Golden age. Poets of Pushkin's time in the salon of Princess Z.A.

On November 10 and 11, students of grades 6 and 6 of school No. 1 became guests of the literary and musical lounge "Salons of Pushkin's era" .

Irina Karpova, an employee of the city library named after E.R. Dashkova, told the children about the most interesting phenomenon of Russian cultural life of the first half of the 19th century - secular salons.

With the help of media presentation, music and poetry, it was possible to create an atmosphere that inspired the great writers, poets, artists and musicians of Pushkin's era.

The schoolchildren “visited” the living rooms of Zinaida Volkonskaya, Anton Delvig and Ekaterina Karamzina. We found out why these salons attracted Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Baratynsky, Gogol, Glinka and other people gifted with various talents. We “saw” them in a relaxed, friendly and creative atmosphere, saw new, significant touches in already familiar portraits.

At the end of the event, children were asked to share their impressions. I would like to quote one of the reviews: "I like it calm atmosphere lesson. I often got goosebumps. I really want to create the same salon. I really, really liked it. Thank you!" Shishanova Taya .

Publications in the Literature section

Salon smart girls: hostesses of Russian literary salons

What happened in the salons Russian Empire, modern reader can imagine from the description of Anna Pavlovna Scherer's living room from War and Peace. Let's find out what they actually did in literary salons, what it gave to Russian culture, and also remember their wonderful hostesses. Sofya Bagdasarova understands.

Time: 1820s
Address: Moscow, st. Tverskaya, 14

Mistress: Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya
Guests: Alexander Pushkin, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Evgeny Boratynsky, Ivan Kozlov, Vasily Zhukovsky, Pyotr Chaadaev, Adam Mickiewicz

Grigory Myasoedov. Pushkin and his friends listen to Mitskevich in the salon of Princess Zinaida. 1907. Oryol Museum

Dance and Amelie Romilly. Portrait of Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya. 1831. GMP

RECIPE No. 1. The tone of the salon was set by its hostess (saloniere, as such ladies were called in France, where this custom originated). Although "men's salons" existed in sufficient numbers, the atmosphere in the ladies' salons was much more refined, and the conversations were more subtle. After all, submitting to the will of a beautiful society lady who leads the conversation, chooses topics and does not allow arguments to break out is much more pleasant.

The most brilliant salons of the 19th century were located in the same place as the high society - in St. Petersburg. But Zinaida Volkonskaya, who, in defiance, moved to Moscow, broke this tradition. Everyone gathered in her luxurious house: officers and poets, showering her with delight and poetry. The princess, in addition to her beauty and intelligence, had a magnificent voice and could well have become a professional opera singer. In addition to readings and concerts, amateur performances of Italian operas were staged in her salon.

Time: 1810–20s
Address: St. Petersburg, st. Millionnaya, 30
Mistress: Avdotya Golitsyna
Guests: Alexander Pushkin, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Vasily Zhukovsky, Nikolai Karamzin, Konstantin Batyushkov, Alexander Turgenev, Vladimir Musin-Pushkin

High society salon. Watercolor by an unknown artist. 1830s

Marie Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun. Portrait of Avdotya Golitsyna. 1799

RECIPE No. 2. People belonging to different strata of society met in the salons: here nobles, diplomats and socialites met with musicians, writers and artists. The main thing was not the position in the hierarchy of the court, but intelligence, education, and a lively mind. Where else at that time could you meet to find out the latest political news, hear an interesting discussion of the issue of the day or a new book, or present your own fresh essay to the public?

Mistress: Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna
Guests: Nikolai Milyutin, Alexander Gorchakov, Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, Otto von Bismarck, Ivan Aksakov, Vladimir Odoevsky, Fyodor Tyutchev, Astolf de Custine

Unknown artist. Olenin Salon

Karl Bryullov. Portrait of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna with her daughter Maria. 1830. Timing

RECIPE No. 3. Salons had their own “specialization”: in addition to literary ones, they could be political, musical, etc. The salon always had both regulars and invited stars, whom the hostess chose in accordance with the topic of conversation planned for that evening. In order for the conversation to flow smoothly, the number of guests should not be too large.

For example, the “Thursdays”, which were organized by Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (the widow of Mikhail Pavlovich) in her Mikhailovsky Palace, had a political connotation. The peculiarity of her salons was that at them members of the imperial family could communicate with those who were not officially presented to the court, which is why they received the nickname “morganatic evenings.” Educated and progressive, a supporter of the liberation of peasants, Elena Pavlovna was a supporter of political changes - and it was in her living room, during the free conversations of politicians, that the ideas of many of the great reforms were born.

Time: 1810–50s
Address: Paris, Rue de Belchasse, hôtel de Tavannes
Mistress: Sofia Svechina
Guests: Archbishop of Paris, Prosper Gueranger, Victor Cousin, Ivan Gagarin, Sofia Rostopchina, Eugene de Segur

Fedor Solntsev. Living room in the Olenins' house in Priyutin. 1834. All-Russian Museum A.S. Pushkin

Francois Joseph Kinson. Portrait of Sofia Svechina. 1816

RECIPE No. 4. Before the evening began, an experienced hostess would arrange furniture, such as armchairs for guests who would be the center of attention, and light chairs for those who would surround them as attentive listeners. She knew how to arrange for cozy groups to be created for all interlocutors, so that everyone, quite naturally, as if by chance, ended up next to the interlocutor who suited him best.

Sofya Svechina, daughter of Catherine II's Secretary of State and granddaughter of the historian Boltin, herself a writer, became a Catholic and emigrated to Paris. Surprisingly, in the homeland of salons she managed to create her own, which was a huge success and was not lost among its French counterparts. Not only Russians, including those inclined towards Catholicism, but also French celebrities gathered in her Parisian house.

From the history of literary life of Pushkin's time

Auntie's album

(Instead of a foreword)

A little less than a century ago, theater historian N.V. Drizen found an old album with drawings and poems in the family archives. The album belonged to his great-great-aunt; the poems were partly addressed to her, and under them were names very famous in the history of Russian literature of Pushkin’s time.

Gnedich. Izmailov. Kuchelbecker. Vostokov. Illichevsky. Vladimir Panaev. Unpublished, unknown poems.

Drawings by Kiprensky and Kolman.

From the miniature inserted into the binding, the face of a great-grandmother in the prime of youth and beauty looked at her great-nephew: a black curl developed and fell on her shoulder, huge wet eyes were thoughtfully focused, a half-smile on her lips, her hand straightened her cape with an absent-minded gesture. This is how she was seventy years ago, when everything around her was seething with life and youth and first-class artists and poets touched the pages of her album. “The Salon of the Twenties,” Driesen titled the article in which he talked about his discovery.

The word “salon” for modern consciousness carries a certain negative connotation, and even in Driesen’s time it meant something artificial, unreal, devoid of significant social content. But this is not entirely true.

The circle, the salon, the society - all this was an integral part of literary life in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Suffice it to recall the “Friendly Literary Society” of the Turgenev and Zhukovsky brothers, from which came “Rural Cemetery”, which began a new era of Russian poetry, or “Arzamas” - the literary school of the young man Pushkin. If we leaf through the excellent book by M. Aronson and S. Reiser “Literary Circles and Salons” (1929), we will be convinced that the leading role in the history of Russian spiritual culture of Pushkin’s time belonged to the intimate circle.

In the early twenties, a salon with a hostess at its head was a cultural fact of deep meaning. Society retained in its memory the idea of the French salon of Rambouillet, which gathered distinguished writers of the 17th century, and the completely modern salon of Madame Recamier, famous during the Restoration, where Chateaubriand constantly visited. These salons were designated by the name of the owner, who became a historical figure. But this is not enough.

Sentimental aesthetics - and in the early 1820s in Russia it had not yet lost its meaning - considered a woman " good society"the main arbiter of literary taste. Karamzin was guided by its language, cleared of vernacular and vulgarisms, and on the other hand, of bookish speech and professional jargons, when reforming the language of literature. Even Bestuzhev, a writer of a new generation, when promoting Russian literature, appeals to “readers and readers.” This is what is indicated on title page the famous "Polar Star".

The “Reader” who created a literary circle was a victory for Russian enlightenment. When Ryleev and Bestuzhev published the first " North Star“, they were counting on less: to convince female readers to break away from French novels and pay attention to Russian literature.

The album of such a reader is not only a collection of autographs, but an indication of the connection that exists between them. It has a fourth dimension: it can not only be opened, but also unfolded in time.

In the fourth dimension, people who held a pen and a brush come to life, they move, and speak, and lead a life full of drama: a life of hobbies, falling in love, confessions and breakups - and its vicissitudes are left on the pages of albums by gallant madrigals, messages, dedications, love cycles . Writers unite in circles and parties, opposing each other: passions boil, pour out onto the pages of magazines, and give rise to handwritten literature. And it remains in albums and handwritten collections.

There are albums that continue each other, complementing, clarifying, challenging and denying.

What the album found by Driesen did not have time or was unable to tell us, finally, did not want to tell us, is confirmed by the second, now kept in the manuscript collection of the Pushkin House in Leningrad. About ten years ago, sheets from the third were discovered, scattered and almost completely lost, belonging to the same dark-haired beauty whom Driesen first saw on the miniature of the album binding.

The scattered links are put together into a chain. We know the albums of people whose poems Driesen found in “auntie’s album.”

Album of Izmailov and his wife. Album by Vladimir Panaev... album by Pavel Lukyanovich Yakovlev...

Baratynsky and Pushkin wrote in Yakovlev's album.

It was a whole literature, comparable to the literature of friendly messages and letters, which flourished in the tenth and twenties of the nineteenth century. There was life behind it - and not just one, but many who made up a literary society, a salon, a circle.

Behind the “aunt’s album,” or rather, albums, stood not just a circle, but one of the most remarkable literary associations of Pushkin’s Petersburg, which included Delvig, Baratynsky, Gnedich, Izmailov, O. Somov, V. Panaev; where Krylov, Ryleev, Kuchelbecker, Katenin, and almost the entire metropolitan literary world visited, with the exception of Pushkin, who had already been exiled to the south.

In the book, which the reader holds in his hand, an attempt is made to trace the biography of this circle step by step. By collecting and systematizing, arranging in chronological order album records, printed references, memoirs, mostly unpublished documents and letters, we will try to recreate what remains of him, carefully reading the excellent poems familiar to many, which reflected his inner life. This task is difficult: the home circle usually does not care about its history and does not keep chronicles, unlike society - and its chronicle is always missing some links, and most of all, there are not enough exact dates. And therefore, the role of hypothesis increases in it - that reading “behind the document” about which Yu. N. Tynyanov once wrote and which is inevitable and necessary condition any research, if it does not turn into reading without a document. We will not hide these gaps and hypotheses, because this is also a law of research.

So, let's start: we are in St. Petersburg, at the end of the tenth years of the last century.

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From the author's book

II S. D. P From the history of literary life of Pushkin's time Aunt's Album (Instead of a Preface) A little less than a century ago, theater historian N. V. Drizen found an old album with drawings and poems in the family archives. The album belonged to his great-great-aunt;

From the author's book

Poetic vocabulary of Arabic wedding songs. Reflection in them of folk life and social relations lyric poetry Arabs often hide deep social meaning behind traditional vocabulary and ordinary images that take on the role of symbols. Moreover, social

2017

I. Introduction.

II. Albums from the salons of Pushkin’s era and their echoes today:

1. Salons in the life of Russian society of Pushkin’s time.

2. The best Moscow and St. Petersburg salons.

3. Salon albums.

III. Conclusion.

IV. References.

Introduction

Culture - This is a multi-tiered structure. And if its highest manifestation is art, then “culture of everyday life” is its foundation.

The peculiarities of life in any society are interesting and educational, especially if they are distant from us for almost two centuries. They require decryption.

In what order were guests seated at the table during a dinner party? When were two coats of arms depicted on the carriage door and what did it mean? What is a ball and how is it similar to a parade?

All these are little things in everyday life, but without them much is incomprehensible in the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy... This is our history and the history of our culture, so the life of our ancestors is interesting to us, there are no little things in it.

The problems of everyday life as a cultural phenomenon were dealt with by Yu. Tynyanov, V. Vinogradov, V. Zhirmunsky, Yu. Lotman.

The literary life of Pushkin's time of the 19th century was reflected in works of art, letters, memoirs of Pushkin and his contemporaries.

Salons in the life of Russian society of Pushkin's time

In the 20-30s of the 19th century in St. Petersburg and Moscow, along with literary societies and circles, there was another form of them - salons, for whose visitors literature was not a profession, but a hobby or entertainment. A salon is a political or literary and artistic circle of people from a select circle, meeting in the house of a private person. (Ozhegov's Dictionary)

“There were about 30 people in the elegant salon. Some spoke to each other in low voices, others listened, some walked around...

There were no loud voices or arguments, just like there were no cigars. The hostess was sitting not far from the door...in the other corner there was a tea table; in his neighborhood several cute girls were whispering to each other; near the bronze clock, which had just struck half past ten, a graceful woman, sunken in velvet armchairs, was busy with three young men who had sat down next to her: they were talking about something.” This is how Carolina Pavlova, a famous poetess who herself was the owner of the famous Moscow salon on Sretensky Boulevard, describes the salon. On Thursdays it attracted a diverse crowd. Here Herzen met with Shevyrev, Aksakov with Chaadaev. There was a debate here about historical paths Russia, read poems and discussed articles. Karolina Pavlova’s poetic talent and her lively, educated conversation made her salon pleasant and attractive to writers.

On the announced day, without an official invitation, a certain group of people gathered to talk, exchange opinions, and play music. Such meetings did not include cards, feasts, or dancing. Traditionally, the salon was formed around a woman - she brought a spirit of intellectual coquetry and grace, which created an indescribable atmosphere of the salon.

The best Moscow and St. Petersburg salons of that time

Each salon had its own selection of visitors and its own character. If people came to Princess Volkonskaya to enjoy music and poetry, a society of literary friends gathered at Delvig’s, and a high-society salon gathered in the St. Petersburg salons of Elizaveta Khitrovo and Countess Fikelmon. All the vital life of European and Russian, political, literary and social had true echoes in these two related salons. In them one could stock up on information on all the issues of the day, from a political pamphlet and a parliamentary speech by a French or English speaker to a novel or drama by one of the favorites of that literary era.

The evenings with the writer V. Sollogub were completely different. In addition to people of art, there were many dignitaries here who could look at Russian writers up close. Only four women had access to Sollogub’s salon, and only on condition that they wore the most modest toilets. These are Countess Rastopchina, Countesses Dashkova, Musina-Pushkina and Demidova.

From the very beginning, only Russian was spoken in the Karamzins’ salon. After the writer’s death, his daughter Sofya Nikolaevna becomes the owner of the salon. For twenty years or more, this salon was one of the most attractive centers of St. Petersburg social life, a true oasis of literary and intellectual interests among the brilliant and lush, but little spiritualized St. Petersburg light.

There was always an atmosphere of trust in the salons. The salon of Sofia Dmitrievna Ponomareva occupied a special place in St. Petersburg during Pushkin’s time. A charming, intelligent woman, she herself created the society of her salon. She knew languages, translated and wrote well. Delvig, Baratynsky, and Kuchelbecker were in love with her. In her salon there was no hint of luxury or pretensions to fashion; here everyone felt happy, free and easy. The album that has survived to this day, which was filled out by visitors to her salon, also speaks about Ponomareva’s salon.

Salon albums

Albums in Pushkin's era spread the taste for reading and writing and created a desire for literature. Pushkin, Baratynsky, and Batyushkov wrote in albums. The hostess gave the album to one of the visitors to the salon with a request to write poetry for her. The person who received the “task” read other entries and reacted to them. It turned out to be a conversation. Album lyrics are various madrigals, puns, epigrams. The album provided scope for a kind of album playing. Here, in addition to poetry, one could meet with instructions and teachings. For example, in Ponomareva’s album there are the following “Teacher’s Instructions” by N.I. Grech: “Sit upright at the table, don’t fight with your neighbors and don’t eat anything without bread. While walking along the streets, do not look at the windows. Do not mock old people and your teachers.”

Albums of that time and now serve as a precious source of poetic texts - many of them never made it into print during the author’s lifetime, others were used by the author several times to different recipients. As time passed, relationships between people changed. Additions to existing recordings appeared in the albums. So A.S. Pushkin wrote in A.A. Olenina’s album under the poem “I loved you” in 1833: “Pluskvamperfe is a long time ago.”

The album took a long time to fill, passed from mother to daughter. Grave crosses appeared near the records - a sign that the author of the record was no longer in the world. The album not only accompanied a person through life - it signified his relationship with death. They were afraid to write on the first sheet - there was a belief that whoever filled in the beginning of the album would die. The first entry often appeared on the last sheet, then in the middle. The albums contained not only recordings, but also drawings that actively complemented the words. So to the poem

My soul would have withered long ago

And the blood in my heart cooled,

If only I weren't supported...

instead of the last line there was a drawing: an anchor, a cross and a flaming heart. The meaning is clear: the anchor is hope, the cross is faith, the flaming heart is a sign of love.

The albums sparked a conversation. One writes: “Be silent about people’s weaknesses, shout about virtues,” and the other replies: “Virtue will show itself without shouting.” In response to an unsuccessful poetic compliment:

They say that the eyes are the mirror of the soul.

Your wise and dear ones are so good, -

immediately came the rebuke:

I have seen many such eyes,

That they have quite a bit of soul:

And look for the hearts in them, -

It was as if the heart never existed.

This is already a reflection of salon culture - the album seems to freeze a conversation that just took place in the living room.

Conclusion

“Albums have spread our taste for reading and writing—they have given us a taste for literature. And this is clear!..Women, these light, fickle, flighty creatures, but always dear to us - women do whatever they want with us, their zealous fans... Thanks to the women! They introduced albums into use and provided a pleasant and useful activity for our young people. – I’m even sure that since the appearance of albums we have begun to write better, more pleasantly; express yourself more freely, more decently, closer to public conversation.”

These are lines from the article “On Albums,” published in 1820 in the magazine “Blagonamerenny”. Apparently, this topic was already occupied by Pushkin’s contemporaries. In 1846, in a letter to Wulf, the poet Yazykov complained: “The album containing Pushkin’s poems is a treasure, and it should be preserved as a monument to that golden time when girls had albums.”

The amazing thing is that the album form has passed through a century and reached our time. The current generation, fascinated by computers and players, continues to be interested in them. It is very good that the form of the 19th century salon album has reached our time, at least in such a slightly modified, even vulgarized form..

Those fashions did not go to albums,

At least we have advanced a hundred years.

The girls pour their souls into them year after year,

Without hiding, without hiding hopes.

There was a golden time then,

A time of stormy passions and intrigue.

I see and hear you at this moment.

Learning to live from salon albums,

Reading them to friends on the way,

I want at least according to these templates

Learn to save their souls.

It seems to me that by studying the albums of that time in more detail and promoting them among students, it would be possible to encourage my peers to write correctly and be creative.

References

1 . Lotman Yu.M. Conversations about Russian culture. – St. Petersburg, 1994.

2. Chereysky L.A. Contemporaries of Pushkin. – L., Det.lit., 1981.

3. Marchenko N.A. Literary life of Pushkin's time. – “Literature at school”, 1997 -4.

4. Lukovich I.E. In the salon of Z.A. Volkonskaya. – “Literature at school”, 2003 -2.

5. Vatsuro V.E. Literary albums in the collection of the Pushkin House. – L., 1979. (There is a presentation for the work)

“Only a very enlightened woman can run a salon”

\ Prince P.A. Vyazemsky\

"And a provincial newcomer
The hostess was not embarrassed by her arrogance:
She was the same for everyone
Relaxed and sweet"

\ A.S. Pushkin\

Pushkin's time... This is what we now call the 20s - 30s of the 19th century... And then the golden age of Russian literature was just beginning... And it was in great demand national history... The era of reform and enlightenment bore fruit: a narrow layer of highly educated people appeared... And among them - amazing women...
Today we will remember them - those who were muses and first listeners... Thanks to whom the future great men of Russian literature could gather under one roof...

Olenin House

Fontanka, 101... This house has survived centuries unchanged. In it, from the director of the Public Library Alexey Olenin, young poet began to be accepted immediately after graduating from the Lyceum. The owner himself designed the title page of the first edition of Ruslan and Lyudmila. Here Pushkin first met Zhukovsky and Gnedich, Krylov and Batyushkov.
This was the center noble culture, where “opinions were formed on issues of literature and art.” Literary salons met the needs of mutual communication, exchange of opinions... They were able to have fun there (unlike our virtual)))))).
In the summer, meetings took place at the Priyutino country estate. It has now been well restored: both the house and even the oak trees planted by Olenin in memory of his sons have been preserved...
After exile in 1827, Pushkin returned to St. Petersburg. This time in Anna Olenina’s album he left the following dedication:

“You are afraid of love’s confession,
You will tear up the letter of love,
But the poetic message
You will read with a gentle smile...”

Then there will be many others, more serious, with the hope of a reciprocal feeling... And finally, the last one: “I loved you...”

Karamzin Salon

Contemporaries recognized Karamzin's wife, Ekaterina Andreevna, as one of the most outstanding women of the era. “Possessing her feelings and mind, she shone with perfection,” - this is how Pushkin sang about her in poetry. After the death of her husband in 1826, she completed and published the last (12th) volume of the History of the Russian State, continuing to expand Karamzin’s literary merits. Later, the historiographer’s daughters, Sophia and Ekaterina, helped run the Salon.
The Karamzin salon is mentioned in the sketches for “ Evgeniy Onegin»,

“In the living room, truly noble,
They shunned the panache of speeches
. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .
A secular and free mistress
The common folk style was adopted...”

This was the circle where they communicated native language and where ladies also took part in the discussion of new literature. Pushkin was also here with Natalie. Before last days The poet idolized Ekaterina Andreevna.

Voeikova and Ponomarev

Pushkin was unable to attend these St. Petersburg Salons - he was serving a southern exile. But his lyceum and literary friends were their regulars. These housewives had very different personalities and had never met each other.
Alexandra Voeykova, Zhukovsky’s niece (the ballad “Svetlana” is dedicated to her), is a gentle, sublime being, a draftswoman and musician... Her mansion was located next to the Anichkov Bridge. Evgeny Boratynsky wrote about her: “...And with you, the soul is full of sacred silence.” K. Ryleev dedicated the poem "Rogneda" to her. She was the muse of I. Kozlov and N. Yazykov. And she herself was fascinated by the poems of young Pushkin, recording them in her album.

Sofya Ponomareva... Cheerful, lively and flirty. She wrote poetry, knew 4 languages, and selected music. With the consent of her husband, she created the Salon "S.D.P." - “Class of Friends of Enlightenment”, where Masonic rituals were performed and humorous nicknames were assigned. Everything revolved around the hostess. And all... former lyceum students: M. Yakovlev, Kyukhlya and madly in love A. Illichevsky and A. Delvig. It is believed that the famous poem is dedicated to her: “Love’s days are short,\ But I can’t bear to see it cold...\”
Sonechka died on the threshold of her 30th birthday, leaving a bright mark in the souls of many poets...

"Princesse nocturne"

In the late evenings, the windows in the mansion of Princess Evdokia Golitsyna on Millionnaya Street, near the Winter Palace, glowed brightly... Guests came here in carriages, and among them was 18-year-old Pushkin. He met the hostess at the Karamzins'. The whole atmosphere of the palace was something mysterious... Starting with the fact that the princess received only at night. Not very happy in her personal life, she prioritized spiritual communication at the highest level.
The rare beauty and true patriot of Russia immediately captivated the Poet. In the same year, he dedicated a wonderful verse to Golitsyna (one of my favorites):
“Inexperienced lover of foreign lands
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .
I said: in my fatherland
Where is the right mind, where will we find genius?
Where is the woman - not with cold beauty,
But fiery, captivating, lively?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
I almost hated the Fatherland -
But yesterday I saw Golitsyna
And reconciled with my fatherland."

The literary tastes of the “Princess of the Night” were very progressive: all her closest friends were members of “Arzamas”... The poet visited Golitsyna every day, and in 1818 he sent her the Ode “Liberty” - with dedication.
From his first exile in May 1820, he writes to Al. Turgenev:
“Far away from the fireplace, the book. Golitsyna will freeze under the skies of Italy”... And in 1823, already from Odessa: “What is the poetic, unforgettable, constitutional, anti-Polish, heavenly princess Golitsyna doing?” (The princess was indignant that Poland was given a Constitution, but Russia was not).
Returning to St. Petersburg, Pushkin most often visits Delvig.

Among their

On Saturdays, a circle of writers met at V.A.’s bachelor apartment. Zhukovsky - not far from St. Nicholas Cathedral, and on Wednesdays and Sundays - at the Delvigs, near the Vladimir Church (the house was saved in the 90s of the 20th century). Anton had already published Northern Flowers and was happily married to Sofya Saltykova. This is where Pushkin, Kuchelbecker, A. Bestuzhev, K. Ryleev and others poured in.
While visiting a friend, the Poet often saw Anna Kern (she lived either with the Delvigs or with Pushkin’s sister - at the other end of the same Kuznechny Lane), but now they were connected only by friendship. In 1828, Pushkin read Poltava here... Delvig began publishing the Literary Newspaper in 1830, but in January next year his life was cut short. Alexander could not find a place for himself from grief.

"Beauties of the Centuries"

This is what Bella Akhmadulina called the brilliant women of that time. The first in this row, without a doubt, is Zinaida Volkonskaya... Refined, romantic and gifted with talents:
singers, musicians, writers, and most importantly: the ability to support any conversation.
She opened her famous Salon in Moscow, on Tverskaya. We all remember the picture that captures the moment of the meeting of Pushkin and Mickiewicz there...
"Queen of muses and beauty,
You hold with a gentle hand
Magic scepter of inspiration..."
This is an offering from Pushkin. But most of all the poems were dedicated to Her by the lover Dmitry Venevitinov, who died early. The salon brought together D. Davydov and P. Chaadaev, Khomyakov and Zagoskin and other Moscow writers. It was in it that Pushkin presented “Boris Godunov” and the last chapters of “Eugene Onegin”... Living later in Rome, the Princess hosted Zhukovsky and Gogol, encouraged Russian artists, and created the “Patriotic Conversation” society.
The high-society Salon was also maintained by Kutuzov’s granddaughter: Countess Fikelmon... Being the wife of the Austrian ambassador, she lived in Saltykov’s house - about Summer Garden. This is where Pushkin visited most often in the 1930s. These walls were the first to hear his new creations... In a letter from Moscow, the Poet is upset that he is “removed from the salon.” Calls the Countess "the most brilliant of noble ladies." And she regrets that “God made her sweeter” - she dreams of a simpler life.
In 1832, after her marriage, a good friend of Pushkin and Gogol, the independent and original Alexandra Rosset, opened the Salon in St. Petersburg on Liteiny.
She was interested in all types of arts and philosophy... Let us remember the famous lines of the Poet about her:
"... And like a child she was kind,
Laughed at the absurd crowd,
She judged sensibly and brightly,
And jokes of the blackest anger
I wrote straight out."

Friends called her "Donna Sol". This is what Vyazemsky emphasized in his verse:
“You are Donna Salt, and sometimes Donna Pepper!
. . . . . . . . . .
Oh, Donna Sugar! Donna Honey!

After Pushkin’s death that same year at the Karamzins’, Smirnova-Rosset met Lermontov, who dedicated beautiful poems to her:
"I can't occupy your mind...
All this would be funny
If only it weren't so sad..."

She loved Russian poetry selflessly. And after the death of two great Poets, she continued to serve her faithfully... Zhukovsky called her “The sweetest of the lovely, the smartest of the smart, the lovely of the lovely.” She even captivated Gogol, Belinsky and Aksakov - only later.

End of an era

In the mid-19th century, the Salons gradually “fell away”... along with Russian poetry. The famous expert on the world, Prince Peter Vyazemsky, noted: “That type of woman has disappeared. This ruler, this queen of secular sociability no longer exists.”