Аннотация: Barich and Bickbarda. A note on chapters 1-2 of the book "Diaghilev: outrunning the time"
Barich and Bickbarda. A note on chapters 1-2 of the book "Diaghilev: outrunning the time"
A pleasant childhood, a pleasant parents, a pleasant relatives ...
The legend of the origin from Peter the Great ...
The native mother of Sergei Diaghilev died when he was three months old. Soon a stepmother appeared who became his mother, and whom he called "mother."
Diaghilev's parents, children, the whole family, move from St. Petersburg to Perm (1882).
It's one of the most enjoyable periods of life of numerous Diaghilevs (including a wide circle of relatives), and of the hero of the biography himself (1872 - 1929).
Conventionally, this period of success and a pleasant life can be put in the framework of 1882 - 1896.
With a degree of cynicism, we can say that the wind blew into Diaghilev's sails.
Someone organized a businesses, someone was pulling a public service - made a career as a tsarist soldier (officer) or bureaucrat -, someone saved money and put it in a bank.
No one thought or knew, except for a few visionaries, that 1905, 1914, and 1917 were approaching.
The Diaghilev family lived in Perm in a big way. In part, she lived on the money of her ancestors, and in part, on borrowed funds (in 1896, Sergei Diaghilev's father was declared bankrupt).
A wonderful Bickbarda estate, a palace house in Perm itself, a wonderful childhood that you can't buy for any money ...
Sergei Diaghilev discovers in his grandfather's house in Perm 'Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens ... There were kept magnificent editions of the collections of museums in Munich, Florence, and Paris... And the grandfather, seeing the boy's interest in art, gently encouraged him, tried to tell his grandson as much as possible about the great artists of the past and their works. It was then that Diaghilev's introduction to the beautiful, high art began. ' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
In Perm, the Diaghilev family became the center of cultural life. Sergei Diaghilev was taught to play the piano by the serious pianist Dannemark.
'What was the repertoire of concerts ...? Their participants performed romances, Russian folk songs, scenes and arias from the operas Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Mermaid by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Troubadour and Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi. But most of all, perhaps, they honored the opera by Mikhail Glinka 'A Life for the Tsar' ["A Life in exchange of the Tsar's life"] ('Ivan Susanin'). Sometimes in concert performance, and sometimes with the involvement of professional artists, the members of the circle performed it more than fifty times. ' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
'So, the heart of the estate [a name of the estate is Bickbarda; in it, along with Perm, the Diaghilev family lived], the center of life is a balcony. Like any phenomenon, it can be considered in different ways: on the one hand, it is called "Russian, wooden, with columns", and on the other - "the balcony of my dreams." These words seem strange only at first glance. The fact is that when Elena Valeryanovna [Sergei Diaghilev's mother] first arrived Bickbarda, this balcony immediately ... was recognized. He was exactly the same as in her children's drawing.
Like many children, Lenochka Panaeva [Elena Valeryanovna - the mother of Sergei Diaghilev] was very fond of drawing ... 'My favorite was the image of a huge family, whose members, starting from my grandmother and ending with an infant, were placed in various poses on the balcony, also of enormous size: he always spread along all over a piece of paper. Later, during my life, I had to not only see the balcony of my dreams, but also become part of the huge family located on it. ' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
Sergei Diaghilev goes to gymnasium.
'Sergei's classmate recalls him as a gymnasium student:' He was ... large, tall boy, with a prominent head and expressive face. He wasn't similar to other pupils. He was educated and developed. He knew about things that we, his peers and classmates, had no idea about: Russian and ... foreign literature, about theater, music. He spoke fluent and good French and German, and played music. From the outside, he was also very different from us. He had a refined, graceful appearance, something from a barin in the whole figure. To him, in contrast to all of us, the word 'barich' 'unusually approached.' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
[Barin is a little busy with useful things, usually he immersed in idleness, but he is possessing an estate, [serfs] peasants, rights and privileges (inherited), a character and a sense of his own superiority. "Barich" - is barin of a little age]
Sergei Diaghilev gains experience in a public events - he performs "musical plays" for the public.
Sergei Diaghilev's studies at the gymnasium (in Perm) are completed, and studies at the university (at the faculty of law of St. Petersburg University) begin (1890).
'He clearly preferred to attend professional exhibitions, theaters, concerts, and evening parties, which were attended, and often performed, by people of art and celebrities.' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time")
Sergei Diaghilev in St. Petersburg is a member of the Benois Circle.
He goes (together with his cousin Philosophov [surname]) abroad. He visits theaters, listens to prominent singers ...
Venice. He writes a letter to his mother (summer 1890): "... I will come, to die, to Venice ...".
October 1890 - Sergei Diaghilev's father is declared bankrupt by court. Bickbarda estate sold.
Sergei Diaghilev has already become a resident of St. Petersburg, a university student.
It is a pity to Bickbarda ... But ahead of life, which does not fit into the framework of the Perm estate Bickbarda and of a Perm existence ... In addition, 1917 ahead ...
June 13, 2020 13:10
Translation from Russian into English: June 14, 2020 12:44.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Барич и Бикбарда. Заметка о главах 1-2 книги Н.Д. Чернышовой-Мельник 'Дягилев: опередивший время''.