Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov is one of the most prominent representatives of Russian literature of the 18th century. He managed to theoretically substantiate classicism as literary direction, characteristic of Russia of that period. Sumarokov’s literary activity gives grounds to consider the writer both a successor of Lomonosov’s work and his antagonist. The relationship between these two talented and extraordinary personalities, which began with sincere admiration for Sumarokov, who in 1748 dedicated the lines to his senior colleague: “He is the Malgerb of our countries; he is like Pindar,” turned into friendly relations, and then into open personal and literary-theoretical enmity.
As an outstanding playwright, poet and one of the most prolific writers of his time, selflessly devoted literary work, A.P. Sumarokov created mainly for the noble class, while Lomonosov’s classicism was of a national and national character. As Belinsky later wrote, “Sumarokov was excessively exalted by his contemporaries and excessively humiliated by our time.” At the same time, for all its shortcomings literary creativity Sumarokov became one of important milestones in the history of Russian literature and culture of the 18th century.
The biography of Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov is rich in events, ups and downs. The future writer was born in 1717 into an impoverished aristocratic family. As a child, the boy received the traditional for his class home education, and when he was 14 years old, he was sent by his parents to the Land Noble Corps, where only children of nobles could study, who were prepared for leadership activities in the military, civil and court spheres. In the building where history, languages, geography, legal sciences, fencing and dancing were taught, young Sumarokov received an excellent classical education for those times. There he was instilled with a love of theater and literature. Over time, the gentry corps became a center of progressive noble culture. Here a lot of time was devoted to literature and art; a group of students, under the leadership of officers, in 1759 began publishing the magazine “Idle Time Used for Benefit,” where Sumarokov was published after graduating from the Corps in 1940. It was in the Corps that the premiere of the first Russian tragedy he wrote, which began the creation of the Russian dramatic repertoire. While still studying, two of his odes were printed in the building in honor of the celebration of the new year, 1740.
After graduating from the Gentry Corps, Sumarokov served in the military campaign office, but devoted all his free time to literary activity, which he treated as a professional matter. Which was quite unusual for that time.
Brought up in the Corps in the spirit of high ideas about the dignity, honor and virtue of a nobleman, about the need for selfless service to the Fatherland, he dreamed of conveying these ideals to noble society as a whole through literature. The writer addressed the authorities on behalf of the progressive part of the noble community. Over time, Sumarokov becomes the main ideologist of the nobility as a class, but not a conservative one, but a new nobility, which is the product of Peter the Great's reforms.
The nobility, according to Sumarokov, should serve social progress. And the writer zealously undertakes to defend the interests of the nobles. Considering the existing serfdom to be a completely natural and legalized phenomenon, he condemned the excessive cruelty of the feudal landowners and protested against the transformation of serfdom into slavery and considered all people equal by birth. As Sumarokov wrote in his comments to the “Order” of Catherine II, “people should not be sold like cattle.” But at the same time, he wrote the following lines: “peasant freedom is not only harmful to society, but also detrimental, and why it is detrimental is why should not be interpreted.” Sumarokov believed that the nobles were “the first members of society” and “sons of the fatherland” due to their upbringing and education, and therefore had the right to own and manage the peasants, whom he called “slaves of the fatherland.”
Being a convinced monarchist and an ardent supporter of enlightened absolutism, the writer sharply criticized monarchs who forget that power over their subjects also presupposes the fulfillment of certain duties towards them. “...we were born for you. And you were born for us,” he wrote in one of his odes. Sumarokov also never tired of reminding us of this in his tragedies. Such criticism sometimes put him in opposition to the government.
Outwardly quite prosperous, full of recognition and success, Sumarokov’s life, nevertheless, was difficult and full of sorrows. The writer was depressed that among the representatives of his class he did not find people close to the ideal that he himself had created. Disappointed more and more, he furiously denounces the unenlightened, despotic and cruel nobles, ridicules their behavior and boyar arrogance in fables and satires, denounces bribe-takers, and criticizes favoritism at court. The angry nobility began to persecute the writer. The extremely irritable and proud Sumarokov, already accustomed to recognition of his literary talent by fellow writers and unable to restrain his emotions, often lost his temper. At times it even reached the point of hysterics, which made him the talk of the town. Honest and direct, Sumarokov did not allow anyone to be insolent. He said unpleasant things to high-ranking government officials, frantically defended his copyright from encroachments, loudly cursed the arbitrariness of the authorities and their bribery, savagery Russian society, and in response, the noble “society” took revenge on the writer, deliberately pissing him off and openly mocking him.
Sumarokov’s role in the formation and development of Russian theater as a phenomenon is enormous. He was one of the founders and first director of the first permanent Russian theater. The order to create the theater and appoint Sumarokov was signed by Elizabeth I in 1756. For him theatrical activity was an opportunity to fulfill what he believed was his main purpose - the education of the nobility.
The existence of the theater would have been impossible without the dramatic works of Sumarokov, which made up its repertoire. By the time the theater opened, he had already written five tragedies and three comedies. Contemporaries highly valued the playwright and considered him “the founder of the Russian theater.”
In parallel with his theatrical activities, the writer worked a lot and fruitfully on literary field. In the period from 1755-1758. he actively collaborates with the academic journal “Monthly Works”, and in 1759 he begins to publish his own satirical and moralizing magazine “The Hardworking Bee”, which became the first private magazine in Russia.
His work as director lasted about five years, during which he had to face many technical and financial problems, which he was largely unable to solve due to his intractability and harshness. During this period, he repeatedly had to make requests to the all-powerful favorite of Elizabeth Petrovna, Count Shuvalov, and enter into conflicts with him and other nobles. In the end, he was forced to leave his brainchild - the theater, to which he devoted a lot of time and effort.
The last years of Sumarokov’s life were especially difficult for the writer. He leaves St. Petersburg and moves to Moscow, where he continues to write a lot. The liberal declarations of Catherine II, who at that time was the wife of the heir to the throne, brought him into the ranks of the anti-Elizabethan noble opposition.
After the coup of 1762, as a result of which Catherine II ascended the throne, the writer experienced deep disappointment associated with the collapse of his political hopes. Having now become in opposition to Catherine, he creates the tragedies “Dimitri the Pretender” and “Mstislav” on the political topic of the day. In “Dimitri the Pretender,” the despot monarch is sharply exposed and calls are made for his overthrow. The nobility is dissatisfied with this political orientation of the writer’s work, however, he continues to have success in literary circles, but this cannot console Sumarokov’s pride. With his harshness and intransigence, he turns the young empress against himself.
The patience of conservative noble circles and the court is filled with the news that, being an aristocrat by birth and an ideologist of the nobility, Sumarokov married one of his serfs. Loud protests begin against the writer trial the initiator of which was the family of his first wife, demanding the deprivation of property rights of his children from his second marriage. And although the trial was lost by the opposing party, this was the reason for the complete ruin of Sumarokov. The writer, entangled in financial problems, was forced to humiliatingly ask the rich man Demidov not to kick him and his family out of the house for unpaid debts. Added to this is bullying from high-ranking nobles. In particular, the Governor General of Moscow Saltykov becomes the organizer of the failure of Sumarokov’s tragedy “Sinav and Truvor”. Reduced to poverty, ridiculed and abandoned by everyone, the writer begins to drink and goes downhill.
When Sumarokov died in October 1777, unable to withstand the disasters that befell him, his family did not have funds for the funeral. Famous writer, playwright and public figure The actors of the Moscow theater he created were buried at the Donskoye Cemetery at their own expense.
Analyzing the life and work of Sumarokov, one can see that the main reason for his failures was idealistic ideas about life and a lack of practicality. He was the first nobleman who made literature his main life and profession. However, at that time, literary activity could not ensure financial well-being, and this became the cause of Sumarokov’s financial problems. As the writer wrote, addressing a petition to Catherine II: “The main reason for all this is my love for poetry, for I... cared not so much about ranks and property, as about my muse.”
Sumarokov himself, greatly exaggerating his role in the formation Russian poetry, considered himself its founder and stated that when he began to write poetry, he had no one to learn from, and he was forced to figure everything out on his own. Of course, these statements are very far from the truth, but it is also impossible to diminish Sumarokov’s merits in the formation and development of Russian poetry. If Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky developed the rules of syllabic-tonic versification in relation to the Russian language, and Lomonosov became the author of large-scale ones, then Sumarokov created examples of almost all types of Russian tonic verse. In all his guises, as a playwright, as a poet, as a theorist, as a critic, he sought to serve society, and believed that literary activity is one of the forms of active participation in public life of your country. He was a true patriot and a noble educator, whose creations were highly valued by leading people of that time, in particular, Radishchev and Novikov.
A.P. Sumarokov’s great merit is also the establishment of classicism in Russia. He acted both as one of the first theorists of Russian classicism and as a writer who created examples of almost all genres provided for by this literary movement.
Sumarokov began his literary work by writing odes back in 1740, in which he imitated Trediakovsky, who was already quite famous at that time. Having become acquainted with Lomonosov's odes, Sumarokov was delighted with them and for a long time worked under their influence. However, it was not the ode genre that made Sumarokov famous. It was difficult for him to gain fame as a lyric poet and one of the greatest Russian playwrights.
An important event for the literary community were two poetic epistles published by Sumarokov in 1748, in which the author declared himself as a theoretician of classicism. In the first of them, entitled “On the Russian Language,” he writes about the need to avoid introducing into Russian literary language foreign words. At the same time, the writer welcomes the use of outdated Church Slavonic words in literature. In this, he Sumarokov gets closer to Lomonosov.
In the second work, “Epistole on Poetry,” views are expressed that are opposite to Lomonosov’s judgments on this issue, who placed the ode above all literary genres, while Sumarokov asserts the equality of all genres and does not give preference to any of them. “Everything is praiseworthy: be it a drama, an eclogue or an ode - Compose what your nature attracts you to,” writes the poet.
Many years later, both of these epistles were combined into one and revised. The resulting work, “Instructions for those who want to be writers,” was published in 1774.
After the publication of the epistle, Sumarokov was accused of plagiarism. In particular, Trediakovsky reproached the writer for borrowing ideas expressed in Boileau’s “The Art of Poetry.” Sumarokov did not deny his dependence on the theory of the French poet, however, he pointed out that just as Boileau himself learned a lot, but not everything, from Horace, so he “... did not take everything from Boaleau...”.
Dramatic activity of Sumarokov. By the 40s of the 18th century. This also includes the beginning of Sumarokov’s activity as a playwright, who considered the theater the most effective means of educating the nobility. In his tragedies he raises important socially significant problems. Contemporaries, who called Sumarokov “northern Racine,” highly appreciated this type of his work and recognized him as the founder of the dramaturgy of Russian classicism.
It is Sumarokov’s tragedies that can give the most complete idea of his political views. In them he expresses his aspirations to create a society in which each of its members knew and fulfilled their responsibilities. The writer was eager to return the “golden ages”, believing at the same time that the prosperity of society is possible even under the existing social order, if some lawlessness and disorder are eliminated.
With the help of his tragedies, Sumarokov tried to show what, in his understanding, a truly enlightened monarch should be. The tragedies were also supposed to educate the “first sons of the fatherland” - the nobility, awakening in them patriotism and a sense of civic duty. He tirelessly convinced the monarchs that not only were subjects born to serve the monarch, but the monarch should also take care of the benefit of his subjects.
Sumarokov’s first dramatic work, the tragedy “Khorev,” was published in 1747. The tragedy takes place in Ancient Rus', and although the names of the characters are taken from historical sources, none real events are not present in it. However, in the future, in his tragedies, he tried to choose pseudo-historical plots about the past of the Fatherland, with a pronounced patriotic overtones, considering such plots more effective in educating virtuous nobles. It was the patriotism of Russian classicism that became its distinctive feature from Western European, which was based primarily on ancient subjects.
Sumarokov's tragedies, indeed, had invaluable educational value. Many nobles, who did not really like reading, but tried to keep up with the times and regularly attend theatrical performances, received lessons in morality and patriotism from the stage, and listened high words about nobility and duty, and, perhaps for the first time, received food for thought about the injustice of the existing tyranny. One of the most prominent educators of the 18th century. N.I. Novikov wrote about Sumarokov that although he was the first to write tragedies in Russian according to all the rules theatrical arts, but succeeded so much in this that he could be put on a par with Racine.
It is interesting that the playwright himself was extremely dissatisfied with the audience, who, instead of listening, gnawed nuts and whipped the offending servants.
Designed for the upbringing and education of the noble class alone, dramatic works Sumarokov had a wider public response. According to contemporaries, one of best works playwright - the play “Dimitri the Pretender”, was very popular among the general public even in the 1820s.
Comedies by Sumarokov
In the comedy genre, Sumarokov’s biography is quite rich. With its help, the author skillfully expressed his thoughts.
The comedy “Epistol on Poetry” was defined by the playwright as social and educational, where human vices exposed in a funny way, where their exposure should also contribute to their release. Thus formulating the theory of this genre, Sumarokov noted that it is very important for comedy to be distinctive from tragedy and farcical games:
"For knowledgeable people Don’t write games: To make people laugh without reason is the gift of a vile soul.”
Having managed to distinguish comedy from the games of the crowd, Sumarokov in his works turns to the practice of folk theater. The comedies themselves are not large in volume and are written in prose. They do not have a plot basis. This especially applies to Sumarokov’s first comedies, which are characterized by farcical comedy. All the characters he noticed were from Russian life.
Imitating the French comedies of Moliere, Sumarokov was far removed from the comedies of Western classicism, which usually were always in verse and consisted of five acts. According to the standards, it had to contain compositional rigor, completeness, with the obligatory observance of personalization. As for Sumarokov, his imitation of Italian interludes and French comedy was reflected to a greater extent only in the use of conventional names of characters: Dorant and Erast, Dulizh and Isabella.
He wrote twelve comedies. They may have had a number of advantages, but as for artistic value and ideologically, everything was inferior to the tragedies of the playwright.
Some of the first comedies were: Tresotinius, An Empty Quarrel and Monsters, written in 1750. In the 60s, the following group of comedies appeared: “Poisonous” and “Dowry by Deception”, “Narcissist” and “Guardian”, “The Covetous Man” and “Three Brothers Together”. In 1772, three more comedies were released: “The Screwtape,” “Cuckold by Imagination” and “Mother Companion to Daughter.” Sumarokov's comedies served him, to a greater extent, as a means of polemics, which is why most of them are marked by a pamphlet character.
He did not work on his comedies for a long time. This was his distinguishing feature from writing tragedies. Every acting character, his first comedies, when appearing on stage he demonstrated his vices to the public, and the scenes had a mechanical connection with each other. Small comedies featured many characters, up to 10 characters each. The portrait resemblance of the characters made it possible for contemporaries to recognize those who served as prototypes of this or that hero. Household details and negative phenomena life of that time, gave his comedies a connection with obvious reality, regardless of the conventions of the image.
The strongest point of the playwright's comedies was their language. It was bright and expressive, often tinged with the features of lively speech. This revealed the writer’s desire to demonstrate the individuality of speech of each of the characters, especially characteristic of Sumarokov’s comedies, written later.
Often directed against enemies in the field of literary activity, the controversial nature of Sumarkov’s first comedies is easily traced in the comedy-pamphlet “Tresotinius”. The main character in it is a pedantic scientist, in whom Trediakovsky was depicted. The images created in the first comedies were far from standard generalizations and were approximate. Regardless of the fact that the conventional portrayal of characters is also typical for the second group of comedies, they are still distinguished by greater depth and limitations in the depiction. In them, the entire emphasis is on the main character, all other characters are present only to reveal the basics of the character, the main one. For example, “The Guardian” is one of the comedies where the nobleman Stranger is a moneylender and a big swindler. “Poisonous” carries the slanderer Herostratus, and “Narcissus” is a comedy about a narcissistic goldfinch.
Minor characters - characters who carry positive characteristics and acting only as resonators. Comical images negative heroes, Sumarkov turned out much more successful than the positive ones. Their characters emphasized satirical and everyday aspects, although still far removed from the true reality of a socially generalized type.
Perhaps the comedy "The Guardian" is one of the best comedies of that period. In the center of attention, we are presented with the image of a nobleman - the bigot and greedy Stranger, fleecing the orphans who fell under his care. The true identity of the Stranger was a relative of Sumarokov himself. It is significant that he was again portrayed centrally in other comedies. In “The Guardian” Sumarokov does not demonstrate the bearer of one single vice, but creates a complex character. Before us appears not only a miser who does not know conscience and pity, we see a bigot, an ignoramus and a libertine.
Some similarities with Tartuffe and Moliere paint a generalized and rather conventional image of the satirical genre, dedicated to the vicious Russian nobleman. Complements character development speech characteristic and household items. The Stranger's speech is replete with proverbs and sayings: “what is taken is holy,” “abuse does not hang at the gate.” In his sanctimonious repentance, when turning to God, his speech is filled with church Slavicisms: “Lord, I know that I am a rogue and a soulless person and I have not the slightest love for you or my neighbor; I alone trust in your love for mankind, I cry to you: remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.”
Surprisingly, even goodies, in Sumarokov’s comedies, there is no vitality. They, for the most part, act as resonators. One such resonator is Valery, in the comedy “Guardian”. Common nouns negative heroes: Stranger, Kashchei, Herostratus, corresponded to the moralizing goals characteristic of classicism.
The period of the 60s and 70s was characterized by the growth of opposition sentiments to enlightened absolutism among the various intelligentsia and the progressive nobility. This was the period when Russian educational thought turned to peasant question. In various literary genres Quite carefully, socially deliberately, the relationship between landowners and peasants began to be resolved. Life, surrounding a person, the desire for a complex disclosure of the psychology of the characters’ characters, in the established certain social conditions, is characteristic of the best works of drama of the second half of the century.
The first everyday comedy was written by Fonvizin between 1766-1769. It had content filled with the meaning of life of the Russian nobility from the provinces, and was called “Brigadier”. Her influence, in a certain way, was reflected in Sumarokov’s later comedies. Following Fonvizin’s “Brigadier,” the best comedy in Sumarokov’s work was published. This play was called "Cuckold by Imagination." She, in turn, preceded the appearance of the play “Minor” by Fonvizin. The center of attention of the writer-playwright was the life of the provincial, not very rich landowners Vikul and Khavronya - limited by interests. They are ignorant and narrow-minded. However, the characters in Sumarkov's comedy lack stability in their approach to life. The narrow-mindedness and stupidity of these people, who speak only “about sowing, about reaping, about threshing, about chickens,” is ridiculed; Sumarokov also depicts a number of features that evoke sympathy for the characters, touching the audience with their mutual affection. In this case, these characters of Surmakov precede Gogol’s “Old World Landowners”. And the comedy “Cuckold by Imagination” is the pinnacle of Sumarokov’s creativity in this genre.
Poetry of Sumarokov
Sumarokov’s creativity was manifested in its diversity and richness poetic genre. In an effort to provide a standard for all types of poetry, the writer was able to provide for the theory of classicism in his work. He created odes and elegies, songs and eclogues, idylls and madrigals, as well as many epigrams and parables. The fundamental directions in his poetry were lyrical and satirical. Even in the first ten years of his creative activity, he began to create love songs, who used great success from contemporaries.
Region love lyrics gave him the opportunity for undoubted discoveries, turning to man and his natural weaknesses. Despite the conventional depiction of the heroes, in his songs the writer tries to reveal the inner, deep world and sincerity of the heroes’ feelings. His lyrics are heartfelt and simple. It is filled with spontaneity, with its inherent clarity of expression. Sumarokov's lyrics, which appeared after the lyrics of Peter the Great's time, in the field of content and technique of poetry, took a huge step forward.
He liked to use the technique of antithesis to reveal the depth to the maximum psychological state their lyrical heroes, allowing romanticism and spiritual qualities. Recognizing the full value of the rights of love themes, where feelings are overcome by reason, Sumarokov himself is very far from moralizing positions.
“Love is the source and foundation of all breath: and in addition to this, the source and foundation of poetry,” the author writes in his preface to the Eclogues.
The song, “In vain I hide...,” seems to be one of the best in its deep essence and sincerity of feelings, complementing the subtle psychologism. With this poem, the author managed to convey the struggle of passions and reason, the subtle experiences of the human soul and heart.
The songs: “In the grove, the girls were walking,” “Forgive me, my dear, my light, forgive me,” and “Why does the heart tremble, why does the blood burn,” he wrote in the folk spirit. In addition to them, war songs and satirical couplet songs are also created. Sumarokov writes on military theme“Oh, you strong, strong city of Bender.” In his songs he uses different poetic meters, repeating the folk style in the rhythm of a number of songs.
Sumarokov, who wrote odes and psalms, became an example of various genres of poetry. The development of subsequent poetry was, in a certain way, due to the influence of his poetry. In the area lyric poetry N. Lvov and Neledinsky-Meletsky and others became his students.
However, the reading public gave much greater preference to Sumarokov’s poetry, which consisted of satirical themes, as well as his epigrams, parables, and satires. “His parables are considered the treasure of Russian Parnassus. In this kind of poem, he far surpasses Phaedrus and de la Fontaine,” wrote N. I. Novikov.
Quite rightly, researchers point to Sumarokov’s discovery of the fable genre, especially for Russian literature, giving it the form in which it has lived and lived since then. He wrote 374 parables - in free iambic meter, which later became the classic meter of fables in Russia. His fables are like living satirical stories in which the disorder of our Russian life was ridiculed and condemned, and their characters are specific bearers of vices, including political ones.
Sumarokov affected every layer of Russian society. The kings condemned by the author are his lions, about whom he freely discusses in “The Blockhead” and “The Lion’s Feast.” Almost all of his satirical works are directed against bribe-takers and nobles, clerks and bureaucrats. In his fables, Russian nobles and ignorant, cruel feudal landowners in “The Arrogant Fly” and “Satire and Vile People,” as well as all kinds of officials, are subjected to inexorable condemnation.
The writer’s hatred of clerks was described by Belinsky: “Whatever Sumarokov’s talent, his satirical attacks on the “nettle seed” will certainly rightfully receive an honorable mention from a historian of Russian literature.”
The harsh satire of Sumarokov’s fables necessitated turning to obvious life stories, and the parables are filled with scenes taken from life itself, accompanied by witty and apt details of everyday life. Directly, in the satirical genre of the playwright’s work, the trend of realism was laid down. Sumarokov's fables are completely diverse in their themes, but in each of them hypocrisy and stinginess are ridiculed. Either in the person of the merchant’s widow from the parable “The Legless Soldier”, or in the custom of fist fighting in “Fist Fight”. Sumarokov draws a funny scene in which a disputant wife pesters her husband with her grumpiness, challenging the obvious, in “Disputant”.
Most of the plots for Sumarokov’s parables are not new in their themes. Similar themes had previously been encountered in Aesop, La Fontaine and Phaedrus, but it is Sumarokov’s fables that are distinguished by their content, style, and new fable size. They are filled with topicality, and turn their attention to Russian reality, with a distinctive sharpness in attacks and an intentionally simple and crude style. This approach is provided for by the fable genre of “low spirit”. Such harshness in tone and roughness of style, with painted pictures, was caused by the desire to reveal the vices of reality. This clearly distinguished Sumarokov’s style of fables from Western satirists.
Reading the playwright’s parables, one clearly feels a rich and lively language, close to the vernacular, full of sayings. The parables written with their help formed the basis of two books by Sumarokov, which were called “Parables of Alexander Sumarokov” and were published in 1762 and 1769. Sumarokov’s work in fable art was followed by his students and contemporaries: M. Kheraskov, A. Rzhevsky, I. Bogdanovich, etc.
The pathos of exposure is characteristic of all Sumarokov’s works. His satire, written in lively speech in verse, is also filled with it. In satire, the writer expands and continues Kantemir’s line in “On Nobility” both in its theme and in its focus - it rises to the level of the satire “Filaret and Eugene”. The works are aimed at ridiculing the nobility, which flaunts its “nobility” and “ noble title" Written in free iambic, like a parable, one of Sumarkov’s best satires, “Admonition to the Son.” In it, he sharply and caustically portrays an old cunning clerk who, being on the verge of death, teaches his son how to be happy in life, following the example of his father - not to follow the straight path. The rest of the author's satirical works are written in Alexandrian verse.
Sumarokov also speaks out against the gallomaniacal nobility polluting the beauty of the Russian language in his satire “On the French Language.” Particularly interesting is his “Chorus to the Perverse Light,” a satirical work written by Sumarokov to order. It was created for the “Minerva Triumphant” masquerade held in Moscow. The masquerade was timed to coincide with the accession to the throne of Catherine II, and took place in 1763 on Maslenitsa. However, such satirical sharpness and topicality of Sumarokov’s “Chorus” was allowed only in an abridged version. Talking about an ideal overseas country with its praiseworthy orders, the author talks about the unrest and disorder that obviously and painfully reigns in his country.
“Choir” is close in its poetic composition to Russian folk song. This work deservedly takes pride of place in the satirical and accusatory style of Russian literature XVIII century. Always considered serfdom, a necessary measure, Sumarokov opposed the excessive cruelty of landowners who abuse their power over the peasants. The sharpness of the satire in “The Chorus” was well felt by contemporaries. For the first time, “The Choir” was published in its entirety only in 1787, by N.I. Novikov, in the collected works of Sumarokov, after his death. Several decades later, in the 40s years XIX Sumarokov's satirical works began to be published in an abbreviated form.
Please note that the biography of Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov presents the most important moments from his life. This biography may omit some minor life events.
Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich
Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich (1717 – 1777), poet, playwright. Born on November 14 (25 BC) in Moscow into an old noble family. Until the age of fifteen he was educated and raised at home.
In 1732 - 40 he studied at the Land Noble Corps, where he began to write poetry, imitating Trediakovsky. He served as an adjutant to Count G. Golovkin and Count A. Razumovsky and continued to write, at this time being strongly influenced by Lomonosov’s odes.
After some time, he found his own genre - love songs, which received public recognition and were widely distributed in lists. He develops poetic depiction techniques mental life And psychological conflicts, later used by him in tragedies.
Sumarokov's lyrics were met with disapproval by Lomonosov, a supporter of civic issues. Controversy between Lomonosov and Sumarokov on issues poetic style represented an important stage in the development of Russian classicism.
From love songs Sumarokov moves on to poetic tragedies - “Khorev” (1747), “Hamlet” (1748), “Sinav and Truvor” (1750). For the first time in the history of Russian theater, these works used the achievements of French and German educational drama. Sumarokov combined in them personal, love themes with social and philosophical issues. The appearance of tragedies served as an incentive for the creation of the Russian Theater, of which Sumarokov (1756 – 61) became the director.
In 1759 he published the first Russian literary magazine“The industrious bee,” who acted on the side of the court group, which focused on future empress Catherine II.
At the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, Sumarokov's literary fame reached its zenith. Young satirists, grouped around N. Novikov and Fonvizin, support Sumarokov, who writes fables directed against bureaucratic tyranny, bribery, and inhumane treatment of serfs by landowners.
In 1770, after moving to Moscow, Sumarokov came into conflict with the Moscow commander-in-chief P. Saltykov. The Empress took Saltykov's side, to which Sumarokov responded with a mocking letter. All this worsened his social and literary position.
In the 1770s, he created his best comedies (“Cuckold by Imagination”, “Crazy Woman”, 1772) and tragedies “Dmitry the Pretender” (1771), “Mstislav” (1774). He participated as a director in the work of the theater at Moscow University, published the collections “Satires” (1774), “Elegies” (1774).
The last years of his life were marked by material deprivation and loss of popularity, which led to an addiction to alcoholic beverages. This was the cause of Sumarokov’s death on October 1 (12 n.s.) 1777 in Moscow.
Brief biography from the book: Russian writers and poets. Brief biographical dictionary. Moscow, 2000.
The brightest representative of classicism was Alexander Sumarokov (1717 – 1777). However, already in his work there are differences from the high “calm” that he declared. He introduced elements of middle and even low style into “high tragedy.” The reason for this creative approach was that the playwright sought to give vitality to his creations, coming into conflict with the previous literary tradition.
The purpose of creativity and ideas of Sumarokov’s plays
Belonging to the ancient noble family and brought up on the ideals of nobility and honor, he believed that all nobles should live up to this high standard. Studying in the Corps of Gentry, friendship and communication with other young idealistic nobles only strengthened this idea of his. But reality did not live up to the dreams. The playwright met everywhere in high society laziness, cowardice, was surrounded by intrigue and flattery. This made him very angry. The unbridled nature of the young talent often led the writer into conflicts with noble society. For example, Alexander could easily throw a heavy glass at a landowner, who enthusiastically talked about how he punished his serfs. But the future genius got away with a lot, since he gained fame as a court poet and enjoyed the patronage of monarchs.
A.P. Sumarokov, art. F. Rokotov
The goal of his creativity - both drama and poetry - Sumarokov considered education among the nobles noble traits character. He even risked lecturing royalty because they did not live up to the ideal he had drawn. Gradually, the author’s mentorship began to irritate the court. If at the beginning of his career the playwright enjoyed special immunity, then at the end of his life the playwright lost the patronage even of Catherine II, who never forgave him for his malicious epigrams and messages. Alexander Petrovich died alone and in poverty at the age of 61.
His dramaturgy was frankly didactic in nature. But this does not mean that it was uninteresting or unoriginal. Sumarokov's plays are written in brilliant language. The playwright gained fame among his contemporaries
“northern Racine”, “Boileau’s confidant”, “Russian Molière”.
Of course, in these plays there is some imitation of Western classicists, but it was almost impossible to avoid this. Although Russian drama of the 18th century was deeply original, it could not help but use the best Western models to create Russian dramatic works
Tragedies of Sumarokov
Alexander Petrovich is responsible for 9 tragedies. Literary scholars divide them into two groups.
The first includes tragedies written in 1740-1750.
These are “Horev” (1747), “Hamlet” (1748), “Sinav and Truvor” (1750), “Ariston” (1750), “Semira” (1751), “Dimiza” (1758).
The second group of tragedies was written after a 10-year break:
“Yaropolk and Dimiza” (1768) (revised “Dimiza” 1958) “Vysheslav” (1768), “Dimitri the Pretender” (1771), “Mstislav” (1774).
From tragedy to tragedy, the tyrannical pathos of the author's works increases. The heroes of tragedies, in accordance with aesthetics, are clearly divided into positive and negative. In tragedies there is practically a minimum of action. The bulk of the time is occupied by monologues of the main characters, often addressed to the viewer, and not to what is happening on stage. In monologues, the author, with his characteristic directness, sets out his moralizing thoughts and moral principles. Due to this, the tragedies play out in dynamics, but the essence of the play turns out to be contained not in the actions, but in the speeches of the characters.
The first play “Khorev” was written and staged by the playwright during his years of study in the gentry corps. She quickly gained recognition and popularity. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself loved to watch it. The action of the play is transferred to the era Kievan Rus. But the “historicity” of the play is very conditional; it is just a screen for expressing thoughts that were completely modern for the playwright’s era. It is in this play that the author argues that the people were not created for the monarch, but the monarch exists for the people.
The tragedy embodies the conflict characteristic of Sumarokov between the personal and the public, between desire and duty. Main character plays - Kyiv Tsar Cue - he himself is guilty of tragic ending conflict. Wanting to test the loyalty of his subject Khorev, he instructs him to oppose the father of his beloved Osmelda, Zavlokh, who was once expelled from Kyiv. The ending of the tragedy could have been happy (as in the free translation of Hamlet with a changed ending), but court intrigues ruin the lovers. According to Alexander Petrovich, the reason for this is the tsar’s despotism and arrogance.
The tyrant-fighting idea was most embodied in his last tragedy - “Dimitri the Pretender”. The play contains direct calls for the overthrow royal power, stated through the mouths of minor characters: Shuisky, Parmen, Ksenia, Georgy. How much resonance the publication and production of the tragedy caused can be judged by the reaction of Catherine II, who read the work and said that it was “an extremely harmful little book.” At the same time, this tragedy was shown in theaters until the 20s of the 19th century.
Comedies by Sumarokov
The author's comedies, despite the fact that in their artistic features they are weaker than the “high tragedies,” are of great importance in the formation and development of Russian drama. Like tragedies, his comedic plays are written with “educational” and educational goals and are distinguished by accusatory pathos. Comedies, unlike tragedies, are written in prose and are not very long in length (1-2, less often 3 acts). They often lack a clear plot; what happens in them looks like a farce. The characters in the playwright's comedies are people he saw in everyday life: priests, judges, peasants, soldiers, etc.
The strongest side of the comedies was their motley and deeply original language. Despite the fact that the author spent much less time creating comedies than tragedies, he managed to convey the flavor of contemporary folk life. Of the 12 comedies he wrote, the most famous was the comedy called. “Cuckold by Imagination,” in which the playwright ridiculed the denseness and despotism of the landowners.
On the significance of the playwright’s activities in the creation and development of the Russian theater -
Did you like it? Don't hide your joy from the world - share itAlexander Petrovich Sumarokov (1717–1777) - Russian poet, writer and playwright of the 18th century.
Born into a noble family on November 14 (25), 1717 in St. Petersburg. He studied at home, continued his education in the Land Noble Corps, where he began to engage in literary work, translating psalms into verses, composing “congratulatory odes” to Empress Anna on behalf of the cadets, and songs based on the model French poets and V.K. Trediakovsky (Tredyakovsky). After graduating from the corps in 1740, he was enlisted first in the military campaign office of Count Minich, then as an adjutant to Count A. G. Razumovsky.
Polyphony is characteristic of human feeblemindedness.
Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich
His first tragedy, Horev, was published in 1747 and performed at court and brought him fame. His plays were performed at court by F. G. Volkov's troupe, which was contracted from Yaroslavl.
When a permanent theater was established in 1756, Sumarokov was appointed director of this theater and for a long time he remained the main “supplier” of the repertoire. Horeb was followed by eight tragedies, twelve comedies and three opera librettos.
At the same time, Sumarokov, who worked extremely quickly, developed in other areas of literature. In 1755–1758, he was an active contributor to the academic journal “Monthly Works,” and in 1759 he published his own satirical and moralizing journal, “The Hardworking Bee” (the first private magazine in Russia). Collections of his fables were published in 1762–1769, and a number of collections of his poems were published from 1769 to 1774.
The perception of other people's words, especially without necessity, is not enrichment, but damage to the language.
Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich
Despite his proximity to the court, the patronage of nobles, and the praise of admirers, Sumarokov did not feel appreciated and constantly complained about the lack of attention, censorship and ignorance of the public. In 1761 he lost control of the theater. Later, in 1769, he moved to Moscow. Here, abandoned by his patrons, bankrupt and drunk, he died on October 1 (12), 1777. He was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
Sumarokov’s creativity develops within the framework of classicism, in the form that he accepted in France XVII- beginning XVIII centuries Modern admirers therefore more than once proclaimed Sumarokov “Boileau’s confidant”, “northern Racine”, “Molière”, “Russian Lafontaine”.
Sumarokov’s literary activity attracts attention with its external diversity. He tried all genres: odes (solemn, spiritual, philosophical, anacreontic), epistles (epistles), satires, elegies, songs, epigrams, madrigals, epitaphs; In his poetic technique, he used all the meters that existed at that time, made experiments in the field of rhyme, and used a variety of strophic structures.
Morality without politics is useless, politics without morality is inglorious.
Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich
However, Sumarokov's classicism is different, for example, from the classicism of his older contemporary Lomonosov. Sumarokov “lowers” classical poetics. The “decline” is expressed in the desire for less “high” themes, in the introduction of personal, intimate motives into poetry, in the preference for “middle” and “low” genres over “high” genres.
Sumarokov creates large number lyrical works in the genre of love songs, works of many satirical genres - fables, comedies, satires, epigrams.
Sumarokov puts before satire didactic task- “to rule the temper with mockery, to make people laugh and to use its direct rules”: Sumarokov ridicules the empty class swagger (“not in title, in action one must be a nobleman”), warns against abuse of landowner power (see especially “Chorus to the Perverse Light”, where the “tit” says that “they don’t trade people overseas, they don’t put villages on the map, they don’t skin peasants”).
Sumarokov is one of the founders of Russian parody, the author of the cycle of “Nonsense Odes”, ridiculing the “furious” odic style of Lomonosov.
Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov - photo
SUMAROKOV Alexander Petrovich was born into an old noble family - a writer.
His father, Pyotr Pankratievich, was a military man of Peter the Great's time and rose to the rank of colonel. In 1737, Pyotr Pankratyevich entered the civil service with the rank of state councilor, in 1760 he received the rank of privy councilor, and upon his resignation in 1762, he became an actual privy councilor.
Alexander Petrovich received a good education at home under the guidance of his father (“I owe it to my father for the first foundations in the Russian language”) and foreign tutors, among whom is the name of I. A. Zeikan, who taught the future Peter II at the same time.
On May 30, 1732, Sumarokov was accepted into the newly established Land Noble Cadet Corps (“knightly academy,” as it was still called then) - the first secular educational institution advanced type, preparing its students for “positions of officers and officials.” The teaching in the corps was rather superficial: the cadets were taught, first of all, good manners, dancing and fencing, but the interest in poetry and theater, which was widespread among the students of the “knightly academy,” turned out to be useful for the future poet. The cadets took part in court festivities (they performed in ballet divertissements and dramatic performances), and presented the empress with congratulatory odes of their compositions (at first without the names of the authors - from the entire “Grandry Academy of Youth Sciences”, and then poems signed by Mikhail Sobakin began to be added to them).
In 1740, the first literary experience in print took place; two congratulatory odes to Anna Ioannovna are known “on the first day of the new year 1740, from cadet corps composed through Alexander Sumarokov.
In April 1740, Alexander Petrovich was released from the Gentry Corps and appointed to the post of adjutant to the vice-chancellor gr. M. G. Golovkin, and soon after the latter’s arrest he became adjutant of gr. A. G. Razumovsky - the favorite of the new Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The position of adjutant general of major rank gave him access to the palace.
In 1756, already with the rank of foreman, he was appointed director of the newly opened permanent Russian theater. Almost all the concerns about the theater fell on Sumarokov’s shoulders: he was a director and teacher acting, selected the repertoire, dealt with economic issues, even composed posters and newspaper advertisements. For five years he worked tirelessly in the theater, but as a result of a number of complications and repeated clashes with K. Sivers, who was in charge of the court office, subordinate to whom the theater was in 1759, he was forced to resign in 1761.
From 1761 the writer did not serve anywhere else, devoting himself entirely to literary activity.
In 1769 he moved to Moscow, where, with occasional trips to St. Petersburg, he lived until the end of his days.
The socio-political views of Alexander Petrovich were clearly of a noble nature: he was a supporter of the monarchy and the preservation of serfdom in Russia. But the demands he made on both monarchs and nobles were very high. The monarch must be enlightened, for him the “good” of his subjects is above all, he must strictly observe the laws and not succumb to his passions; the nobility must also justify their privileges by zealous service to society (“not in title - in action one must be a nobleman”), education (“and if the lordly peasant’s mind is not clearer, || then I don’t see any difference”), humane treatment to the serfs (“Ah! Should cattle have people? || Isn’t it a pity? Can a bull sell people to a bull?”). But, since over time the reigning empress and the nobility surrounding the writer corresponded less and less to the ideal created by Sumarokov, his work took on a sharper satirical and accusatory orientation. Being mainly a rationalist in his philosophical and aesthetic views, he was not alien to sensualism. Having categorically stated that “the mind always abhors dreams,” Sumarokov could at the same time say:
“He labors in vain,
Who infects only the mind with his mind:
He's not a poet yet,
Who only depicts a thought,
Having cold blood;
But the poet is the one who infects the heart
And the feeling depicts
Having hot blood" ( "Image Flaw").
Like most poets of the XVIII c., Alexander Petrovich began his creative path from love lyrics. The love poems (songs, eclogues, idylls, elegies) that he wrote throughout his literary career were still quite conventional, but in the best of them the poet managed to express sincere emotional experiences, the spontaneity of feelings
“O beings, the composition without an image is mixed”,
“In vain I hide the hearts of fierce sorrow”,
"Don't cry so much, darling" and others.
In some of his songs he used elements of folk poetry
“The girls were walking in the grove”,
"Oh, you are strong, strong Bendergrad",
“Wherever I walk, wherever I walk” and others.
The writer's romance works have gained great popularity among secular society, having caused many imitators, they also penetrated into the democratic environment (in handwritten songbooks). Diverse in stanzas, rich in rhythm, simple in form, his songs differed favorably from previous love lyrics and played a positive role in the development of Russian poetry. Greatest glory Sumarokov won among his contemporaries as a playwright, and primarily as an author of tragedies. They wrote nine tragedies:
"Horev" (1747),
"Hamlet" (1748),
"Sinav and Truvor" (1750),
"Ariston" (1750),
"Semira" (1751),
“Demiza” (1758, later remade into “Yaropolk and Demiza”),
"Vysheslav" (1768),
"Dimitri the Pretender" (1771),
"Mstislav" (1774).
Sumarokov’s tragedies are maintained in the strict rules of the poetics of classicism, which for Russian literature were formulated by him himself in the “epistol” on poetry (in the brochure “Two Bishops”. The first is about the Russian language, and the second - about poetry", St. Petersburg, 1748).
In the writer's tragedies the unity of action, place and time is observed; characters are sharply divided into positive and negative; the characters are static, and each of them was the bearer of one “passion”; a harmonious five-act composition and a small number of characters helped the plot develop economically and in the direction of revealing the main idea. The author’s desire to convey his thoughts to the viewer was served by a relatively simple and clear language; “Alexandrian” verse (iambic hexameter with paired rhyme), with which all tragedies are written, sometimes acquired an aphoristic sound.
In tragedies, persons from the aristocratic environment were removed; The playwright took the plots for most of them from national history. Although the historicism of the writer’s tragedies was very conditional and was limited mainly to the use of historical names, nevertheless, historical and national themes were a distinctive feature of Russian classicism: Western European classicistic tragedy was built primarily on the material ancient history. The main conflict in the tragedies of Sumarokov A.P. usually consisted of a struggle between “reason” and “passion,” between public duty and personal feelings, and the social principle won in this struggle. Such a conflict and its resolution were intended to cultivate civic feelings among the noble viewer, to instill in him the idea that state interests should be above all. In addition, the public resonance of Sumarokov’s tragedies was further aggravated by the fact that they increasingly began to receive a political orientation, in them the tyrannical autocrats were more and more sharply exposed (“A nobleman, or a leader, a victorious king || A contemptuous creature without virtue”), and in “Dimitri the Pretender” the playwright demanded that the tyrant tsar be overthrown from the throne: he is “Moscow, Russia’s enemy and tormentor of his subjects.” At the same time, it is characteristic that the “people” who first appeared here on the Russian stage had to overthrow the villain ruler. Having transferred the action of the tragedy to the relatively recent past of the Russian state, the author filled “Dimitri the Pretender” with burning questions of his modernity - about the nature of political power in the country. Of course, Sumarokov could not openly declare the reign of Catherine II despotic, but with many topical and fairly transparent hints he quite definitely expressed his negative attitude towards Catherine’s regime. However, the pronounced tyrannical orientation of this tragedy should not be perceived as S.’s condemnation of the very monarchical principle of government: even in the most pathetic places of “Demetrius the Pretender” they were talking about replacing the tyrant king with a “virtuous” monarch. But the objective impact of the tragedy could be much broader than the subjective, class-limited plan of the playwright. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the interpretation that was given to its translation into French, published in Paris in 1800 (“its plot, almost revolutionary, is obviously in direct contradiction with the morals and political system of this country...”). "Dimitri the Pretender" marked the beginning of the Russian political tragedy.
The merits of Sumarokov, a tragicographer, also include his creation of a whole gallery of diverse, attractive female images. Gentle and meek, courageous and strong-willed, they were distinguished by high moral principles.
In addition to tragedies, Alexander Petrovich wrote 12 comedies at different times, the drama “The Hermit” (1757), operas "Cephalus and Procris"(1755) and Alceste (1758).
His comedies were less successful than tragedies, since they touched on less significant aspects of social life and served as an addition to the main part of the performance. Nevertheless, in the process of the formation of Russian national drama, his comedies occupied a certain place. Like tragedy, comedy, according to Sumarokova, pursued educational goals and satirically ridiculed personal and social shortcomings. Her characters were most often persons taken from the environment (“scripts”). Hence the lampooning nature of most of Sumarokov’s comedies:
"Tresotinius"
"Arbitration Court"
"Husband and Wife Quarrel"
"Guardian"
"Likhoimets" and others. The playwright himself pointed out the connection between his comedies and living reality: “It’s very easy for me to write prose comedies... seeing the everyday stupidity and delusions of the ignorant.” In the comedy of Sumarokov, ignorant nobles, gallomaniacal dandies and dandies, bribe-taking officials, misers, litigious people, pedants - “Latinists” were ridiculed. This was already the world of an ordinary, ordinary person, sharply different from the world of the heroes of the tragedy.
To the number best achievements in the creative heritage of Sumarokov A.P. His fables (“parables”) should also be included. He created 378 fables, most of which were published during his lifetime (2 parts of “parables” were published in 1762, part 3 in 1769). Filled with topical satirical content, written in simple (with the inclusion of “low” words), living language, close to colloquial, Sumarokov’s fables deserve highly appreciated his contemporaries: “His parables are considered the treasure of Russian Parnassus; and in this kind of poem he far surpasses Phaedrus and de la Fontaine, the most famous of this kind” (N.I. Novikov). Sumarokov's parables greatly facilitated the path of Krylov the fabulist.
Among his other works, satire should be noted "About nobility" And "Chorus to the Perverse Light".
“Chorus to the Perverse Light” is perhaps Sumarokov’s sharpest satirical work. In it, the writer condemned many aspects of social reality.
Writer-educator, poet-satirist, who fought all his life against social evil and human injustice, who enjoyed the well-deserved respect of both N.I. Novikov and A.N. Radishchev, Sumarokov in the history of Russian literature of the 18th century. occupies a prominent place. Later, many Russian writers refused the writer literary talent, but still V.G. Belinsky was right when he stated that “Sumarokov had enormous success with his contemporaries, and without talent, as you please, you cannot have any success at any time.”
The writer's personal life was unsuccessful. With his first wife Johanna Christianovna (Kamer-Jungfer then still Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna) he separated; his subsequent marriage to the serf girl Vera Prokhorovna led to a scandal and a final break with his noble relatives. Shortly before his death, the writer married a third time, also to the serf girl Ekaterina Gavrilovna.
Alexander Petrovich spent the last years of his life in poverty; his house and all his property were sold to pay off debts.
Died - Moscow.
