Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is a Russian playwright and writer, whose work played an important role in the development of the Russian national theater. He is the author of several famous works, some of which are included in the literature for the school curriculum.
Writer's family
Ostrovsky's father, Nikolai Fedorovich, the son of a priest, served as a lawyer in the capital and lived in Zamoskvorechye. He graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary, as well as the seminary in Kostroma. His mother was from a rather poor family and died when Ostrovsky was seven years old. In addition to Alexander, three more children were born in the family. When their mother died, a couple of years later their father remarried, and Baroness Emilia Andreevna von Tessin became his chosen one. She further took care of the children, taking upon herself the trouble of raising them and receiving a proper education.
In 1835, Alexander Ostrovsky entered the Moscow gymnasium, and 5 years later he entered the university of the capital to study law. It was during this period of time that he began to experience an increased interest in theatrical productions. Young Ostrovsky often visits the Petrovsky and Maly theaters. His studies are suddenly interrupted by failure to pass an exam and a quarrel with one of the teachers, and he leaves the university of his own free will, after which he gets a job as a scribe in a Moscow court. In 1845 he finds work in a commercial court, in the chancery department. All this time, Ostrovsky is accumulating information for his future literary work.
During his life, the writer was married twice. He lived with his first wife, Agafya, whose last name has not survived to this day, for about 20 years. His children from this marriage, unfortunately, died while still very young. His second wife was Maria Bakhmetyeva, from her he had six children - two daughters and four sons.
Creative activity
The first literary publication, “Waiting for the Groom,” appeared in 1847 in the Moscow City List, describing scenes from the merchant life of those times. Next year, Ostrovsky finishes writing the comedy “Our People - We Will Be Numbered!” It was staged on the theater stage and received considerable success, which served as an incentive for Alexander to finally come to the decision to devote all his energies to drama. Society reacted warmly and with interest to this work, but it also became the reason for persecution by the authorities, due to its too frank satire and oppositional nature. After the first showing, the play was banned from production in theaters, and the writer was under police surveillance for about five years. As a result, in 1859 the play was significantly altered and republished with a completely different ending.
In 1850, the playwright visited a circle of writers, where he received the unspoken title of singer of a civilization untouched by falsehood. Since 1856, he became the author of the Sovremennik magazine. At the same time, Ostrovsky and his colleagues went on an ethnographic expedition, the task of which was to describe the peoples living on the banks of the rivers of Russia, in its European part. Basically, the writer studied the life of the peoples living on the Volga, in connection with which he wrote a large work, “Journey along the Volga from its origins to Nizhny Novgorod,” reflecting in it the main ethnic features of the people from those places, their life and customs.
In 1860, Ostrovsky’s most famous play, “The Thunderstorm,” was released, the action of which takes place precisely on the banks of the Volga. In 1863 he received a prize and honorary membership in the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Ostrovsky died in 1886 and was buried in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki.
- Ostrovsky's conceptual view of theater is the construction of scenes based on convention, using the riches of Russian speech and its competent use in revealing characters;
- The theater school, which Ostrovsky founded, was further developed under the leadership of Stanislavsky and Bulgakov;
- Not all actors reacted well to the playwright's innovations. For example, the founder of realism in Russian theatrical art, actor M. S. Shchepkin, left the dress rehearsal of “The Thunderstorm,” which was held under the direction of Ostrovsky.
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. Born March 31 (April 12), 1823 - died June 2 (14), 1886. Russian playwright, whose work became the most important stage in the development of the Russian national theater. Corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born on March 31 (April 12), 1823 in Moscow on Malaya Ordynka.
His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, was the son of a priest, he himself graduated from the Kostroma Seminary, then the Moscow Theological Academy, but began to practice as a lawyer, dealing with property and commercial matters. He rose to the rank of collegiate assessor, and in 1839 received the nobility.
His mother, Lyubov Ivanovna Savvina, the daughter of a sexton and a malt baker, died when Alexander was not yet nine years old. The family had four children (four more died in infancy).
Thanks to Nikolai Fedorovich’s position, the family lived in prosperity, and great attention was paid to the education of children who received home education. Five years after the death of his mother, his father married Baroness Emilia Andreevna von Tessin, the daughter of a Swedish nobleman. The children were lucky with their stepmother: she surrounded them with care and continued to educate them.
Ostrovsky spent his childhood and part of his youth in the center of Zamoskvorechye. Thanks to his father's large library, he became acquainted with Russian literature early and felt an inclination towards writing, but his father wanted to make him a lawyer.
In 1835, Ostrovsky entered the third grade of the 1st Moscow Provincial Gymnasium, after which in 1840 he became a student at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. He failed to complete the university course: without passing the exam in Roman law, Ostrovsky wrote a letter of resignation (he studied until 1843). At the request of his father, Ostrovsky entered the service as a clerk in the Conscientious Court and served in the Moscow courts until 1850; his first salary was 4 rubles a month, after some time it increased to 16 rubles (transferred to the Commercial Court in 1845).
By 1846, Ostrovsky had already written many scenes from the life of a merchant and conceived the comedy “The Insolvent Debtor” (later - “Our People - We Will Be Numbered!”). The first publication was a small play “Picture of Family Life” and an essay “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident” - they were published in one of the issues of “Moscow City List” in 1847. Professor of Moscow University S.P. Shevyrev, after Ostrovsky read the play at his home on February 14, 1847, solemnly congratulated those gathered on the “appearance of a new dramatic luminary in Russian literature.”
The comedy brought Ostrovsky literary fame “Our people - we will be numbered!”(original title - “The Insolvent Debtor”), published in 1850 in the journal of university professor M.P. Pogodin “Moskvityanin”. Under the text it read: “A. ABOUT." and "D. G.”, that is, Dmitry Gorev-Tarasenkov, a provincial actor who offered Ostrovsky cooperation. This collaboration did not go beyond one scene, and subsequently served as a source of great trouble for Ostrovsky, since it gave his ill-wishers a reason to accuse him of plagiarism (1856). However, the play evoked approving responses from N. V. Gogol and I. A. Goncharov.
The influential Moscow merchants, offended for their class, complained to the “boss”; as a result, the comedy was banned from production, and the author was dismissed from service and placed under police supervision by personal order of Nicholas I. Supervision was lifted after the accession of Alexander II, and the play was allowed to be staged only in 1861.
Ostrovsky’s first play, which was able to get onto the theater stage, was “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh.”(written in 1852 and staged for the first time in Moscow on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater on January 14, 1853).
Since 1853, for more than 30 years, new plays by Ostrovsky appeared almost every season at the Moscow Maly and St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky theaters. Since 1856, Ostrovsky has become a permanent contributor to the Sovremennik magazine. In the same year, in accordance with the wishes of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, a business trip of outstanding writers took place to study and describe various areas of Russia in industrial and domestic relations. Ostrovsky took upon himself the study of the Volga from the upper reaches to Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1859, with the assistance of Count G. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko, the first collected works of Ostrovsky were published in two volumes. Thanks to this publication, Ostrovsky received a brilliant assessment from N. A. Dobrolyubov, which secured his fame as an artist of the “dark kingdom.” In 1860, “The Thunderstorm” appeared in print, to which he dedicated the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom.”
From the second half of the 1860s, Ostrovsky took up the history of the Time of Troubles and entered into correspondence with Kostomarov. The fruit of the work was five “historical chronicles in verse”: “Kuzma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk”, “Vasilisa Melentyeva”, “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky”, etc.
In 1863, Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize (for the play “The Thunderstorm”) and was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1866 (according to other sources - in 1865) Ostrovsky founded the Artistic Circle, which subsequently gave many talented figures to the Moscow stage.
I. A. Goncharov, D. V. Grigorovich, I. S. Turgenev, A. F. Pisemsky, F. M. Dostoevsky, I. E. Turchaninov, P. M. Sadovsky, L. P. visited Ostrovsky’s house. Kositskaya-Nikulina, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. N. Ermolova, G. N. Fedotova.
In 1874, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers was formed, of which Ostrovsky remained the permanent chairman until his death. Working on the commission “to revise regulations on all parts of theatrical management,” established in 1881 under the directorate of the Imperial Theaters, he achieved many changes that significantly improved the situation of artists.
In 1885, Ostrovsky was appointed head of the repertory department of Moscow theaters and head of the theater school.
Despite the fact that his plays did well at the box office and that in 1883 Emperor Alexander III granted him an annual pension of 3 thousand rubles, financial problems did not leave Ostrovsky until the last days of his life. His health did not meet the plans he had set for himself. The intense work exhausted the body.
On June 2 (14), 1886, on Spiritual Day, Ostrovsky died in his Kostroma estate Shchelykovo. His last work was the translation of “Antony and Cleopatra” by W. Shakespeare, Alexander Nikolaevich’s favorite playwright. The writer was buried next to his father in the church cemetery near the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki, Kostroma province. Alexander III donated 3,000 rubles from the cabinet funds for the funeral; the widow, together with her two children, was given a pension of 3,000 rubles, and 2,400 rubles a year for raising three sons and a daughter. Subsequently, the widow of the writer M. V. Ostrovskaya, actress of the Maly Theater, and the daughter of M. A. Chatelain were in the family necropolis.
After the death of the playwright, the Moscow Duma established a reading room named after A. N. Ostrovsky in Moscow.
Family and personal life of Alexander Ostrovsky:
The younger brother is the statesman M. N. Ostrovsky.
Alexander Nikolaevich had a deep passion for actress L. Kositskaya, but both of them had a family.
However, even after becoming a widow in 1862, Kositskaya continued to reject Ostrovsky’s feelings, and soon she began a close relationship with the son of a wealthy merchant, who eventually squandered her entire fortune. She wrote to Ostrovsky: “I don’t want to take your love away from anyone.”
The playwright lived in cohabitation with the commoner Agafya Ivanovna, but all their children died at an early age. Having no education, but an intelligent woman with a subtle, easily vulnerable soul, she understood the playwright and was the very first reader and critic of his works. Ostrovsky lived with Agafya Ivanovna for about twenty years, and two years after her death, in 1869, he married actress Maria Vasilievna Bakhmetyeva, who bore him four sons and two daughters.
Plays by Alexander Ostrovsky:
"Family Picture" (1847)
“Our people - we will be numbered” (1849)
"An Unexpected Case" (1850)
"The Morning of a Young Man" (1850)
"Poor Bride" (1851)
“Don’t get into your own sleigh” (1852)
"Poverty is no vice" (1853)
“Don’t live as you want” (1854)
“In someone else’s feast there is a hangover” (1856)
"Profitable Place" (1856)
"A Festive Sleep Before Dinner" (1857)
“They didn’t get along” (1858)
"Nurse" (1859)
"The Thunderstorm" (1859)
"An old friend is better than two new ones" (1860)
“Your own dogs squabble, don’t bother someone else’s” (1861)
"The Marriage of Balzaminov" (1861)
“Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk” (1861, 2nd edition 1866)
"Hard Days" (1863)
“Sin and misfortune do not live on anyone” (1863)
"Voevoda" (1864; 2nd edition 1885)
"The Joker" (1864)
"In a lively place" (1865)
"The Deep" (1866)
"Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" (1866)
"Tushino" (1866)
“Vasilisa Melentyeva” (co-authored with S. A. Gedeonov) (1867)
“Simplicity is enough for every wise man” (1868)
"Warm Heart" (1869)
"Mad Money" (1870)
"Forest" (1870)
“It’s not all Maslenitsa for the cat” (1871)
“There wasn’t a penny, but suddenly it was Altyn” (1872)
"Comedian of the 17th Century" (1873)
"The Snow Maiden" (1873)
"Late Love" (1874)
"Labor Bread" (1874)
"Wolves and Sheep" (1875)
"Rich Brides" (1876)
“Truth is good, but happiness is better” (1877)
"The Marriage of Belugin" (1877)
"The Last Victim" (1878)
"Dowry" (1878)
"Good Master" (1879)
“Savage” (1879), together with Nikolai Solovyov
"The Heart Is Not a Stone" (1880)
"Slave Girls" (1881)
“It shines, but does not warm” (1881), together with Nikolai Solovyov
“Guilty Without Guilt” (1881-1883)
"Talents and Admirers" (1882)
"Handsome Man" (1883)
"Not of this world" (1885)
The greatest Russian playwright Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born on March 31 (April 12), 1823 in Moscow on Malaya Ordynka.
The beginning of the way
Alexander Nikolaevich’s father graduated first from the Kostroma Theological Seminary, then from the Moscow Theological Academy, but eventually began to work, in modern terms, as a lawyer. In 1839 he received the rank of nobility.
The mother of the future playwright was the daughter of junior church workers; she died when Alexander was not even eight years old.
The family was wealthy and enlightened. A lot of time and money was spent on educating children. Since childhood, Alexander knew several languages and read a lot. From an early age he felt a desire to write, but his father only saw him as a lawyer in the future.
In 1835, Ostrovsky entered the 1st Moscow Gymnasium. After 5 years, he becomes a law student at Moscow University. The future profession does not attract him, and perhaps that is why a conflict with one of the teachers becomes the reason for leaving the educational institution in 1843.
At the insistence of his father, Ostrovsky first served as a scribe in the Moscow Conscientious Court, then in the Commercial Court (until 1851).
Observing his father's clients, then watching the stories dealt with in court, gave Ostrovsky a wealth of material for future creativity.
In 1846, Ostrovsky first thought about writing a comedy.
Creative success
His literary views were formed during his student years under the influence of Belinsky and Gogol - Ostrovsky immediately and irrevocably decides that he will write only in a realistic manner.
In 1847, in collaboration with actor Dmitry Gorev, Ostrovsky wrote his first play, “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident.” Next year, his relatives move to live on the family estate Shchelykovo in the Kostroma province. Alexander Nikolaevich also visits these places and remains under an indelible impression of nature and the Volga expanses for the rest of his life.
In 1850, Ostrovsky published his first big comedy, “Our People - Let’s Be Numbered!” in the magazine "Moskvityanin". The play was a great success and received rave reviews from writers, but was prohibited from being re-edited and staged due to a complaint from merchants sent directly to the emperor. The author was dismissed from service and placed under police supervision, which was lifted only after the accession to the throne of Alexander II. Ostrovsky’s very first play revealed the main features of his dramatic works, which were characteristic of all subsequent work: the ability to show the most complex all-Russian problems through personal and family conflicts, to create memorable characters of all characters and to “voice” them with lively colloquial speech.
The position of the “unreliable” worsened Ostrovsky’s already difficult affairs. Since 1849, without his father’s blessing and without getting married in a church, he began to live with a simple bourgeois Agafya Ivanovna. The father completely deprived his son of material support, and the financial situation of the young family was difficult.
Ostrovsky begins permanent collaboration with the Moskvityanin magazine. In 1851 he published The Poor Bride.
Under the influence of the main ideologist of the magazine, A. Grigoriev, Ostrovsky’s plays of this period begin to sound not so much the motives of exposing class tyranny, but rather the idealization of ancient customs and Russian patriarchy (“Don’t sit in your own sleigh,” “Poverty is not a vice,” and others). Such sentiments reduce the criticality of Ostrovsky's works.
Nevertheless, Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy becomes the beginning of a “new world” in all theatrical art. Simple everyday life with “live” characters and colloquial language comes onto the stage. Most actors accept Ostrovsky's new plays with delight; they feel their novelty and vitality. Since 1853, almost every season, new plays by Ostrovsky have appeared at the Moscow Maly Theater and the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg for 30 years.
In 1855-1860, the playwright became close to the revolutionary democrats. He moves to the Sovremennik magazine. The main “event” of Ostrovsky’s plays of this period is the drama of a common man opposing the “powers of this world.” At this time he writes: “There is a hangover at someone else’s feast”, “Profitable place”, “Thunderstorm” (1860).
In 1856, on the orders of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, the best Russian writers were sent on a business trip around the country with the task of describing industrial production and life in various regions of Russia. Ostrovsky travels by steamship from the upper reaches of the Volga to Nizhny Novgorod and makes a lot of notes. They become real encyclopedic notes on the culture and economy of the region. At the same time, Ostrovsky remains an artist of words - he transfers many descriptions of nature and everyday life into his works.
In 1859, the first collected works of Ostrovsky were published in 2 volumes.
Appeal to history
 House-museum: A.N. Ostrovsky. |
In the 60s, Alexander Nikolaevich turned a special interest to history and struck up an acquaintance with the famous historian Kostomarov. At this time, he wrote the psychological drama “Vasilisa Melentyeva”, the historical chronicles “Tushino”, “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky” and others.
He did not stop creating everyday comedies and dramas (“Hard Days” - 1863, “The Deep” - 1865, etc.), as well as satirical plays about the life of the nobility (“Simplicity is enough for every wise man” - 1868, “Mad Money” - 1869 , “Wolves and Sheep”, etc.).
In 1863, Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize, awarded for historical works, and was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
The next year pleases him with the birth of his first son, Alexander. In total, Ostrovsky will become the father of six children.
From 1865-1866 (the exact date is not determined), Alexander Nikolaevich created an Artistic Circle in Moscow, from which many talented theater workers would subsequently emerge. In 1870 (according to other sources - in 1874) the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers was organized in Russia, the leader of which the playwright would remain until the end of his life. During this period, the entire flower of Russian cultural society stayed in Ostrovsky’s house. I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, P.M. Sadovsky, M.N. Ermolova, L.N. Tolstoy and many other outstanding personalities of our time will become his sincere friends and acquaintances.
In 1873, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky and the young composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in a few months, wrote the opera “The Snow Maiden”, amazing in its style and sound, based on folk tales and customs. Both the playwright and the composer will be proud of their creation all their lives.
With the theater - until the end
In the last years of his life, Ostrovsky often turns to women's destinies in his works. He writes comedies, but more - deep socio-psychological dramas about the fate of spiritually gifted women in the world of practicality and self-interest. “Dowryless”, “The Last Victim”, “Talents and Admirers” and other plays are published.
In 1881, a special commission was organized under the directorate of imperial theaters to create new legislative acts for the operation of theaters throughout the country. Ostrovsky takes an active part in the work of the commission: he writes many “notes”, “considerations” and “projects” on the topic of organizing work in theaters. Thanks to him, many changes are being adopted that significantly improve the pay of actors.
Since 1883, Ostrovsky received from Emperor Alexander III the right to an annual pension in the amount of three thousand rubles. In the same year, Alexander Nikolaevich’s last literary masterpiece was published - the play “Guilty Without Guilt” - a classic melodrama that amazes with the strength of the characters of its characters and an impressive plot. This was a new surge of great dramatic talent under the influence of a memorable trip to the Caucasus.
After 2 years, Ostrovsky was appointed head of the repertory department of Moscow theaters and head of the theater school. The playwright is trying to form a new school of realistic acting in the country, highlighting the most talented actors.
Ostrovsky works with theatrical figures, he has many ideas and plans in his head, he is busy translating foreign (including ancient) dramatic literature. But his health is failing him more and more often. The body is exhausted.
On June 2 (14), 1886, in the Shchelykovo estate, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky dies of angina pectoris.
He was buried in the church cemetery near the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki, Kostroma province.
The funeral was carried out with funds provided by Alexander III. The widow and children were given a pension.
Interesting facts about Ostrovsky:
Since childhood, the playwright knew Greek, French and German. Later he learned English, Italian and Spanish.
The play “The Thunderstorm” was not immediately cleared by the censors. But the empress liked it, and the censor made concessions to the author.
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born on April 12 (March 31, old style) 1823 in Moscow.
As a child, Alexander received a good education at home - he studied ancient Greek, Latin, French, German, and later English, Italian, and Spanish.
In 1835-1840, Alexander Ostrovsky studied at the First Moscow Gymnasium.
In 1840 he entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law, but in 1843, due to a collision with one of the professors, he left his studies.
In 1943-1945 he served in the Moscow Conscientious Court (a provincial court that considered civil cases through the conciliation procedure and some criminal cases).
1845-1851 - worked in the office of the Moscow Commercial Court, resigning with the rank of provincial secretary.
In 1847, Ostrovsky published in the newspaper "Moscow City Listok" the first draft of the future comedy "Our People - Let's Count Together" entitled "The Insolvent Debtor", then the comedy "Picture of Family Happiness" (later "Family Picture") and the prose essay "Notes of Zamoskvoretsky" resident."
Ostrovsky received recognition from the comedy “Our People - We Will Be Numbered” (original title “Bankrupt”), which was completed at the end of 1849. Before publication, the play received favorable reviews from writers Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Goncharov, and historian Timofey Granovsky. The comedy was published in 1950 in the magazine "Moskvityanin". Censorship, which saw the work as an insult to the merchant class, did not allow its production on stage - the play was first staged in 1861.
Since 1847, Ostrovsky collaborated as an editor and critic with the magazine "Moskvityanin", publishing his plays in it: "The Morning of a Young Man", "An Unexpected Case" (1850), the comedy "Poor Bride" (1851), "Not on Your Sleigh" sit down" (1852), "Poverty is not a vice" (1853), "Don't live the way you want" (1854).
After the publication of "Moskvityanin" ceased, Ostrovsky in 1856 moved to "Russian Messenger", where his comedy "A Hangover at Someone Else's Feast" was published in the second book of that year. But he did not work for this magazine for long.
Since 1856, Ostrovsky has been a permanent contributor to the Sovremennik magazine. In 1857 he wrote the plays “A Profitable Place” and “A Festive Sleep Before Dinner”, in 1858 - “The Characters Didn’t Get Along”, in 1859 - “The Kindergarten” and “The Thunderstorm”.
In the 1860s, Alexander Ostrovsky turned to historical drama, considering such plays necessary in the theater repertoire. He created a cycle of historical plays: "Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk" (1861), "The Voevoda" (1864), "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" (1866), "Tushino" (1866), the psychological drama "Vasilisa Melentyeva" (1868 ).
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
- “Deep understanding of Russian life”: expedition to the Volga and theatrical premieres
- Interesting facts from life
And Alexander Ostrovsky was called the founder of the national theater. He composed 47 plays, defended playwrights' copyrights, and developed a curriculum for drama classes. Critic Ivan Goncharov said: “You brought a whole library of works of art as a gift to literature, you created your own special world for the stage. You alone completed the building, at the foundation of which Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol laid the cornerstones.”
“God knows how much talk about bankruptcy I’ve heard”: the playwright’s childhood and youth
Alexander Ostrovsky. Around 1859. Library of the All-Russian Museum A.S. Pushkin, St. Petersburg
Alexander Ostrovsky was born in Moscow, in the merchant district of Zamoskvorechye. His father, Nikolai Ostrovsky, graduated from the theological academy, but chose a secular profession and served as an official in court. Mother, Lyubov Ostrovskaya, looked after the household and raised four children. In 1826, the father received the rank of titular councilor and an increase in salary, and the family moved from a small apartment to a house. In addition to his main job, Nikolai Ostrovsky was engaged in private legal practice. A friend of the future playwright, poet Nikolai Berg wrote: “Merchants milled about in the house from morning to night, solving their various issues. The boy Ostrovsky saw not just one bankrupt there, but dozens; and he heard enough talk about bankruptcy, God knows how much: no wonder that the language of the merchants in some way became his language. He mastered it to the point of subtlety. He wrote down other things, especially biting and accurate ones (as he himself admitted to me).”.
The mother devoted a lot of time to the education of her children. Alexander Ostrovsky was engaged in dancing and singing, learned French and German, and often took books from his father’s home library by Vasily Trediakovsky, Vasily Zhukovsky, and Alexander Pushkin. In 1831, the mother died, and five years later the father married for the second time. His wife was the daughter of a Swedish nobleman, Emilie von Tessin. She continued to teach the children: she told them the history of European art and hired a teacher in Greek and Italian.
In 1835, Alexander Ostrovsky entered the First Moscow Gymnasium. There he became interested in literature and theatrical art, and in his free time he played in a drama club. Actor Fyodor Burdin recalled: “Alexander Nikolaevich was three grades older than us, and then he already loved the theater and visited it often; We listened with great pleasure and interest to his masterful stories about the playing of Mochalov, Shchepkin, Lvova-Sinetskaya". Ostrovsky dreamed of becoming a writer, but his father believed that it was not profitable. In 1840, the future playwright entered the law faculty of Moscow University. I didn’t study well: instead of lectures I went to plays, and I retook the exam in Roman law several times. In the spring of 1843, Ostrovsky was expelled. There is also a version that he left the university himself.
“The very beginning of his [Ostrovsky’s] life is striking in its absurdity. Having graduated from high school and entered the Faculty of Law at Moscow University, Ostrovsky suddenly found himself in the position of a student, unable to perceive higher knowledge. What caused this opinion remained unknown to us, because Ostrovsky avoided talking about a sensitive issue for him, but we learned that the famous playwright was fired by his superiors for “not understanding the sciences”
“The play is offensive to the Russian merchants”: the first known work
In 1843, his father gave Ostrovsky a job in the office of the Conscientious Court, where family property disputes were mainly considered. The future playwright kept minutes of the meetings. He secretly copied the most interesting cases into a separate notebook, and there he noted the behavior and appearance of the plaintiffs and defendants. In 1845, Ostrovsky moved to the same position in the Commercial Court and received complaints from petitioners.
In the evenings he tried to compose and by 1847 he had completed his first essay, “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident.” In the preface, the writer wrote: “The author describes Zamoskvorechye on holidays and on weekdays, in sorrow and in joy, describes what is happening along the large long streets and small, frequent alleys”. The work was published in the newspaper “Moscow City Listok”. In 1847, his first play, “The Picture of Family Happiness,” about a marriage of convenience, was published there. Ostrovsky recalled: “The most memorable day of my life was February 14, 1847. From that day on, I began to consider myself a Russian writer and, without doubt or hesitation, believed in my recognition.”. This was the day when the playwright read his play at an evening hosted by Moscow University professor Stepan Shevyrev.
“With great animation he recalled his first literary steps, and especially Professor Shevyrev’s review of his one-act scenes “Family Picture.” And in fact, how could one not feel dizzy when the former student and official of the Orphan’s Court, who received six rubles a month in salary, was predicted to become famous by one of the most prominent professors, a friend of Gogol: “Work, you have great talent.”
Pyotr Nevezhin, playwright. "Memories of Ostrovsky"
In 1849, Alexander Ostrovsky wrote the comedy “Our People - We Will Be Numbered” or “Bankrupt”. According to the plot, the merchant Samson Bolshov decided to declare himself bankrupt and not return the money to creditors, but as a result he was deceived by his daughter Lipochka and her husband, and went to prison. The first public reading of the play took place in the house of the historian Mikhail Pogodin, where Nikolai Gogol was among the audience. The poet Nikolai Berg wrote: “The entire intelligentsia of Moscow started talking about this play as something extraordinary.<...>No one saw his gradual development, timid, adolescent articles. A courageous work immediately appeared, something like a miracle happened!”. In 1850, “Our People - Let’s Be Numbered” was published by the magazine “Moskvityanin”: before publication, the publication had 500 subscribers, and after that the number of readers increased to 1,100 people. The circulation of "Moskvityanin" with the play has become scarce. Fiction writer Sergei Maksimov recalled: “It’s been a long time since we ran around the taverns<...>, where the magazines were subscribed. In vain we ate a lot of pies worth twenty-five kopecks in banknotes and drank several pairs of tea until we got a book to read in a hurry, since the wary floors of the taverns stood over their souls, waiting for the book to be put aside, to grab it and take it to a more respected visitor.”.
In the summer of 1856, Alexander Ostrovsky went on an ethnographic expedition along the Volga. It was organized by the Maritime Ministry. He visited Tver, Gorodnya, Torzhok, Ostashkov, Rzhev and many other cities. His task was to describe the life and customs of local residents, their main crafts, interior features, and dialects. At the very beginning of the expedition, an accident occurred with Ostrovsky: the horses bolted and the tarantass overturned. For several months, while the playwright was lying with complex fractures, he wrote the play “A Profitable Place.”
During the trip, Ostrovsky wrote down the stories of local merchants. One of them formed the basis of the work “They Didn’t Mesh,” about a marriage between an impoverished nobleman and a rich merchant’s daughter. Soon the writer finished the play “The Pupil,” and in 1859, with the assistance of Count Grigory Kushelev-Bezborodko, the first collected works of Ostrovsky were published in two volumes. A few months later, the playwright wrote the drama The Thunderstorm. The action took place in the fictional city of Kalinov. Young Katerina, who was tormented by her despotic mother-in-law Kabanikha, cheated on her husband and rushed into the Volga out of despair. In 1860, critic Nikolai Dobrolyubov published the famous review “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom,” where he interpreted the girl’s suicide as a protest against the world of ignorant and cruel merchants. The publicist noted: “Ostrovsky has a deep understanding of Russian life and a great ability to depict sharply and vividly its most significant aspects.”. In 1863, for the play “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize, which was awarded for essays on Russian history.
In 1865, Alexander Ostrovsky, together with pianist Nikolai Rubinstein and writer Vladimir Odoevsky, created the Artistic Circle in Moscow, a public organization for artists. Its members organized public concerts and literary evenings, opened a library and a private public theater. In the same year, Ostrovsky held readings there of his new plays “The Voivode” and “On a Lively Place.” Fiction writer Sergei Maksimov wrote: “This circle owed a significant share to Ostrovsky’s lenient and compliant nature in that it carried on its business amicably and did not disperse for a long time, despite the remarkable diversity of its constituent elements. In Moscow's divided society<...>this opportunity for rapprochement constitutes a considerable merit". In 1867, Ostrovsky wrote the libretto for the opera “The Thunderstorm” by composer Vladimir Kashperov, one of the members of the circle.
“Other arts have schools, academies, high patronage, patrons of the arts<...>Russian dramatic art has only me. I am everything: the academy, the philanthropist, and the defense. In addition, due to my innate abilities, I became the leader of the performing arts. All actors, regardless of role, starting from the great Martynov, used my advice and considered me an authority.”
Alexander Ostrovsky. "Autobiographical Note"
Personal life: the writer’s lovers
The playwright met his first lover, Agafya Ostrovskaya, in 1846. She rented small rooms near the writer's house. Soon they began to live together, but did not enter into a church marriage.
In 1847, a son, Alexey, was born into the family. Soon three more children appeared. Journalist Mikhail Semevsky recalled: “I went up the dark and dirty stairs to the mezzanine, where the brilliant comedian lives. As soon as I opened the door (unlocked, according to Moscow custom), two little dogs rushed at my feet. A boy with a dirty face and a finger in his mouth came for the dog; behind the boy I could see another, behind the other a nurse with a nursing baby was looking at me with wide eyes.”.
Ostrovskaya did not know how to write or read, and in his free time the writer taught her to read and write. However, when he created comedies, he consulted with her. Family friend Sergei Maksimov recalled: “She also well understood Moscow merchant life in its particulars, which, undoubtedly, served her chosen one in many ways. He himself not only did not shy away from her opinions and reviews, but willingly met them halfway, listened to advice and corrected many things after he read what was written in her presence.”.
In the early 1850s, when Ostrovsky was working at the theater on the production of “Don’t Sit in Your Own Sleigh,” he became interested in the actress Lyubov Nikulina-Kositskaya. The actress did not reciprocate the playwright’s feelings, but the friendship between them continued until Kositskaya’s death. She played in nine productions by Ostrovsky: Katerina in “The Thunderstorm”, Anna Ivanovna in the comedy “Poverty is not a Vice”, Vyshnevskaya in “A Profitable Place” and others. Kositskaya wrote: “I am proud of your love, but I must lose it, because I cannot repay you in kind, but losing your friendship is what would be hard for me, do not deprive me of this pleasant and dear feeling for me.”.
In 1862, Alexander Ostrovsky met the Maly Theater actress Maria Vasilyeva (née Bakhmetyeva). They often met at the theater and spent a lot of time together at rehearsals. In 1864, the couple had a child. Ostrovsky and Vasilyeva went to the Shchelykovo estate in Kostroma province in the summer. There they received guests and organized creative evenings: the playwright read his plays, Vasilyeva played the piano and sang romances. In 1867, when Agafya Ostrovskaya died, the writer married the actress. The marriage produced four sons and two daughters.
“Forest”, “Dowry”, “Wolves and Sheep”: famous works of Ostrovsky
At the end of the 1860s, Ostrovsky became interested in the period of the Time of Troubles and wrote several historical dramas: “Tushino”, “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky”, “Vasilisa Melentyeva”. In 1868, the premiere of his comedy “Enough Simplicity for Every Wise Man” took place at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. According to the plot, the young man Yegor Glumov sought career advancement through acquaintances, and in his diary he ridiculed his patrons. Vestnik Evropy journalist Evgeniy Utin wrote: “Ostrovsky felt the change that had taken place in society:<...>Instead of a noble, enthusiastic young man, he made his hero a cold, calculating one, completely immersed in personal interests, despising everything and everyone in order to achieve his goal, which boils down to one word - career.”. The playwright continued the story of Glumov in the next play, “Mad Money,” in which the hero was unable to build a career and went abroad with a rich elderly lady in the hope of inheriting her fortune. The work was published in 1870 in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski.
In 1871, Alexander Ostrovsky completed the comedy “The Forest” about the elderly despotic landowner Raisa Gurmyzhskaya, who wanted to marry her niece to an unloved man. Soon the playwright composed two more works: “There wasn’t a penny, but suddenly it was Altyn” and “It’s not all Maslenitsa for the cat.” In 1873, at the request of the commission for managing the imperial Moscow theaters, Ostrovsky wrote the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”. The Maly Theater was closed for renovation, and the troupe merged with the Bolshoi Theater. Therefore, a play was needed in which ballet, drama and opera artists participated together. The music for the work was commissioned from the young composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The musician recalled working with Ostrovsky: “It was a wonderful spring; I felt good in my soul, as always when summer approaches<...>I liked Ostrovsky's play, and in three weeks, without any effort, I wrote the music. It seems to me that in this music the joyful mood with which I was then imbued should be noticeable.”.
In 1875, the playwright’s play “Wolves and Sheep” was published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. A few months later it was staged on the stages of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and the Maly Theater in Moscow. Soon after the premiere, the actors began new rehearsals: the writer created the comedies “Truth is good, but happiness is better” and “The Last Sacrifice.” Ostrovsky recalled: “Even a young man can write a drama; in drama there is a clash of personal, individual passions; they are easier to observe and portray dramatically. In comedy it’s different: it shows the interaction of individual and social currents, the conflict between personality and environment, which therefore needs to be known well in advance in order to portray truthfully.”.
In 1879, Ostrovsky wrote the play “Dowry” about a young unmarried girl Larisa Ogudalova. According to the plot, a year later her lover, the rich gentleman Paratov, returned to the city, but he was already married to someone else. Deceived Ogudalova decided to marry the official Karandyshev. The story ended in tragedy: the future husband killed the bride out of jealousy. Ostrovsky borrowed the plot from a criminal chronicle. Shortly before the start of work on the play in the Kineshma district of the Kostroma province, a husband, in a fit of emotion, shot his wife.
“The Dowry” was staged at the Maly Theater in 1878. The premiere was unsuccessful. The newspaper "Russian Vedomosti" wrote: “The playwright has tired the entire audience, even the most naive spectators”. Ostrovsky's play was innovative for its time: the main emphasis in the work was not on the action, but on the character of the heroine.
At the same time, Ostrovsky was engaged in social work. He was the chairman of the Society of Dramatic Russian Writers and the author of its charter. The circle helped writers defend the rights and demand punishment for theaters that staged plays without the permission of the playwrights. In 1881, Alexander Ostrovsky was invited to a meeting of the commission in St. Petersburg to revise the Regulations on Theaters. For the meeting, the writer prepared a “Note on the situation of dramatic art in Russia at the present time” and a letter “On the needs of the imperial theater.” He recalled: “I worked day and night all winter: preparing for each meeting. I mainly cared about school because without it there are no artists<...>the consciousness that I was working for a common cause did not allow me to feel sorry for myself.”. Ostrovsky’s proposals were listened to, but the playwright’s reports did not lead to real changes. Six months later, the writer returned to Moscow and named the commission "deception of hopes and expectations".
“I didn’t rest on my laurels”: a trip to the Caucasus and translations of plays
In the winter of 1881, Ostrovsky wrote the play “Talents and Admirers” about a poor aspiring actress who dreams of theatrical fame and money. The comedy was published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. At the same time, the playwright translated Italian works: “The Great Banker” by Italo Franchi, “The Lost Sheep” by Teobaldo Ciconi, “The Coffee House” by Carlo Goldoni. In the summer of 1883, Ostrovsky and his brother Mikhail went on a trip to the Caucasus. There the writer began working on the play “Guilty Without Guilt.” In the book “About the Theater. Notes, speeches, letters,” he recalled: “This is almost my fiftieth original work and very dear to me in many respects: a lot of labor and energy was spent on finishing it;<...>I wanted to show the Russian public that the author they revered did not rest on his laurels, that he still wants to work and give them artistic pleasure.”. The premiere took place in 1884 at the Alexandrinsky Theater.
Despite the fact that Ostrovsky worked hard, there was not enough money: magazines often delayed fees, and they paid little for performances. In 1884, Emperor Alexander III awarded the writer a pension of three thousand rubles. Soon the sovereign appointed a playwright "Head of the repertoire department of Moscow theaters": Ostrovsky selected plays for productions and worked with the actors.
“I know from experience how people read, listen to and remember your works, and therefore I would like to help you now quickly become what you undoubtedly are - a writer of the people in the broadest sense.”
Lev Tolstoy . Letter to Ostrovsky dated May 22, 1886
However, the writer did not work there for long. In 1886, Alexander Ostrovsky died of heart disease on the Shchelykovo estate. The writer was buried next to his father in a church cemetery in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki, Kostroma province. Alexander III allocated money for the funeral.
Vasily Perov. Portrait of playwright Alexander Ostrovsky (fragment). 1871. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
1. Alexander Ostrovsky knew seven languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, ancient Greek and Latin.
2. In 1850, Ostrovsky was accused of plagiarism by the co-author of the first play “Our People - We Will Be Numbered,” actor Dmitry Gorev-Tarasenkov - he said that the playwright stole the idea from him. Ostrovsky wrote to his friend Fyodor Burdin in 1853: “During my illness, someone spread wild rumors around Moscow that it was not I who was writing plays, but someone else for me; well-meaning people do not believe, but malicious people are very happy with them<...>no matter how absurd they are, they are still unpleasant for me.”. He wrote a letter to Gorev-Tarasenkov and asked him to confess to deception. However, the actor refused. Then the writer decided to compose a new play, and this is how the comedy “Poverty is not a vice” appeared.
3. Ostrovsky based the image of Katerina from the drama “The Thunderstorm” on the actress Lyubov Kositskaya. In the manuscript opposite Katerina’s monologue there is a note from the writer: “I heard about L.P. about the same dream".
4. Beginning authors often sent works to Alexander Ostrovsky. Despite his busy schedule, the playwright wrote a review letter to everyone - sometimes 10-15 pages long.
5. Based on Ostrovsky’s play “The Voevoda,” Pyotr Tchaikovsky created his first opera. The playwright himself wrote the libretto for it. The premiere took place on January 30, 1869 at the Bolshoi Theater.
