication these few lines in German: “Today I was all day as if in some kind of magical dream... The whole past, everything, everything that happened seems to my soul so irresistibly, so directly. I belong body and soul to my dear mistress.”
In the spring of 1850, Turgenev is in Courtauneuil while Polina tours Berlin and London. It was then that he watched the creation of Sappho day after day. His letters from that time are real declarations of love for his adoptive family: “Farewell, goodbye; I hug you all, you, Viardot - be blessed - my dear good friends, my only family, those whom I love more than anyone in the world.” In fact, as we will see later, the warmth of this hearth compensates for the spiritual loneliness of a person who lost his father early, experiences an extremely conflictual relationship with his mother, and at thirty-two calls himself an old man. His mother even hid his real age, and he considered himself a year younger. Only in 1852, having found a book with personal notes, he learns that he was born on October 28/November 9, 1818 - and immediately becomes a year older: “So, I turned all thirty-four. Damn, damn, damn - so that means I’m not young anymore, not at all, not at all - finally!”
His relationship with Polina is much more than just tender affection: for himself she is a guardian angel, for his daughter Polinette she is an adoptive mother, she is his confidante, lover, friend, muse - all together. And even more! Like a complete idolater, he asks her to send him in a letter nail clippings or a dried flower that she wore in her shoe. This fetishism is fully consistent with his nature as a masochist, always ready to humiliate himself in front of others, especially in front of his goddess. This is the meaning of the quoted lines, where he expresses the desire to spread his life like a carpet under “dear feet,” kissing them “a thousand times.”
Turgenev's return to Russia in June 1850 marked the end of the first period of relations. The flame of passion will never break out again in this endless correspondence. He still romantically idolizes Polina, her genuine affection for Ivan does not weaken (except for a slight cooling of 1857–1862), a threesome marriage will become something almost banal in the eyes of Parisian society, but those magical days will never return when Ivan’s emotional experiences seemed to have reached exceptional, unprecedented depth. However, the circumstances themselves will make tangible changes in the development of these relations. The writer is called home by family matters. His mother, a woman with a difficult character, does not want to tolerate Ivan’s bohemian life and drives him and his brother out of the Spasskoye family estate. He has to settle in Turgenev, inherited from his father. The difficulties of his new life, the worries he faces, in particular, the arrangement of his daughter’s life in France, push his muse into the background, although she remains for him the eternal Consuelo, his consolation. In 1851, only four letters were written. In May 1852, Turgenev suffered a new blow of fate. Because he publishes an article about Gogol, calling him a great writer (which is considered sedition under the regime of that time), and dares to publish “Notes of a Hunter,” which portrays unflatteringly serfdom, Ivan, by imperial order, is put under arrest in a unit for a month, and then exiled to Spasskoye for three years: a cruel blow, but such punishment is incomparably preferable to exile to Siberia. As a result, family troubles and political misadventures kept the writer against his will away from Madame Viardot for six whole years; however, she manages to break the separation - just once - during her last trip to Russia.
Publishing house "Ivan Limbach Publishing House", St. Petersburg, 2017, trans. N. Kislova
We are ready to look you in the eyes on the best day of summer - August 3, at the Afisha Picnic. The Cure, Pusha-T, Basta, Gruppa Skryptonite, Mura Masa, Eighteen - and this is just the beginning.
Russian folklore claims that there are no ugly women, but sometimes, sorry, there is not enough alcohol. Psychologists talk about the craving for ugly women due to their own inferiority complex - agliphilia. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev did not suffer from hard drinking, and was recognized as a classic in his youth. Why was he so drawn to Pauline Viardot, whose appearance was called a “monstrous landscape”?
This bright feeling came to the future famous writer still in adolescence. The chosen one - the eighteen-year-old daughter of Princess Shakhovskaya who lived next door - Katenka was girlishly fresh, naive and pure. The whole summer he followed her like a little dog, not daring to say a word, let alone touch her. However, as it turned out, this angelic image is nothing more than the first creation of poetic nature young Turgenev. But in fact, Ekaterina Shakhovskaya has long been one of the many mistresses of... Turgenev Sr. He changed women like gloves, not embarrassed by either his legal wife or rumors.
When Turgenev the son found out that his dear Katenka was one of his father’s passions, he was not just shocked, his heart, as they put it then, was broken into pieces. Previously, he did not dare to raise his eyes to his neighbor’s daughter; he thought of her as a divine creation. Now he was disgusted to look at her, like a frog crushed by a village cart...
Deciding that he would never love again, young Vanya fell into black melancholy. His mother, a woman with extensive life experience, decided to heal her boy... folk remedies. She chose a girl among the serfs who was prettier, and most importantly, healthier, and sent her straight to the park, where Turgenev Jr. used to stroll in heavy thoughts.
She turned out to be a smart girl, she understood the mistress’s idea without words and seduced the young barchuk to mutual pleasure. Having learned the joys of carnal love, Ivan finally abandoned the dream of Love with a capital “L”. His first muses were not subtle, aristocratic natures, but simple Russian peasant women.
In April 1842, the aspiring writer became a father. A stately beauty with a thick braid below the waist, serf Avdotya
Ivanova, gave birth to his daughter Pelageya. Turgenev's mother, considering that things had gone too far and, God forbid, son, honest man, decided to get married, decided to send him abroad - to knock another whim out of his head. Ivan resisted, he was already making plans for a quiet family life in the wilderness of the village...
In order to get rid of his mother’s instructions at least for a while, Ivan Sergeevich left for St. Petersburg. Having found himself in the light after a long break, he began to hesitate. No, he was not afraid of misalliance; he knew how to discern a Woman even in a woman untrained in French and manners. But still he felt that the pleasures of physical love were not enough for him, peaceful life in the lap of nature, even despite the well-known passion for hunting. Turgenev, like a fifteen-year-old boy, was still dreaming about high, romantic feelings. And his literary hypostasis longed for an extraordinary Muse...
Once on one of the stormy days autumn days In 1843, the aspiring writer and his friends went to opera house. And there on the stage he saw Her - his Fate. Divine, as contemporaries described, the “bitter” voice of Pauline Viardot bewitched Turgenev. He, a lover of slender figures and gentle faces, did not notice her stooped back and sloping shoulders, nor her rough, almost masculine facial features, bulging eyes and huge ugly mouth.
However, not only the appearance of his chosen one, whom almost the entire white light, stood in the way of the writer in love. His mother sharply condemned the “relationship with the singer” and refused to support him, and his works have not yet brought in a decent income. His little daughter was sent to a serf, where she lived like all serfs, in dirt and ignorance. His beloved Polina, nee Garcia, was married and very successfully - to the director Italian theater in Paris, famous critic and art critic Louis Viardot. Moreover, the famous singer did not at all distinguish Turgenev from the general mass of fans of her talent. However, she was generally distinguished by her calm disposition and prudence. Viardot became passionate only on stage.
But could all these trifles stop the Love itself, which overwhelmed Turgenev?
“I cannot live away from you, I must feel your closeness, enjoy it. The day when your eyes did not shine on me is a lost day!” - Turgenev literally bombarded his beloved with such letters. When the diva left Russia, he followed her.
He settled in Paris, either renting houses in the neighborhood or being a long-term guest in the Viardot family. Louis did not interfere with his wife’s meetings with her new admirer. He said that he considered Polina a reasonable woman and relied entirely on her decency. Or maybe he was just used to thinking that no one could be flattered by his far from beautiful wife?
On the other hand, friendship with the mysterious Russian gentleman soon began to bring considerable dividends. Ivan Sergeevich, without counting, spent his growing fees on the Viardot couple every year. Their four children became like family to him. However, as they gossiped in the world, “there you can no longer tell who is whose.” At first, when Polina introduced Turgenev to her Parisian acquaintances: “This is our Russian friend!”, They slandered behind her back: “It’s like showing off a Chinese dog!” And then everyone got so used to it that it was strange to sometimes see Viardot without her faithful knight.
Sometimes Turgenev had to leave the light of his eyes: from an aspiring writer he turned into a master of Russian literature, the ruler of the thoughts of the youth of that time. Publishing and public affairs called him to his homeland. And besides, Ivan Sergeevich was constantly worried about the fate of his daughter Pelageya. In the end, he invited the woman he loved to take the girl into his family, and Viardot graciously agreed. So Pelageya turned into Polynet, and Polina into a guardian angel who snatched his child from the hands of a cruel grandmother. Pelageya-Polinet herself quietly hated her adoptive mother, being convinced that she had taken everything for herself. fatherly love without a trace, but gave nothing in return.
At times, Turgenev realized that his position as a third wheel, timidly sitting on the edge of someone else's family nest, was, to put it mildly, abnormal even for Europe, which was more liberated in morals than patriarchal Russia. You can’t put your whole life on the altar of unrequited platonic love. It's time to leave empty dreams and build your own nest. Friends and relatives said this all the time. At the same time, everyone understood that Turgenev would be able to escape from the shackles of cursed love only while being away from Viardot, in his homeland.
In the spring of 1854, Ivan Sergeevich was introduced to the daughter of one of his cousins, Olga. The eighteen-year-old girl is the complete opposite of Viardot: young, fresh, beautiful, like spring itself. Who wouldn't fall in love? And the writer’s heart trembled. He even began to think about marriage. But manic passion stubbornly refused to let Turgenev go. He had barely decided to change his life when his goddess came to Russia on a new tour. And the writer, who had just begun to free himself from her shackles, was again fascinated. He broke off relations with Olga and left Russia following Viardot...
However, the writer’s friends did not give up and arranged for him to meet again. This time the writer was destined to be the sister of another luminary Russian literature- Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy - Maria. Turgenev wrote: “She is charming, smart, simple, I looked at her without taking my eyes off her. I will not hide the fact that I am struck to the very heart. In my old age (I turned thirty-six four days ago), I almost fell in love.”
But the emerging feeling remained in its infancy. The girl could not dislodge the “divine Polina” from his heart. Maria Tolstaya remarked after Turgenev’s death: “If he had not been a monogamist in life and had not loved Pauline Viardot so passionately, we could have been happy with him, and I would not have been a nun, but we parted with him by the will of God.”
Turgenev was already over sixty when he made his last attempt to start his own family. Aspiring actress Maria Savinova fell in love with the master so much that she was not frightened by either the age difference or his incomprehensible personal life. He didn’t understand himself for a long time, but he couldn’t help it. In 1882 he again left for Paris. However, he made a desperate attempt to free himself from “polynomania” - he took Savinova with him. In a city where literally everything - from the streets to the posters - was reminiscent of Viardot, Maria felt superfluous and was incredibly jealous. But she couldn’t leave Turgenev either. Ivan Sergeevich was already seriously ill with cancer. At the beginning of 1883 he was operated on. However, from the hospital he returned not to the young bride, but to Viardot...
Apparently, only death could separate them. On September 3, 1883, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev died. According to his will, he, a voluntary emigrant, wanted to be buried in Russia. IN last path He was accompanied to his homeland not by his own daughter, but by Claudia Viardot, Polina’s daughter.
MY PRAYER
I pray you, my God! When
With my timid eyes
I'll meet black eyes
And, overshadowed by curls,
Breasts will lie on my chest,
Oh give me the strength to push away
Get rid of the charm.
I pray and a burning kiss
The poet's lips will not be desecrated
And my proud spirit will win
Rebellious love spell.
For the writer Ivan Turgenev, the singer Pauline Viardot became the femme fatale - “soot and bones,” as she was called behind her back in secular society. It was she who became the prototype of Consuelo in the novel of the same name by George Sand. Turgenev followed Polina all his life. For her sake, he left his homeland, family, and friends. Leo Tolstoy wrote about this somewhat painful love: “ He's terribly pathetic. He suffers morally in a way that only a person with his imagination can suffer”, “I never thought that he was capable of loving so much...”...
Contemporaries unanimously admitted that she was not a beauty at all. Quite the contrary. The poet Heinrich Heine said that it resembled a landscape, both monstrous and exotic, and one of the artists of that era described it as more than just ugly woman, but brutally ugly. That's exactly how they described it in those days famous singer Pauline Viardot.
Indeed, Viardot’s appearance was far from ideal. She was stooped, with bulging eyes, large, almost masculine features, and a huge mouth. But when "divine Viardot" began to sing, her strange, almost repulsive appearance magically transformed. It seemed that before this, Viardot’s face was just a reflection in a distorting mirror, and only while singing did the audience get to see the original. Well, isn't it a miracle, isn't it a mystery?
This exciting and mysterious woman, attractive as a drug, managed to bind the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev to her for the rest of her life. Their beautiful romance lasted 40 years, dividing the novelist’s entire life into periods before and after meeting Polina.
In the fall of 1843, the Italian Opera toured St. Petersburg. Beaumonde came to look at young talent- Pauline Viardot. Among the spectators was Ivan Turgenev.
They showed The Barber of Seville. Rosina comes out... Stooped, with large features, not very attractive even for an opera diva. But the voice! The famous French composer Camille Saint-Saëns gave the most accurate description: “...Her voice is not velvety and not crystal clear, but rather bitter, like bitter orange...”
Whispers were heard in the hall, men and women discussed the merits and demerits of the singer. And Turgenev, holding his breath, watched her every gesture. From this evening, the writer’s life was divided into before and after this meeting.
« I went today to look at the house where I first had the good fortune to talk to you seven years ago., writes Turgenev in a letter to Polina. - This house is located on Nevsky, opposite Alexandrinsky Theater; your apartment was on the very corner - do you remember? In all my life there are no memories more precious than those that relate to you... I began to respect myself since I carried this treasure within me... and now let me fall at your feet».
Portrait of Pauline Viardot. State Russian Museum.
The writer was so absorbed in his love that he was ready to close his eyes to the fact that his chosen one was a married woman. Moreover, he became friends with her husband, the famous critic and art critic Louis Viardot. By the way, Louis had not paid attention to the “pranks” of his young wife for a long time. This Russian writer was far from the first admirer to whom Madame Viardot showed favor.
Previously, it was believed that the relationship between Viardot and Turgenev was purely platonic. But some facts speak of something completely different (although Pauline Viardot destroyed all the incriminating letters after Turgenev’s death). There are suggestions that the real father of Pauline Viardot’s son, Paul, was Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.
In 1856, he visited Polina in Courtanvel, where he spent several weeks with her. " How happy I am!”- Turgenev wrote to his friends. And nine months after this happiness, Madame Viardot had a son.
True, some researchers believe that Paul’s father could have been her other lover, the artist Arie Scheffer, and even the Prince of Baden, with whom Polina also had an affair at that time. It is interesting that no one included Pauline’s legal husband, Louis Viardot, in this list of potential fathers.
1852-1853 Ivan Turgenev had to spend time on his estate - he found himself in disgrace with the authorities because of a harsh obituary on Gogol’s death. The writer could not find a place for himself; such a long separation from his beloved Polina was driving him crazy. Unexpectedly, he learned that Viardot was going to come to Moscow on tour herself. Turgenev decided to escape from the estate at any cost. For a reward, they helped him make a fake passport, with which the great Russian writer went to Moscow to meet his one and only Polina.
Turgenev was burdened by his position as a “fan and hanger-on.” He even tried to arrange his personal life without Polina. But the writer, who tried to deceive himself, only fooled innocent girls. In 1854, Ivan Sergeevich began to court his cousin's 18-year-old daughter - the hobby quickly faded away.
The same thing happened with Maria Savina, Maria Tolstoy, the sister of the writer Leo Tolstoy, who for the sake of Ivan Sergeevich even divorced her husband - an unheard of thing in those days! Turgenev, having learned about this act of the potential bride, hastened to disappear from her life.
Meanwhile, in Russia, on his parents’ estate, Turgenev’s daughter Pelageya grew up, born from an accidental relationship between a master and a serf. Polina, having learned about this, either as a sign of affection or out of pity, offered to take the girl into her upbringing. Since then, Turgenev was convinced that his beloved was a holy woman. He changed the child's name to Polynet and brought her to Viardot's house. But, as they say, Turgenev’s daughter was never able to love someone else’s woman, whom her father imposed on her as a mother.
This strange family - the Viardots, their children, Ivan Turgenev, his daughter, living practically under the same roof - caused a lot of gossip among respectable Europeans. But Turgenev did not pay attention to this. After all, for him, the most important thing in life was his Polina.
Although Viardot was completely different from Turgenev’s girls, whom her admirer sang in his books. Turgenev almost always consulted with his muse, Polina, about his work. And Viardot herself, without hesitation, asserted: “Not a single work of Turgenev got into print before he showed it to me.”
On September 3, 1883, Turgenev died of cancer in the arms of his already elderly beloved. Polina outlived him by 27 years. After her death, a manuscript of the writer was found entitled “Turgenev. Life for art." They say that from these lines one could learn a lot about it strange romance between the two completely different people. But the manuscript disappeared.
In his works, Turgenev revealed to the reader the world of the Russian nobility, and his female images, the so-called “Turgenev girls,” are considered standard descriptions of Russian noblewomen. link
Turgenev and Polina Viardot.
The year 1843 remained forever memorable for Turgenev not only because it was the first noticeable milestone on his literary path; this year left an indelible mark on his personal life.
In the fall of 1843, an Italian opera came to St. Petersburg, in which the remarkably talented twenty-year-old singer Polina Garcia Viardo performed.
Born into an artistic family, Polina Garcia began her career almost as a child. Already at the end of the thirties, she performed with great success in Brussels and London, and as an eighteen-year-old girl she made her debut on the Parisian opera stage as Desdomona in Verdi’s Otello, and then as Cenerentola in Rossini’s opera.
Russian audiences immediately appreciated Viardot’s intense passion and extraordinary artistic skill, the range of her voice and the ease with which she freely switched from high soprano notes to deep, heart-touching contralto notes.
Having heard Polina Garcia in the role of Rosina for the first time, Turgenev was captivated by her talent and from that day on he did not miss a single performance of the visiting opera.
After some time, his friends and acquaintances told each other that Turgenev was crazy about Viardot’s playing. “He is now completely immersed in Italian opera and, like all enthusiasts, he is very sweet and very funny,” Belinsky wrote to Tatyana Bakunina.
They said that, having learned about her son’s new hobby, Varvara Petrovna attended a concert where Viardot performed, and upon returning home, as if speaking to herself, without addressing anyone, she said: “But I must admit, the damned gypsy sings well!”
Soon Turgenev had the opportunity to go hunting in the company of Pauline Garcia's husband, Louis Viardot, and then he was introduced to the singer herself. Subsequently, Viardot jokingly said that he was introduced to her as a young landowner, an excellent hunter, a good conversationalist and a mediocre poet.
November 1, the day on which this acquaintance took place, remained unforgettable for him forever.
“I have not seen anything in the world better than you... Meeting you on my way was the greatest happiness of my life, my devotion and gratitude has no boundaries and will die only with me,” Turgenev wrote to Pauline Viardot from St. Petersburg.
From adolescence to last days Throughout his life, Turgenev remained faithful to this feeling, sacrificing a lot to it...
On April 30, 1845, Varvara Petrovna wrote from Moscow: “Ivan left here for five days with the Italians, he intends to go abroad with them or for them.”
At the end of the tour in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the Italian opera began to prepare to leave Russia.
The service in the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was all over by this time. On May 10, the ministry sent a foreign passport to the St. Petersburg Governor General “for the retired collegiate secretary Ivan Turgenev, who is going to Germany and Holland to cure his illness.”
Again Kronstadt, then a long-distance steamer, again wind and waves in the boundless expanse of the harsh Baltic Sea...
Was it not because these lands attracted him then that nearby, behind the ridge of mountains, lay the homeland of Polina Garcia?
Then he was in Paris and, apparently, received an invitation to stay at the estate of the Viardot couple, located sixty kilometers southeast of Paris. The place called Courtavnel, with its ancient castle surrounded by moats, a canal, a park, and groves, left an unforgettable impression on Turgenev’s soul.
Upon returning from France, he was again in St. Petersburg, among Belinsky and his friends. Turgenev's literary reputation is strengthening day by day.
Their relationship lasted 40 years. This is probably the longest love story.
In 1878, I.S. Turgenev wrote a poem in prose:
“When I am gone, when everything that was me crumbles to dust - oh you, my only friend, oh you whom I loved so deeply and so tenderly, you who will probably outlive me - do not go to my grave... There’s nothing for you to do there.” This piece is dedicated to Pauline Viardot, a woman romantic love to which Turgenev carried through many years of his life, until his very last breath.
Turgenev met the singer Viardot in 1843, when Viardot was on tour in St. Petersburg. Her full name– Michelle Ferdinanda Pauline Garcia (married Viardot). Polina Garcia was born in Paris into the famous Spanish artistic Garcia family. , at the age of 4 she spoke four languages fluently: French, Spanish, Italian and English. Later she learned Russian and German and studied Greek and Latin. She had a wonderful voice - mezzo-continuous/
Composer G. Berlioz admires her vocal skills. She was friends with the famous French writer George Sand, who at that time was having a stormy affair with the composer F. Chopin. The acquaintance grew into a deep friendship. J. Sand portrayed Polina Garcia in the main character of the novel Consuela. And when the writer and poet Alfred de Musset proposes to Polina, on the advice of J. Sand, Polina refuses him. Soon, again on the advice of J. Sand, Polina accepts the proposal of Louis Viardot, a writer and journalist, a man 20 years older than her. At the beginning of the marriage, Polina was very passionate about her husband, but after some time, J. Sand admitted that her heart was tired of her husband’s expressions of love. A very worthy man in all respects, Louis was the complete opposite of the talented and temperamental Polina. And even J. Sand, who was disposed towards him, found him as dull as a nightcap.
Love of a cursed gypsy
Before her appearance in St. Petersburg, almost nothing was known about her in Russia. Viardot's debut in the opera The Barber of Seville was a promised success. At one of the opera performances, the singer was first seen and heard by the young poet I.S. Turgenev, who served as a collegiate assessor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is in love with Pauline Viardot, in love at first sight. They first met in the house of the poet and literature teacher Major A. Komarov. Viardot herself did not single out Turgenev from many others. Later she wrote: “He was introduced to me with the words: “This is a young Russian landowner, a glorious hunter and a bad poet.” At this time, Turgenev turned 25 years old. Viardot is 22 years old. From that moment on, Polina is the mistress of his heart.
A union of two bright, talented personalities arises. As they get closer, Viardot becomes Ivan Sergeevich's involuntary confessor. He is frank with her. He trusts her with all his secrets. She is the first to read his works in manuscript. She inspires his creativity. It is impossible to talk about Turgenev without mentioning Viardot. It is impossible to talk about Viardot without connection with Turgenev. Turgenev became very close friends with Polina's husband, Louis. Both were passionate hunters
. The mother of Ivan Sergeevich V.P. Turgenev, having overcome her jealousy and hostility towards Polina, went to listen to her singing and find the courage to say: “She sings well, damned gypsy!”
The dynamics of the development of relations between Viardot and Turgenev can only be observed from the letters of Ivan Sergeevich. Viardot's letters to Turgenev have not survived. Viardot removed them from the writer's archive after his death. But even reading letters from only one side, letters from Turgenev, one can feel the strength and depth of his love for this woman. Turgenev writes his first letter immediately after Viardot left Russia in 1844. Correspondence was not established immediately. Apparently, Viardot did not answer carefully and did not give Turgenev freedom of expression. But she did not push him away, she accepted the writer’s love and allowed him to love her, without hiding her feelings. The letters are filled with adoration for Viardot.
Turgenev begins to live her life, her talent. He examines the shortcomings in her work. Advises her to study classical literary subjects, gives advice on improvement German language.
For three years, Turgenev lived in France, being in close communication with the Viardot family and personally with Polina.
In mid-1850, Turgenev was forced to leave for Russia. The writer’s mother was very jealous of her son for the “damned gypsy” (according to some sources, Viardot’s father came from a gypsy family), demanded a break with Viardot and her son’s return home.
At the Spasskoye estate, Turgenev had a very difficult explanation with his mother. As a result, he managed to take away his illegitimate daughter Polina, born from the writer’s relationship with the serf seamstress A.I. Ivanova, from her and send the 8-year-old girl to be raised in the Virado family. In November 1950, Turgenev's mother dies. Ivan Sergeevich is having a hard time experiencing this death. Having familiarized himself with his mother’s diary, Turgenev admires his mother in a letter to Viardot.
Heel on the neck and nose in the dirt
Turgenev's letters to Viardot were translated from French and published during Viardot’s lifetime. Polina herself made a selection of letters for publication. The banknotes are also made by her. As a result, love almost disappeared from the letters; the letters retained only the mood of warm friendly relations between the two, well knowledgeable friend people's friend. The letters are published in full and without cuts immediately after Viardot’s death. Many of them have inserts in German. There is reason to believe that Louis, Polina’s husband, read Turgenev’s letters to his wife and Turgenev knew about this, but at the same time Louis did not know German at all. Turgenev writes: “Please allow me, as a sign of forgiveness, to passionately kiss these dear feet, to which my whole soul belongs... At your dear feet I want to live and die forever. I kiss you for hours and remain your friend forever.”
1854-1855 was a strange break in Turgenev’s letters to Viardot. Most likely the reason is that Ivan Sergeevich is trying to arrange his personal life. Turgenev is carried away by his distant relative Olga Alexandrovna Turgeneva. Turgenev often visited her father's house. She was a meek and attractive girl, the goddaughter of V. Zhukovsky, a musician. In 1854 she turned 18 years old. They became very close. and Ivan Sergeevich thought about making an offer to Turgeneva. But, as Turgenev’s friend P.V. Annenkov recalled, this relationship did not last long and died out peacefully. But for Olga Alexandrovna the breakup was a heavy blow - she fell ill and could not recover from the shock for a long time. Then she married S.N. Somov and died, leaving several children. Turgenev was very sad about her death.
On the edge of someone else's nest
Of course, Viardot was not the woman who was capable of surrounding Turgenev with the atmosphere of tenderness that he so needed. But Turgenev’s love and communication with him were necessary for Viardot. Turgenev's constant presence was not a burden for her or a satisfaction to her vanity. Such an independent, strong, somewhat unbridled nature would not be able to bear next to her a person who loved her if she were indifferent to him. And Turgenev himself would hardly have tolerated the constant humiliation of one-sided love.
Your love for Viardo Turgenev transfers to her entire family. He speaks with such love in his letters about Viardot’s daughters Claudia and Marianne that some researchers, not without reason, argued that these two daughters were writers. And in Marianna’s appearance one could find Turgenev’s Oryol traits. However, simple chronological comparisons show that these speculations are not confirmed.
In the spring of 1857, another cooling of relations between Turgenev and Viardot began. She noticeably moves away from Turgenev; he writes a letter to the poet N.A. Nekrasov that it is impossible to live like this: “It’s enough to sit on the edge of someone else’s nest. If you don’t have your own, you don’t need any.” It is not known exactly what caused the cooling of relations. Although it is known that Viardot was advised to break off relations with Turgenev by her husband, as well as by her long-term friend A. Sheffer. From Viardot's letters to Yu. Rits it is clear. That this decision was not given to her without difficulty.
There is no correspondence between him and Viardot in 1861. In 1862, relations were renewed - the Viardot family came to Baden-Baden to buy a house - Turgenev joined them. Viardot comes to Baden-Baden to buy a house - Turgenev joins them. The Viardots buy a house in this resort area. There are an abundance of forests and mountains all around. Russians occupy a prominent place among vacationers. Here Viardot's husband could be treated on the waters, and in the Schwardwald forests and mountain meadows there was excellent hunting: quails, hares, pheasants and even boars were found.
In Baden-Baden, Turgenev settled near the Villa Viardot. Ivan Sergeevich lived the last 20 years of his life abroad, becoming a member of the Viardot family. In 1863, Viardot said goodbye to big stage, although at 43 she is full of energy and charm, and her villa becomes a music center where celebrities gather, where Polina sings and also accompanies on the piano.
During the summer the Viardots rented a dacha in Bougival. The white villa was located on a hill, surrounded by old trees, a fountain, and streams of spring water running through the grass. Somewhat higher than the villa stood Turgenev’s elegant two-story chalet house, decorated with wooden carvings, decorated along the foundation with growing flowers. After classes with her students, Viardot walked with Turgenev in the park, they discussed what he had written, and she never hid her opinion about his work. Turgenev’s story about life in France, recorded by L.N., dates back to this time. Maykov, where the writer says: “I love family, family life, but I was not destined to create my own family, and I attached myself, became part of someone else’s family... There they look at me not as a writer, but as a person, and among her I feel calm and warm...” Of course, Viardot cannot be blamed for tearing Turgenev away from his homeland. This is wrong. Love for Viardot forced the writer to live abroad. As long as Viardot could maintain the energy of literary creativity in him
Let them talk...
The Paris-Bougivles period of the writer’s life can be called a quiet haven recent years Turgenev's life.
Viardot's house became his home too
Previous quarrels, conflicts and misunderstandings have been overcome. Friendship and love strengthened, Turgenev’s loyalty to Viardot received a well-deserved reward, but at the same time Turgenev’s soul remained divided, tormented by hopeless contradictions. Against this background, he experienced fits of despondency. So in a letter to Polonsky in 1877, Turgenev wrote: “Midnight. I’m sitting at my desk again... Downstairs my poor friend is singing something in her completely broken voice... and it’s darker for me dark night. Turgenev's health is deteriorating - he suffers from frequent attacks of gout. J. Sand dies. It was a strong experience for both Viardot and Turgenev. Louis Viardot was very ill and decrepit. Doctors treated Turgenev for angina pectoris for a long time, attributing to him fresh air and a dairy diet, but in fact he had spinal cancer. When the outcome of the illness became clear, Viardot, wanting to save Turgenev from overwork, began to protect the writer in every possible way, not allowing visitors to see him. When he came to Turgenev at the beginning of 1883 French writer A. Daudet, then Viardot’s house was all in flowers and singing, but Turgenev went down to the first floor in art gallery with great difficulty. Louis Viardot was also there. Turgenev smiled, surrounded by the works of Russian artists. In April 1883, the writer was transported to Bougival. Turgenev was carried down the stairs and the dying L. Viardot was rolled towards him in a chair. They shook hands - two weeks later Viardot died. After the death of Louis, all the attention of P. Viardot was directed to Turgenev.
In the summer, Turgenev's health improved slightly. He was still surrounded with warmth and care by members of the Viardot family. The bedridden writer asked to move his bed to the office: he could now see the sky and greenery, and most importantly, he could see Villa Viardot further down the slope. But already in June, the hopelessness of the sick Turgenev’s situation became clear to the doctors. In mid-August, Turgenev had renewed attacks of terrible pain. Dying was difficult, he lay all weakened, soaked in morphine and opium. In his delirium, he spoke only Russian, Polina, her two daughters and two nurses were constantly with the dying writer. Shortly before his death, he recognized Viardot leaning over him. He perked up and said: “Here is the queen of queens, how much good she has done.” Turgenev died in early September. Viardot is in despair. She writes L. Pichu two letters that breathe grief. She promises to be in mourning until the end of her days. “No one knew him like we did, and no one will mourn him for so long,” wrote Viardot’s daughter Marianne.
Turgenev's body was placed in a lead coffin, transported to Paris and placed in the basement of a Russian church. A lot of people gathered at the funeral service on September 7. On September 19, the writer’s warmth was sent to Russia. Viardot sent two daughters to the funeral - Claudia and Marianne. A grand funeral took place on September 27 at the Volkov cemetery in St. Petersburg. The first time after Turgenev's death, Viardot was so broken that she did not even leave the house. As the people around her recall, it was impossible to look at Viardot without pity. Having recovered a little, she constantly reduced all conversations to Turgenev, rarely mentioning her recently deceased husband. After some time, the artist A.P. Bogolyubov visited her and the singer told him very important words for understanding her relationship with Turgenev:
“...we understood each other too well to care what they said about us, for our mutual position was recognized as legitimate by those who knew and appreciated us. If the Russians value the name of Turgenev, then I can proudly say that the name of Viardot, compared with it, does not detract from it in any way ... "
After Turgenev's death, Viardot moved to another apartment. She covered the living room walls with portraits of living and dead friends. In the place of honor she placed a portrait of Turgenev. From 1883 until the end of her life, she wrote letters on paper with a mourning border and sealed them in mourning envelopes. Two wills of Turgenev were read out - according to one of them, he left Viardot all his movable property, according to the other, the right to all his published and unpublished works.
After the death of Pauline Viardot, a manuscript by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was found in her table, which was called “Turgenev. Life for art." They say that it was about how these two loving each other a person melted all his feelings, thoughts, suffering, wanderings of restless souls into art. Roman is missing. Throughout the 20th century they tried to find it in European countries. And not only Europe. But so far no success...
