St. Petersburg Further reading 

St. Petersburg's place in Russian culture

Petersburg reminds the lover of Russian literature of many scenes from the past, recalling Pushkin and the Decembrists, Nekrasov and Saltykov-Shchedrin, Alexander Blok and the poets of the silver age. There are, however, many other reminders of an abundant creativity in this city, when one thinks of the ballet, the composers, the orchestras, the painters, the scientists who have made their mark here, under whatever name - St Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad, and now once more St-Petersburg.

Over the 150 years, sparkled by this reign of Catherine the Great. Saint-Petersburg became the host to Russia�s Golden Age and a Mecca to some of the world�s greatest composers, dancers, artists, and writers. As the catalyst for Russia�s renaissance, Petersburg flowered in the music of Tchaikovsky, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov; in the ballets Russes of Diaghilev, Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova; in the arts and crafts of Repin, Benuas and Faberge; and in the literature and poetry of Gogol, Dostoevsky and Pushkin. St. Petersburg�s noble spirit was founded on beauty, innovation and progress.

Great names of Russian literature

By 1734, in the reign of the empress Elizabeth, Petersburg had already become the home for Russia's first 'modern' poet, Mikhail Lomonosov. Born a poor fisherman�s son near Archangel, his career was an illustration of the radical effect of Peter�s reforms on life in Russia. After being sent abroad from the capital to study science in Marburg, he returned to become professor of chemistry at Petersburg, while undertaking the reform and revitalization of the Russian literary language. With Catherine the Great's accession in 1762, writers received encouragement from a ruler who was herself a considerable author.

The comedies of Denis Fonvisin (originally von Wisin) satirized many ills of the time, while Gabriel Derzhavin was appointed poet laureate to the empress. The last seven years of Catherine�s reign were overshadowed by the French revolution, to which she responded by drastically tightening censorship and imprisoning Alexander Radishchev, who dared to attack the evils of serfdom in his book, 'A Journey from St Petersburg to Moscow'. The anti-liberal policies of the aging empress were reinforced by her successor against 'revolutionary infusion' from abroad. The 'window on to Europe' was to be slammed and bolted. At the end of the century, however, it was 'Letters of a Russian Traveler' by Karamzin - with Vladimir Shukovski, the joint heralds of the romantic movement in Russian literature which opened readers' eyes to the nature of Western Europe and its society. In the hopeful atmosphere at the start of the young Alexander I�s reign, Karamzin published a monthly magazine, the European 'Vyestnik' or 'Messenger', which kept Russian readers abreast of the latest that was going on in the West.

A sense of nationality had been fostered by Poland, Hungary and other parts of central and Eastern Europe. The events which led Russian armies across Europe as far as Paris left their mark on educated members of the officer class, as they experienced for themselves the Europe they had read about in Karamzin. These were men who in 1815 were returning home inspired by ideals of humanity, education and freedom. But a change had come over the Tsar, and Alexander spent the last ten years of his reign campaigning against all forms of change, reform or innovation. The response of the progressives was to form secret societies that would work in favor of change in Russia. Poets friendly with Alexander Pushkin, like Ryleyev, Bestuzhev, Kuchelbecker and others kept him in the dark about the activities of these organizations, so as not to risk incriminating him. After the death of Alexander 1 in December 1825, young officers in Petersburg staged a doomed rebellion against his successor, Nicholas I.

This cost Ryleyev and four others their lives, and many others their freedom or domicile. In the course of the ensuing coronation ceremony, the new Tsar asked Pushkin what he would have done on that December day had he been in Petersburg at the time. If he had been able to answer honestly Pushkin would have had to admit that he should have been standing alongside the insurgents on the Senate square. His whole previous life pointed that way. While still 21, Pushkin was ordered away to south Russia on account of the 'over-free tone' of his poems, and later banished to his mother's estate.

Although allowed to return to Petersburg in 1827, and to attend the imperial court at Moscow, he was placed under the personal supervision of the tsar. Between now and 1831, he began publishing the eight parts of the novel-in-verse, 'Eugene Onegin', vividly descriptive of contemporary life and manners in the capital and the countryside. Pushkin's later works, among them the play of 'Boris Godunov', the 'History of Pugachov's Uprising' and 'The Captains Daughter', were also published in Petersburg. His influence on the development of Russian as a literary language was immense, and he was worshipped like a hero by a huge readership. He began work on a biography of Peter the Great, whose inner contradictions he scotched out in the poem, "The Bronze Horseman. His descriptions of Petersburg there and elsewhere are magnificent. He died of wounds from a duel in which he had been embroiled through gossip at the imperial court. The loss of Pushkin inspired the powerful and bitter work by Mikhail Lermontov, 'Ode on the Death of Pushkin', on account of which the young poet was dispatched from his regiment to serve in the Caucasus. There, in 1841, aged 27, Lermontov in his turn died in a duel. His works, among them 'The Demon', The Novice' and A Hero of Our Time', rank him next to Pushkin as Russia's greatest poets.

Pushkin's circle in Petersburg had included Nikolai Gogol, the master of Russian prose, and the playwright Alexander Griboedov; both of whom portrayed the social life of the capita). Another contemporary resident was Krylov of the 'Fables', making this the golden age of Russian poetry. Severe censorship and personal interference by both the tsar and the head of police, Benckendorf, led many writers during the 1840s and the early 1850s to prefer life in Moscow to living close to the center of power at Petersburg. The Tsarist system suppressed all forms of political activity, and literature took the place of politics as the field in which lively minds could engage with the social issues of die time. At this time - with the split between 'Slavophiles' and 'Zapadniki' or �westernizes� two conflicting streams of" thought about Russia's future emerged.

From the end of the 1840s, the literary role of Petersburg was upheld in the face of all restrictions by the most-read critical magazine 'Sovrimmenik' ('The Contemporary'), through the writings of Nikolai Nekrasov, the journalism of Vissarion Belinsky and the criticism of Nikolai Dobrolyubov and Nikolai Chernyshevsky. Nekrasov mirrors for us in verse the widely felt public responses to the changes that followed the death of Nicholas I in 1855- Of all the Great Russian novelists, none was more intimately identified with Petersburg than Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who described intimately the city he lived in. To this day, the actual locations in his novels 'Poor Folk', 'White Nights', 'Crime and Punishment' and others are pointed out to visitors.

Other writers living in Petersburg around the same time were the satirist Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, the lyric poet Fyodor Tyutchev and the author of unmatched descriptions of everyday Russian life, Nikolai Leskov. The years from the end of the nineteenth century up to the First World War were a silver age of Russian writing in Petersburg, Whether to damn of to glorify Peter the Great's creation, there were Dmitry Merezhkovski and Zinaida Hippius, Alexander Blok and Andrei Beliy, Alexei Tolstoy, Vyacheslav Ivanov and Osip Mandelshtam. The period was one in which a relatively mild political atmosphere bred tolerance, a lively involvement with cultural developments in the test of Europe and an outbreak of simultaneous creativity in all forms of art.

Several new avant-garde movements were proclaimed, such as Symbolism, Acmeism, and even something called Ego-Futurism (Igor Severyanin). The emigration of so many intellectuals and writers From Petrograd after the Revolution or during the civil war gave rise to a nostalgic literature-in-exile in which a sense of loss was consoled by picturing Petersburg / Petrograd as it had been in the old days. Those writers who stayed behind had to put up with guidance' and 'coaching' by the Party. Many fell foul of the secret police, the best known being Mandelshtam, who died in the Gulag, Sergei Esenin, who committed suicide in the city, and Anna Akhmatova. The latter not only evoked pre-revolutionary Petersburg but recorded the suffering of the years of Stalinist repression. During the long wartime siege of Leningrad, the 'voice of the dry', Olga Berggolts, regularly reading her own verse on the radio, helped to raise the spirits of the population. When Stalin and Zhdanov launched the campaign against intellectuals in 1946, two of the first victims to be targeted by the Party were Anna Akhmatova and the popular satirist, Mikhail Zoschenko.

For a quick reference to some of the great St. Petersburg artists click on the name below or continue this historical summary.

Great Names of Russian Ballet

Pavlova, Anna Pavlovna
Grigorovich, Yuri Nikolayevich
Kseshinskaya, Mathilde-Maria Feliksovna
Preobrazhenskaya, Olga Yosifovna
Sergeyev, Nicholai Grigoryevich
Sergeyev, Konstantin Mikhailovich
Ulanova Galina Sergeyevna
Vaganova, Agrippina Yakovlevna
Nijinsky, Vatslav

Anna Pavlova
(b. Jan. 31, 1881, St. Petersburg, Russia--d. Jan. 23, 1931, Hague, Holland)

Pavlova was a premature birth on 31 January 1881 in a suburb of St. Petersburg and as a child was often ill, suffering from measles, diphtheria and scarlet fever. Her mother took little Anna to a performance of �The Sleeping Beauty� at the Mariinsky Theatre (home of the Kirov Ballet) and the child resolved that some day she herself would be the beautiful princess Aurora (it was a time when Tsar of Russia maintained magnificent Imperial Schools for the performing Arts). She had to wait several years, till 1891, before the imperial School of the Mariinsky Ballet would accept her, and even then her weak feet, poor turn-out, scrawny body and bad placement made her ballet career seem dubious. Pavlova was also said to be shy, unsociable, introverted and therefore without many friends.

Nevertheless Anna proved to be an exceptional student. Enrico Cecchetti was her main teacher. Anna Pavlova graduated from the Mariinsky School not long after the invasion of the virtuoso Italian ballerinas - Legnani, Zucchi et. al. had mastered multiple fuettes and other technical �tricks� that diminished the public desire for lyrical Romanticism and created a demand for the muscular Italian style. Pavlova hadn�t the strength for it; her delicate, highly arched feet were too weak for the flamboyant pointy-work coming into vogue.

But ultimately Pavlova made such a virtue of her over-arched feet that critics said they represented their yearnings of the Russian soul. She cleverly devised a shank and platform for her pointy shoes that conserved her energy and let her balance in arabesque until the audience was breathless. She took advantage of what she did have: extension, balloon, a pliable torso, feminine delicacy, tremendous expressiveness and she worked extremely hard, studying with Gerdt, Christian Johannsen, Nicholas Legat, Catarina Beretta and the great Petipa himself. In the end she triumphed.

�Leave acrobatics to others, Anna... It is positively more than I can bear to see the pressure such steps put upon your delicate muscles and the arch of your foot... I beg you never to try again to imitate those who are physically stronger than you. You must realize that your daintiness and fragility are your greatest assets. You should always do the kind of dancing, which brings out your own rare qualities instead of trying to win praise by mere acrobatic tricks�....

Thus was young Anna Pavlova admonished by one of her teachers, Pavel Gerdt. She followed this good advice and became a legend - indisputably one of the great ballerinas of the twentieth century and also one of ballet�s most influential ambassadors. Pavlova�s emotional, expressive, ecstatic style thrilled audiences all over the world, despite it�s lack of showy, virtuosic technique. In fact Pavlova didn�t have a lot of technique; her famous feet were actually quite weak. But she had passion, a complete commitment to her art and the power to communicate through movement.

At a time when fuettes were fashionable but Romanticism was not, when strong, meaty Italian ballerinas were favored and thin, dainty Russian girls weren�t, Pavlova resurrected the ethereal, delicate qualities of the Romantic ballerina and combined them with her enormously expressive style. Anna first appeared on the stage of the Maryinsky Theater and by 1907 had become a star and a prima Ballerina, but that was just the prelude. Her need for artistic independence, the freedom to pursue her very individual style and to dance new and different work, as well as her need to have the spotlight all to herself led her to a solo touring career. So she took it on the road, traveling Stockholm to Berlin in 1907, and made her American debut in New York in January of 1910 with Mikhail Mordkin at the MET. She also danced with Diaghilev�s Ballets Russes but not for long. She may have had doubts that company could succeed, she may have been unable to bear Diaghilev�s notorious authoritarianism or she may have hated sharing the glory with the famous Nijinsky, the male star of the troupe. In 1913 Pavlova left Russia, dancing with her own company, never to return. Once she left the Imperial ballet in 1913, her frontiers were extended. Anna traveled for the rest of her life, with various partners (including Laurent Novikov ad Pierre Vladimirov) and companies. She did more for the American Ballet that any other one person, for millions of people at the time, Pavlova was the only time they ever heard the name Ballet.

Anna Pavlova danced in the every part of the world and in one of her visits to the USA, she traveled over twenty six thousand miles, performing each day in each town for six month. Her performing schedule was so hectic that she went through a dozen pairs of the shoes each week. She lived most of her life on trains and hotels. All together Pavlova toured for over twenty years.

Anna was a wandering missionary for her art, giving a vast number of people their introduction to ballet. Whatever the limitations of the rest of the company, which inevitably was largely a well-trained, dedicated band of young disciples, Pavlova�s own performances left those who watched them with lasting memory of disciplined grace, poetic movement, and incarnate magic. Her quality was, above all, the powerful and elusive one of true glamour.

Pavlova�s independent tours, which began 1914, took her, as said earlier, to remote parts of the world. These tours were managed by her husband, Victor Dandro. The repertoire of Anna Pavlova�s company was in large part conventional. They danced excerpts or adaptations of Maryinsky successes such as Don Quixote, The Fairy Doll, or Giselle, of which she was an outstanding interpreter. The most famous numbers, however, were the succession of ephemeral solos, which were endowed by her with an inimitable enchantment: The Dragonfly, Californian Poppy, Gavotte, and Christmas are names that lingered in the thoughts of her audiences, together with her single choreographic endeavor, Autumn Leaves (1918). She also danced many folk dances of the time and the Pavlova Gavotte was named after her. Pavlova and Max Rabinoff created and danced the Czarina Waltz as a social dance. �She was great, because she was Pavlova�. No dancer, before or since, traveled as extensively: 350 000 miles in fifteen years - and this was long before people used airplanes for traveling. She introduced ballet to remote crevices of the world and inspired ballet-mania thousands of miles from her native Russia. Sir Frederick Ashton, the brilliant choreographer and director of England�s Royal Ballet, became a dancer because he was smitten by the performances he saw Pavlova give when he was a boy - in Lima, Peru.

Pavlova excelled in the repertory at the Maryinsky, especially in La Bayadere, Giselle, Le Corsair and Don Quixote, but dancing the choreography of Mickail Fokin is what made her immortal. Les Sylphides (also known as Chopiniana), showcased Pavlova�s exquisite Romantic-style lyricism. The Dying Swan went even further. Quickly choreographed as a piece d�occasion, The Dying Swan is technically just a matter or bourres and highly stylized port-de-bras meant to evoke the last moments in the life of a swan. The dancer, alone on stage in her spotlight, bourres forward and back, torso bending expressively, arms extended in a non-stop, soft-elbowed bird-like fluttering until she gracefully expires usually in a seated pose with one leg outstretched and her upper body bent over it. The Dying Swan is an easy target for satire - sentimental, even melodramatic - but when done well it has the power to be very moving.

Pavlova�s enthusiasm for ethic dances was reflected in her programs. Polish, Russian, and Mexican dances were performed. Her visits to India and Japan led her to a serious study of their dance techniques. She compiled these studies into Oriental Impressions, collaborating on the Indian scenes with Uday Shankar, later to become one of the greatest performers of Indian dance, and in this way playing an important part in the renaissance of the dance in India.

Pavlova�s personal life was non-dramatic apart from occasional professional headlines, as when, in 1911, she quarreled with Mordkin. For some time she kept secret her marriage to her manager Victor Dandro (some say they never married despite Victor asking her to marry). There were no children; her maternal instincts spent themselves on her company and on a home for Russian refugee orphans, which she founded in Paris in 1920. She loved birds and animals, and her home in London, Ivy House, Hempstead, became famous for the ornamental lake with swans, beside which she was photographed and filmed, recalling her most famous solo, The Dying Swan, which the choreographer Michel Fokin had created for her in 1905. These film sequences are among the few extant of her and are included in a compilation called the Immortal Swan, together with some extracts from her solos filmed one afternoon in Hollywood, in 1924, by the actor Douglas Fairbanks.

Toward the end she had to compromise by cutting difficult sections and performing only the less demanding pieces, relying on her unique qualities of personality. One of her methods for conserving stamina was to modify her pointy shoe to make it easier to balance. It was considered cheating at the time, but actually it was the first modern pointy shoe and no ballerina today would even attempt toe-work without its Equivalent. Pavlova took soft pointy shoes that were too big, inserted a piece of leather under the metatarsal for support and pounded down the platform to make it bigger and flatter. She would then darn it so it would hold its shape. However, the always image-conscious Pavlova wanted to appear as if daintily dancing on only the tiniest little pointed tip of a slipper, so she scrupulously retouched all photographs of herself to remove the broad platform of the shoe.

In 1931 she contracted pleurisy. Doctors could have saved her life with an operation that would have damaged her ribs and left her unable to perform. Pavlova chose to die rather than give up dancing. As she lay dying she is reported to have opened her eyes, raised her hand and utters these last words: �Get my swan costume ready�.

Anna died of pneumonia on 23 January, 1931. A few days later, at show time at the theatre where she was to have performed The Dying Swan, the house lights dimmed, the curtain rose, and while the orchestra played Saint-Sans familiar score, a spotlight moved around the empty stage as if searching in the places where Pavlova would have been.

In her own words: �What exactly is success? For me it is to be found not in applause, but in the satisfaction of feeling that one is realizing one�s ideal. When, a small child rambling over there by the fir trees, I thought that success spelled happiness. I was wrong. Happiness is like a butterfly which appears and delights us for one brief moment, but soon flits away.

Grigorovich, Yuri Nikolayevich
(b. Jan. 2, 1927, Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], Russia, Soviet Union)

Soviet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1962 to 1995. Grigorovich graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1946 and joined the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet, specializing in demi-caricature roles. He is best known, however, as a choreographer. The Stone Flower (1957) was one of his earliest successes at the Kirov, and two years later he remounted it for the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. In 1962 Grigorovich became the Kirov's ballet master; two years later he was appointed chief choreographer and artistic director of the Bolshoi. Grigorovich's productions at the Bolshoi included The Sleeping Beauty (1965), The Nutcracker (1966), Spartacus (1968), Swan Lake (1969), Ivan the Terrible (1975), and Angara (1976).

Grigorovich was named People's Artist of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1966), and he received the Lenin Prize (1970) and the State Prize (1977). He was also the editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Ballet. In 1995 Grigorovich was forced to resign his post with the Bolshoi amidst charges that he had allowed the company to become artistically stagnant during the last decade of his long tenure.

Kseshinskaya, Mathilde
(b. Aug. 19 [Aug. 31, New Style], 1872, Ligovo, near Peterhof [now Petrodvorets], Russia--d. Dec. 7, 1971, Paris, France)

Kseshinskaya, also spelled KSHESSINSKA, Russian in full: MATHILDA-MARIA FELIKSOVNA KSHESINSKAYA. Prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the first Russian dancer to master 32 consecutive fouettes en tournant ("whipped turns" done in place and on one leg), a feat previously performed only by Italian dancers and considered in that era the supreme achievement in dance technique. Kseshinskaya studied under Christian Johansson and Enrico Cecchetti at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, graduated in 1890, and joined the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1895 she became prima ballerina assoluta, a title awarded by the Imperial Ballet to only one other dancer, the Italian Pierina Legnani. Kseshinskaya interpreted major roles in Cinderella, La Sylphide, Esmeralda, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty. In 1911 she danced in London with Vaslav Nijinsky in Swan Lake for Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

Kseshinskaya was a close friend of both Nicholas II, who was executed in 1918, and his cousin the grand duke Andre, whom she married in 1921. She left Russia in 1920 and, for 30 years, taught in Paris; her pupils included Tatiana Riabouchinskaya and Margot Fonteyn. Her autobiography is Souvenirs de la Kseshinskaya (1960; Dancing in Petersburg: The Memoirs of Kseshinskaya).

Preobrazhenskaya, Olga
(b. Jan. 21, 1871, St. Petersburg, Russia--d. Dec. 27, 1962, near Paris)

Russian in full OLGA YOSIFOVNA PREOBRAZHENSKAYA, prima ballerina and teacher who, through her studio in Paris, transmitted the elegant, refined style and classic technique of the Imperial Russian Ballet to innumerable 20th-century dancers. A member of the Mariinsky Theatre for 25 years, she danced in more than 700 performances, winning praise for her precise technique and lyrical interpretations. Her extensive repertoire included leading roles in Coppelia, La Fille mal gardee, Esmeralda, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Les Sylphides. She began her training at the Imperial Ballet School in 1879; studied with such teachers as Enrico Cecchetti, Christian Johansson, and Nicholas Legat; and graduated and joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 1889, earning the title prima ballerina in 1900. She toured extensively in the early 1900s, making guest appearances throughout Europe. She taught at the State School in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) from 1917 until 1921 and at the Studio Wacker in Paris from 1924 until 1960, where her pupils included Irina Baronova, Tamara Toumanova, Tatiana Riabouchinskaya (the three "baby ballerinas" of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo), Igor Youskevitch, Milorad Miskovitch, and Margot Fonteyn.

Sergeyev, Nicholas
(b. Sept. 15, 1876, St. Petersburg, Russia--d. June 23, 1951, Nice, Fr.)

Sergeyev also spelled SERGUEEFF, Russian in full NIKOLAY GRIGORYEVICH SERGEYEV, or SERGEEV, Russian dancer and company manager of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, who re-created for several western European companies the many classical ballets that had been preserved in the Russian repertoire. Trained at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, Sergeyev joined the company in 1894 and was promoted to soloist and regisseur, or stage manager, in 1904 and regisseur-general in 1914. He became unpopular with the dancers for what they considered his dictatorial control of the company, and he left Russia in 1918 with choreography for 21 ballets recorded in Stepanoff dance notation, a system used by the Imperial Ballet at the end of the 19th century. Since many of the classical ballets had not been consistently included in western European repertoires, Sergeyev was instrumental in re-creating for various companies such ballets as La Fille mal gardee, Giselle, Coppelia, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.

Beginning in 1921, Sergeyev worked with Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the Markova-Dolin company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, but principally with Sadler's Wells (now the Royal) Ballet and with the International Ballet, whose director, Mona Inglesby, inherited Sergeyev's notes after his death. The Stepanoff scores are now housed in the Harvard Theater Collection.

Sergeyev, Konstantin Mikhailovich
(b. Feb. 20 [March 5, New Style], 1910, St. Petersburg, Russia--d. April 1, 1992, St. Petersburg)

Russian ballet dancer and director long associated with the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet as a premier danseur (1930-61) and as both artistic director and chief choreographer (1951-55; 1960 - 70). In 1930 Sergeyev completed his studies with the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Kirov was added to the name in 1935; now called the Mariinsky Theatre) and joined the company. He quickly rose to leading roles in the standard repertory and in new ballets, notably Fountain of Bakhchisaray, Lost Illusions, and The Bronze Horseman. After his acclaimed partner Galina Ulanova transferred to the Bolshoi Ballet in 1944, he danced with Natalya Dudinskaya, whom he married. As a performer he was much admired for his lyrical interpretation of romantic leading roles. As director he focused mainly on classical ballet techniques in the standards but also staged such new productions as Hamlet (1970). He was dismissed from the Kirov in 1970 after company member Natalya Makarova defected while on tour in Britain, but he was reinstated as director of the choreographic school in 1973. Sergeyev was awarded numerous state honours, including the Lenin Prize (1970).

Ulanova, Galina Sergeyevna
(b. Jan. 10, 1910, St. Petersburg, Russia)

First prima ballerina assoluta of the Soviet Union and a People's Artist of the Republic. The daughter of dancers Sergey Ulanov and Marie Romanova of the Mariinsky Theatre (called the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet during the Soviet period), Ulanova was trained in the Leningrad State School of Choreography, where she studied under Agrippina Vaganova. After graduation she joined the Kirov Theatre, where her first major creation was the role of Maria in R.V. Zakharov's Fountain of Bakhchisaray (1934). Another important creation in L.M. Lavrovsky's Romeo and Juliet (1940) displayed her skill as a dramatic dancer. She also excelled in such classical ballets as Giselle and Swan Lake.

In 1944 Ulanova was transferred to the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. Her first appearance outside the Soviet Union was in Florence in 1951. She danced with the Bolshoi company at the Royal Opera House, London, in 1956, gaining immediate popularity, and also performed with the Bolshoi in several other countries. She made her American debut with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1959, winning accolades for Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. Her performances in films of the Bolshoi Ballet did much to increase world interest in ballet. A lyrical dancer in the tradition of Anna Pavlova, Ulanova was considered the embodiment of the Soviet school of ballet. Appearing only occasionally after 1959 and retiring about 1963, she coached young dancers (notably the ballerina Yekaterina Maksimova in Giselle), served as ballet mistress of the Bolshoi Theatre, and occasionally wrote dance articles for Soviet journals.

Vaganova, Agrippina Yakovlevna
(b. July 6 [June 24, old style], 1879, St. Petersburg, Russia--d. Nov. 5, 1951, Leningrad)

Ballerina and teacher who developed a technique and system of instruction based on the classic style of the Imperial Russian Ballet but which also incorporated aspects of the more vigorous, acrobatic Soviet ballet developed after the Revolution. Her pupils included such outstanding dancers as Marina Semenova, Natalia Dudinskaya, and Galina Ulanova. Vaganova was herself a student of outstanding teachers, and she also learned from observing Enrico Cecchetti and his student the prima ballerina Olga Preobrajenska.

Upon graduation in 1897 from the Russian Imperial School of Ballet, St. Petersburg, she joined the Mariinsky Theatre, where she became known as "queen of variations" for her soaring leaps and brilliant footwork. Although she danced the ballerina roles of Odette-Odile (Swan Lake), the Tsar Maiden (The Humpbacked Horse), and the Mazurka (Chopiniana), she was not given official ballerina ranking until 1915, two years before her retirement from the stage.

Vaganova began her teaching career after the Revolution and in 1921 joined the Leningrad Khorteknikum (formerly the Imperial Ballet School), becoming its director in 1934. She also trained teachers at the Leningrad Ballet School (1934-41) and the Leningrad Conservatory (1946-51), where she was appointed professor. Her teaching system emphasized harmony and coordination of all parts of the body but particularly developed the back, enabling her students to make soaring leaps and maneuver while in the air.

She staged many ballets for the Mariinsky company (called the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet during the Soviet period), notably Swan Lake (1933), with Galina Ulanova as Odette-Odile. In 1936 she was made Peoples' Artist of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. Her writings include a collection of memoirs and letters, Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova (1958), and the widely used textbook, Fundamentals of the Classic Dance (1934), which has been translated into many languages, including an English version by Anatoliy Chujoy (1946).

Vatslav Nijinskiy
(b. Feb. 28, 1889, St. Petersburg, Russia--d. Apr. 8, 1950, London, England)

Vatslav Nijinskiy was born on February 28, 1889 in the family of the Polish dancers. In 1900 had entered the Petersburg choreographic school and after graduation is accepted in the troupe of Mariinskiy theatre. Acquaintance with young Michael Fokin, their maiden joint experiences - ballets "Chopeniana" and " Egyptian night ". Meeting with Sergei Diaghilev.

1911, April 6 - opening of Dyagilev�s seasons in Paris. Brilliant success of Nijinskiy in "Parsley" and "vision of a rose "
1912 - maiden independent productions. A choreographic miniature on Debussie music "Afternoon rest of favn ".
1913 - marriage to Hungarian dancer Romole Pulska. The maiden breaking with Dyagilev. Attempt to create the troupe. 1914 birth of the daughter, Kira.

In the beginning of the World War I Nijinskiy with family interned in Hungary. The beginning of his illness refers to this period. In January 1916 moves to Vienna. April 16 - January 17: performances with Diaghilev�s troupe in USA. 1917 - season in South America. September 26 - final performance of Diaghilev�s troupe.

January 19, 1919 - last public speech of Nijinskiy in the San-Mortiz (Switzerland). The illness progresses, the mania of persecution develops. Triply, in 1922, 1924 and 1929 Diaghilev makes attempts to return Nijinskiy to ballet. The journeys to the best clinics and sanatoriums for the insanes.

April 8, 1950. Nijinskiy had died in one of the London hotels. June 16, 1953 his ashes were transported to Paris and buried at the cemetery of Monmatre.

Russian Painters, Artists and Craftsmen

Alexander Brulloff, Painter and Architect

Alexander Brulloff (Brullo until 1822, when the family name was changed according to Russian pronunciation) was a prominent architect, but also a very talented artist. Among others, he designed and built the following buildings in St. Petersburg: Mikhaylovskiy Theater (now Maliy Theater, 1831 - 1833), Lutheran Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (1833-1838), Pulkov Observatory (1834-1839), the Headquarters of Guard Corps on Palace Square (1837-1843). He was the elder brother of great Russian painter Karl Brulloff and was born in 1798 in St. Petersburg into the family of painters: his great grand-father, his grand-father, his father and his brothers were artists. His first teacher was his father Paul Brulloff. He attended the Academy of Arts' architect class in 1810 - 1820 and graduated with honors. Along with his brother, Karl, he was sent to Europe to study art and architecture as a pensioner of the Society for the Promotion of Artists.

Alexander Brulloff spent 8 years abroad since 1822 till 1830, in Italy, Germany and France, studying architecture and art. He painted a lot of watercolor portraits at that time. Among the best were the portraits of V. A. Perovsky (1824), C. P. Bakunina (1830-1832), I. A. Capo D'Istrias (1920s), C. I. Zagryazhskaya (1820s) and others.

In 1831, after his return to Russia, he was appointed a professor of the Academy of Arts and these were the years when he created his best architectural projects. One of the best portraits created by A. Brulloff at this period was a portrait of N. N. Pushkina (1831). Alexander Brulloff also made illustrations for the books and magazines.

Nikolai Rerikh, Artist, Painter and Philosopher

In 1897, right from an exhibition, featuring St. Petersburg's Art Academy pupils, Nikolai Rerikh's picture "The Messenger" was sent to Moscow, where art collector and patron Pavel Tretyakov bought it for his renowned gallery. The 23-year-old painter got praise from Ilya Repin himself and was received by Russia's major influence, writer Leo Tolstoy. That was how Nikolai Rerikh started out in art. He was not only a painter but also a traveler, a scientist, a writer, a philosopher, a public figure, the head of the family that contributed worthily to world culture.

Over his long life (1874 - 1947), Nikolai Rerikh drew about 7,000 pictures. He also painted churches, made mosaics, frescoes, and sceneries. He penned several research volumes on philosophy, religion, ethnography, archeology, history, poems and short stories. He founded museums, educational establishments and scientific societies for spreading the ideas of peace and intellectually advancing man. Perhaps, his way of life, too, in particular, the last decades he spent in India, was also a cultural action of its kind. Rerikh created his special world, in which East and West were bound together.

Nikolai Rerikh's childhood and adolescence can be called happy without reservations. They are the roots of his world outlook that emerged decades since then: the world is filled with light, with the joy of creation, with beauty, and man should intellectually advance in it. Rerikh grew up in St.Petersburg in an intellectual, well-to-do family. He received a wonderful education first at a gymnasium, then, on father's insistence, at university's law department and simultaneously, by his calling, at the Arts Academy. Purposefully and methodically, he was learning painting skills at the famous landscapist Arkhip Kuindzhi's studio.

He admired master Ilya Repin and could spent hours at Viktor Vasnetsov's pictures, inspired by Russian fairy tales and legends. At the same time, he listened to lectures on history and philology. Phenomenal memory helped him to digest such a huge amount of information. Everything he had once read or heard he remembered forever. Even then, his business approach shaped up: no amateurism, professionalism in everything. He fell for archeology and spent much time at excavations. His research in the field has lost none of its significance today. Depicted with maximum precision in his drawings and pictures is the coat of arms on the costume and gun of a Viking or an old Russian.

Even as a young man, Rerikh was a real connoisseur of the old Slavic art; this theme keynotes his painting, poetry, and articles. Rerikh loved the nature of Russia's North. His landscapes are extraordinary. Drawing pines, boulders, or lake banks, he could leave on the canvass something elusive, which immediately allows to identify a landscape with a different epoch and imagine the mysterious primeval nature of long time ago.

Alexander Skryabin, Edvard Grieg, and Richard Wagner were the composers Rerikh loved best. He worked with tremendous enthusiasm on the scenery for Wagner's operas Valkiria and Tristan and Isolda. He was also the author of scenic decorations for Russian operas - Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin, Pskovityanka, Snow Maiden, and Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Great success accompanied Igor Stravinsky's ballet "The Holy Spring" in Paris in 1913. Not only Rerikh made the scenery but he wrote the libretto then, too. It was one of the sensational premieres by the noted Russian impresario Dyagilev's troupe, which opened Russian ballet to the world.

Nikolai Rerikh had a good sense of time. What he did for the stage was artistically significant, contemporary, and innovative for the then spectator. He was the author of scenery for plays by Maurice Meterlink, Henrik Ibsen, and Russian drama classic Alexander Ostrovsky. Many theater works turned out to be completely independent and finished pictures that still decorate museums and private collections across the world.

Rerikh's quality to paint without corrections, take up the brush when the design is ripe in full, is crucial to the understanding of his nature. The rational approach to work enabled him to achieve a huge lot. This quality is above all that of a scientist. In general, Rerikh's two pursuits - of an artist and of a thinker - contradicted each other at times. Alexander Benua, his gymnasium form-mate and a colleague in the World of Art association, believed that Rerikh's activity outside painting was detrimental to his talent. But Rerikh chose such a special way himself and saw it through with dignity.

After the 1917 revolution, Nikolai Rerikh lived outside Russia. He traveled scores of countries. His exhibitions gathered crowds of admirers in Britain, Sweden, and Americas. In New York, he founded a Rerikh Museum, still functioning today. With his family, he made a grandiose tour of Asia, lasting for more than a year. Eventually, he settled down in India for good. The Kulu Valley at West Himalayas was considered in ancient Indian sources the gate to Shambaly, a sacred land of gurus. Legends about it were recorded by Rerikh during his wanderings across Asia. According to them, the land has a collection of manuscripts of all times and nations and scientific labs, staffed with enlightened creatures, who have left humanity for a whole epoch. The magic stone of happiness - a gift from the Orion constellation - is kept in a many-tier tower. By sagas, Shambala is the place where the Earth links with Space. One can get there only if Shambala itself desires him there. Apparently, Rerikh believed that Shambala was real and the way there lied through man's spiritual self-perfection. And he sought that ideal himself by studying books by Indian philosophers and Tibetian lamas and by leading an ascetic, fully laborious life. He painted Himalayan landscapes and portrayed Buddha, Tibetan heroes and saints.

Local residents felt a special aura about him. Some claimed they saw a mysterious glow over Rerikh's house at night. Others said that a cast was spelled, protecting him from bullets and enabling him to cure people and animate faded plants by merely glancing at them. There were bizarre rumors about his wife, a translator and an expert on Buddha literature. She was thought to be a sister to the Russian tzar. Some even regarded the family members as American spies. Rerikh's house at the Nigar settlement attracted many people. It was visited by Javaharlal Nerhu, his daughter Indira Gandhi, scientists, writers, politicians. The guests admired the rich collection of artifacts, brought from Asian countries, and the pictures drawn by the host and his son Svyatoslav. Many Indians called Nikolai Rerikh a guru.

Nikolai Rerikh believed that India and Russia were like two parts of a future country of light and happiness. In the Rerikhs family itself, Russian and Indian intertwined in a peculiar way. An eastern philosophy connoisseur, Yelena Rerikh was an ancestor of great Russian military leader Mikhail Kutuzov and composer Modest Musorgsky. The wife of the junior son Svyatoslav, film actress Devika Rani was kin to writer Rabindranat Tagor. An artist and public figure, Svyatoslav has worked for the benefit of the two countries. An orientalist and a polyglot, speaking more than 30 European and Asian languages, the senior son Yuri has made a valuable contribution to the Indian and Russian historical science.

The Rerikh�s jubilee events will be held in Moscow at the Oriental Arts Museum and at the International Rerikh Center, where a jubilee exhibition has been opened. Art experts, orientalists, and philosophers from various countries will gather for an international scientific countries. Russia's first monument to Rerikh will be unveiled. Standing at the high pedestal will be two figures in bronze: Nikolai and Yelena Rerikh with an open book, a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, between them.

Ilya Repin, Painter

Elias (Ilya) Repin was born in the Ukrainian town of Chuhuyev, Kharkiv region on August 4, 1844. His father Yukhim, was a military colonist who farmed but was liable at all times for military duty. At the time of Elias's birth, the family fortunes had dropped and as a result in his early years the future painter suffered from abject poverty.

As a young boy in north eastern Ukraine he earned money by painting portraits and icons. His ability was such that local Ukrainian churches welcomed his work. It was during his youth in Ukraine that his gift for art was nurtured through an elementary art education.

At the age of 20 Repin managed to enter the St. Petersburg Academy of Art in the Russian capital. In the same year, 1864 he enrolled at the School of Drawing. Because of his desperate financial situation the young artist had to work at odd jobs in these early years to finance his art studies.

Repin's first important paintings, in accordance with the requirements of the Academy of Art, were based on classical themes. His progress in portrait painting was exceptional. By the time he was 25 his reputation as a portrait painter was established. He painted portraits, with a profound psychological character, of the most notable men of the Russian Empire of his day, totaling over 300 in all.
Among his portraits of Ukrainians, his Shevchenko is an interesting study. In his portrait of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko the artist gave him an admonishing look which penetrates through the viewer.

His greatest oil painting may be Zaporozhian Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan painted in 1878-91 after extensive research and many travels through Ukraine and the Zaporozhian area. The painting has a heroic quality capturing the independent spirit of the Ukrainian Cossacks and people. It is also imbued with considerable humor showing the cheering Cossacks composing an insulting letter to the mighty Sultan of the Turkish Empire. The painting is in the St. Petersburg Art Gallery in Russia but there is a variant version in the Kharkiv Art Gallery in Ukraine.

Into the superb canvas of Zaporozhians, his greatest masterpiece, Repin poured 13 years of his life. He sought to achieve historical accuracy through meticulous research with historian Dmytro Yavornytsky. Other works on Ukrainian themes are Hetman, Vechomytsi, Ukrainmian Cottage and Procession in the Government of Kiev, which, according to Encyclopedia Britannica is one of "his chief pictures." The same source says Repin's paintings are powerfully drawn with not a little imagination and with strong dramatic force and characterization. Encyclopedia Americana says "He also won fame as a portrait painter, sculptor and etcher, "Unexpected, a painting which depicts the homecoming of an exile from Siberia, is interesting because the models used were the artist's own family. His own home served as the background, and very clearly on the living room wall there is a portrait of Taras Shevchenko. Apparently Repin honored his countryman.

Art critics have noticed a clear distinction and contrast between Repin's Ukrainian and Russian themes. The Ukrainian themes are positive and merry compared to his Russian paintings. For example compare the Russian Volga Boatmen and Ivan the Terrible Killing his Son with the Ukrainian Hopak or Zaporozhian Cossacks. Snowyd says "Ukraine in his paintings is all beauty, joy, happiness, a grand and even reckless struggle against powerful enemies. Russia is wallowing in ugliness and cruelty." Repin's genius created in the Zaporozhians an immortal image of the heroic era of Ukrainian Cossack history. He refused to live in Soviet Russia after the Revolution and lived in Finland instead. In his last years he painted such Ukrainian works as Hopak and Black Sea Freemen. He died in Kuokkale, Finland at the age of eighty-six leaving a rich and magnificent artistic legacy.

Peter Carl Faberge, Artist, Jeweler

The Faberge family originated in France, but the Protestant family fled after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Eventually, some family members settled in Russia. Peter Carl Faberge was born in 1846. His education and goldsmith apprenticeship were in Germany. After establishing himself independently in 1866, Carl continued to refine his skills. By age 24, Faberge had inherited his father's jewelry workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia. For ten years as head of the business, Carl continued to produce goods similar to other jewelry makers. He also volunteered his time to the Hermitage, a treasury which stored all of the precious objects of the Russian czars, including gold artifacts and ancient treasures. All of these pieces Carl helped catalog, appraise and repair. He reorganized the business with the help of his able brother Agathon and forever changed the face of jewelry and art. In 1882 Carl's younger brother Agathon, a trained jeweler full of ideas, appeared on the scene. The two made copies ancient Russian treasures and sold them.

Eric Kollin, a Finnish craftsman, helped the Faberge brothers make a number of pieces which they decided to feature at a fair in Moscow. Czar, Alexander III, and his wife, Czarina Maria were in attendance and made a purchase at the Faberge exhibit. There, Carl Faberge was presented with a gold medal honoring him as "...having opened a new era in jewelry art. "Until that time, many felt the value of jewelry was intrinsic, based upon the precious metals and stones. Faberge felt that the artistic creativity and fine craftsmanship of jewelry made it art that transcended bullion value.

Goldsmithing became Carl Faberge's primary interest, and he hired Michael Perchin, a Russian goldsmith to assist him in his experiments with gold and enamel. Through careful examination of works of art, the two learned and attempted to replicate techniques of earlier artisans. Their efforts were so successful that even the czar could not distinguish between the original piece and Faberge's copy of a snuff box in his own collection. Soon after, Faberge became the Supplier to the Imperial Court.

The House of Faberge was staffed with some of the finest goldsmiths and jewelers available. Interestingly enough, Peter Carl Faberge did not actually create any of the famous eggs that bear his name. The business was divided into several small workshops, each with its own specialty. In addition to the fabulous Easter eggs, the workshop also produced table silver, jewelry, European-style trinkets, and Russian-style carvings. The two master jewelers most responsible for the Faberge eggs were Michael Evlampievich Perchin and Henrik Wigstr�m. Born in 1860, Perchin became the leading workmaster in the House of Faberge in 1886 and supervised production of the eggs until 1903. Those eggs he was responsible for have his MP (MP- Michael Perchin) markings. All signed eggs made after 1903 bear Henrik Wigstrom's HW mark. Of course, not all eggs were stamped, so other goldsmiths may have supervised production of some of the eggs.

Russian musicians and composers

Tchaikovsky Peter Ilich (1840-1893)

Great Russian composer was born in Kamsk-Votkinsk metal-working plant. The father was the mountain engineer, was the chief of a plant. In 1859 Tchaikovsky P.I. has ended a justice school in St. Petersburg. Served in the ministry of justice. In 1891 he has entered Musical classes of Russian musical society and began to compose music. The first products: the overture to performance �Thunderstorm�, Cantata �To pleasure�. The world famous products: imagination �Romeo and Juliet�, ballets �Swan Lake�, �Nutcracker�, �Sleeping beauty�, 1-st concert for piano with orchestra, opera �Eugenie Onegin�, �Peak lady�, 5 Pathetic symphony and many others.

"To regret the past, and hope for the future, never satisfied with the present: that is my life passes" - said Piotr Il'ich Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky was not a child prodigy as Mozart, he did not appear as a great talent during his young years - nether as a pianist, nor as a composer. His life in music was not smooth and predictable. Tchaikovsky is regarded as the most popular Russian composer, and even "the most Russian" composer, though he was not like Glinka consecrated to the service of nationality, and no doubt was influenced by German, Italian and French composers. Even among the other quite famous Russian contemporaries, "The Mighty Five", as they are known, he stays aside: his music was considered too Western, though it had been written at the rising time of the national movement.

Tchaikovsky was born in a middle class family of a mine inspector. From the early years his life was filled with melodies from Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Donicetti, played on the orchestrina by his father. The boy, very likely taught piano by his mother, showed the perfect pitch and remarkable musical memory. But his parents did not pay attention to his musical capabilities. One time, however, once, he was so engaged with a rhythm, tapping with his fingers on the windowpane that he broke the window, cutting his hand. This incident moved his parents to engage a music tutor for young Piotr.

Tchaikovsky's musical lessons were not very regular. At the age of nine he was sent to the School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg, where he studied until the 1861. During these years musical activities of the young composer were minimal, though he did go to the performances of very famous musicians, such as Clara Schumann, and also frequented the Italian opera, which was very popular that time. Outside the school he took music lessons on Sundays from the pianist Rudolph Kundinger, but the teacher discovered no particular talent in his pupil. Nobody could see in young Tchaikovsky what he would later become. His classmates remembered that they were amazed by his improvisation on the themes from fashionable opera, but mostly by the musical tricks, he could demonstrate, like the guessing keys and playing the piano covered by a towel.

After his graduation from the School of Jurisprudence, Tchaikovsky began his civil service in the administrative division of the Department of Justice in St. Petersburg, trying to find his niche in this field. According to his brother Modest, who has written the most detailed biography of the composer, the first indication of his intention to change his career is dated 1861, when in the letter to his sister Aleksandra he wrote: "Papa insists that it is not that late for me to become an artist� But the fact is that even if I do have some talent, it is probably already impossible to develop it. They have made a clerk out of me, and a poor one at that: I try to improve as much as I can, to take my work more seriously - and now to study thorough bass at the same time!"

That time was a crucial moment in Russian music life. In 1857 the Russian Musical society was formed, which soon brought the classical music out of the aristocratic salons to public. There were many musical classes opened for general education, which of course gave rise to professional education as well. Tchaikovsky was told about these classes by his cousin, a young officer in the Horse Grenadiers, who once mentioned that he "can make the transition from one key to any other in no more than three chords"; and demonstrated immediately. "I considered myself more talented than he musically, but at the same time I was unable to do such a thing", he told to his friend Mikhail Kashkin, "When I asked where he had learned this, I found out that the Russian Musical Society offered classes in music theory where one could learn all these clever tricks; I went immediately to those classes and signed up to audit one taught by Nikolay Zaremba". It was the turning point of his life: on September 1862, Tchaikovsky was among the first students of new opened St. Petersburg Conservatory.

The classes on orchestration and composition with one of the most significant musician of hat time, the director of St. Petersburg Conservatory Anton Rubinstain, became the centerpiece of Tchaikovsky's studies. His teaching was improvisational, and even having not very wide musical outlook, Rubinstain was not only a great pianist and composer, "but also a man of rare nobility, sincere, honest, magnanimous, align to any baseness or vulgarity, with a clear, straightforward mind� as a teacher, he was incomparable�"

Anton Rubinstain recognized an outstanding talent in his pupil and wanted to encourage him. He arranged to bring one of the first serious work of his student to the attention of Johann Strauss. The performance of "Characteristic dances", incorporated later to Tchaikovsky's first opera "The Voevoda" was, indeed, the first public performance of any of his works.

Before even graduating, Tchaikovsky had already composed the Overture in F and the String quartet movement in B flat, both of which were performed in student concerts at the conservatory. As his graduation work, Tchaikovsky proposed his cantata on the text of Schiller's ode "An die Freude" (the same text as in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). Reaction on it was almost uniformly unfavorable. The composer Aleksandr Serov was disappointed, commenting, "No, the cantata is not good. I expected much more from Tchaikovsky." In his sarcastic review, the composer and musical critic Cezar Cui asserted, that "the composer Mr. Tchaikovsky is utterly week�and if he had any talent, then somewhere at least it would have broken the chains of the conservatory."

During these years, Tchaikovsky worked as teaching assistant in a harmony class. Several weeks before his graduation, he was invited by Anton Rubinstain's brother Nikolay to teach at the newly founded Moscow Conservatory. Tchaikovsky, a very soft and charming person, quite quickly became a member of musical family, attracting people not only by his promising talent, but mostly by his character. But his creative efforts still were not still productive. Early in 1866 he began work on his first symphony "Winter Daydreams". It was time of endless depression, enforced by insomnia. The abnormal labor was killing his sleep, and sleepless nights were sapping his energy and paralyzing his creative power. In the middle of July, as his doctor said, Tchaikovsky was even close to insanity. In September, he showed the unfinished yet score to his former teachers - Anton Rubinstain and Nikolay Zaremba. To his dismay both men disliked of the symphony. But the "Moscow Rubinstain", Nikolay liked it and in December played the scherzo from it at a concert of the Russian Musical Society. The full performance of this work in February 1868 was a resounding success, which brought it in the row of one of the first symphonies written by Russian composer. "Winter Daydreams", filled with folk motives, already showed Tchaikovsky's own style. It was his first triumph, but aware of number of weaknesses in the work, Tchaikovsky decided to rewrite it. Encouraged by his first successful works, Tchaikovsky began to work on his first opera, with the libretto of the famous Russian playwright Aleksandr Ostrovsky. He composed with great speed and enthusiasm, but in his inexperience he made a number of stenographic errors. "I really wrote music to a given text, without a view to the immense difference between symphony and opera in terms of style". The first performance, which took place at the Bolshoy Theater, was not vary successful - the National opera was not as popular as Italian. Russian composers were not even permitted the advantage of a full orchestra and the second-rate singers were considered good enough. Even so, the opera was performed in all about ten times. Afterwards Tchaikovsky burned the score, perhaps from disappointing. But some parts of this fist opera would be included in his later opera "The Oprichnik". Tchaikovsky's next work, the fantasia "Fatum", which joined the list of his allures, was performed in March 1869 with some success. And again, unsatisfied by it Tchaikovsky destroyed the score.

The end of his failures was soon to come. In the spring of 1869 Balakirev discussed with young talented composer the plan of his next work - Fantastic Overture "Romeo and Juliet". They talked about all the details very carefully. Later Kashkin wrote about this talk: "The plan, adapted to sonata form, was as follows: First, an introduction of a religious character�, followed by Allegro in b minor (Balakirev suggested most of the tonalities), was to depict the enmity between the Montagues and Capulets� Then was to follow the love of Romeo and Juliet (second subject in D flat major), succeeded by elaboration of both subjects�." Tchaikovsky came from his vacation in September with the almost finished score. But the evil fate did not forget the young composer. On the evening of fourth of March 1870, Nikolay Rubinstain appeared in the hall of Moscow Conservatory to conduct his work, which was predicted to be a great success. But he received the fantastic demonstration of students against him, after an incident with a student of Conservatory, resented a reprimand. "Romeo and Juliet" was published at 1871 in Berlin and indeed became one of the most popular classical masterpieces.

The next seven years (1871-1877) were more or less successful in Tchaikovsky's creative work. His next two operas were not good ones: "Undina" was rejected by Theatrical Direction, "Snow maiden" ("Snegurochka") did not have success (not like the Rimsky-Korsakov opera of the same theme). But at the same time, Tchaikovsky composed such famous works as the Second Symphony ("A Little Russian", almost fully consisting of variations on Russian folks melodies), Third Symphony, the opera "Vakula the Smith", which had significant success in Russia and Europe, but was remodeled later into the opera "Cherevichek"; the opera "The Oprichnik" - the great advance of his previous operas "Undina" and "The Voevoda"; the ballet "Swan Lake", the Fantasia "Franceska di Rimini" etc. To this period belongs the Piano Concerto in b flat minor. M.Kashkin gives an interesting story of the birth of his work: "Tchaikovsky, who had long had it in his mind to compose a pianoforte concerto for Nikolay Rubinstain, set about this work in the winter of 1874� The invention of passages for piano combined with orchestra did not come easily to him: but in February 1875 the composition was quite ready. Tchaikovsky took the finished score to Nikolay Rubinstain, and the title page was inscribed the dedication to him� But he, it appeared, was disagreeably surprised that Tchaikovsky - not being a pianist - had not asked his advise about the piano part." As Tchaikovsky later wrote in his letter, Rubinstain particularly said, that "it was impossible to play, that the passages were hackneyed, clumsy, and so awkward that there was no way even to correct them, that as a composition it was bad, vulgar." But Tchaikovsky decided to publish the concerto without alteration a single note. Only the dedication was replaced by one to Hans von Bulow, who performed it for the first time in Boston with a great success.

The year of 1877 was the most crucial for Tchaikovsky. In the August he married Antonina Miljukova. She was one of his students, who had written him a confession of love. "The letter had been written so genuinely, so warmly, that I decided to answer it." "I am marring the girl not particular young but entirely respectable and who has one main virtue: she is in love with me like a cat�" On the day of marriage he wrote several bravura letters to his friends, informing them of this event. But on the train to St. Petersburg, where they wanted to spent their first days together, he was "ready to scream from the sobs that were suffocating me." The marriage appeared as a real disaster for his life. Later, in a letter to relatives, he wrote: "�She has agreed with absolutely everything and will never displeased� I have reserved for myself complete freedom of action�" He had only one wish - to die. It a week he tried to commit suicide - standing in cold Moscow river water for one reason: to catch cold and to die from pneumonia. The main dilemma in his life at this point was Tchaikovsky's homosexuality. During his years in the boys School of Jurisprudence, he was involved in homosexual relations with other students. Such an experience, even if it takes place in the most important period of psychological development, does not necessarily lead to the future homosexuality. Tchaikovsky most likely did not consider himself as exclusively homosexual and probably saw his marriage as a possible solution to his sexual problems. Maybe his extremely sensitiveness played a very important role, which he inherits from his father. From his early years he was very hysteric, nervous and susceptible. Many of his mental problem probably were genetically passed to him: at least one of his ancestors on his mother's side suffered from epilepsy and Tchaikovsky might have displayed, albeit in a lesser form, certain secondary appearance of this disorder (all his "little apoplectic fits"). In the early years he was found to have a spinal cord problem, which, as the doctors said was the reason for his extremely sensitivity and nervousness. These factors combined together made his life very unhappy and unsatisfactory. At the same time, maybe they made his music more sentimental, more melodious. Herman Laroche, a musical critic and one of the Tchaikovsky's best friends, and other critics would later casually suggest, that even Tchaikovsky's music bore the imprint of his "feminine" nature. This was a description the composer himself strongly disliked.

During this very hard period of his life, Tchaikovsky wrote two of his greatest works: the opera "Evgeni Onegin" and the fourth Symphony. The brilliant Violin Concerto also comes from the late 1870s. Some time before, around 1876, a wealthy widow appeared in Tchaikovsky's live. Nadezda von Meck, a patroness of art, gave an income to the composer to cover his basic life expenses, which allowed him to leave his teaching position in the Conservatory and compose. They never met, but very soon they became very good and close friends. Fourteen years later, Mrs. von Meck suddenly stopped financing Tchaikovsky without any possibility to continue their friendship - a blow from with Tchaikovsky never fully recovered. In 1893 Tchaikovsky died from cholera.

The last years of Tchaikovsky's life were very productive. "The Queen of Spades", "The Sleeping Beauty", the symphonic poem "Manfred", the lyric opera in one act "Iolanta", the famous two act fairy ballet "The Nutcracker", the Sixth Symphony� - this is far from the full list of his late works. The last works did not need the approval of critics. He became famous not only in Russia, but in Europe and in America, as a incomparable master-orchestrator, as a genius in creating melodies. The last symphony - "Pathetic", is the most melancholy among them all (each of his symphonies has a definite coloring. The Second was written in national traditions, the Third - by influents of Schumann's enthusiasm, the Fourth is the only humorous one, the Fifth, which is regarded as the most weak one has religious feelings). There are many critical opinions with respect to his works: in his symphonic, as well as in his instrumental work one can find a weakness: being ultra-melodious, able to find the expressive musical ideas in his work, he seems to find difficulties in quitting them; the criticism of his romances, that Tchaikovsky regarded the music as the most important element of the song.

But even agreeing with this critics, it is impossible not to acknowledge Tchaikovsky as a one of the most significant composers in history, whose music is still very popular and beloved by people in the world.