Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky (July 12, 1792, Moscow — November 10, 1878, Baden-Baden) — Russian poet, literary critic, historian, translator, publicist, memoirist, statesman. Co-founder and first chairman of the Russian Historical Society (1866), full member of the Russian Academy (1839), ordinary member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1841). Chamberlain (1831), Privy Councilor (1855), Chief Schenk (1866). Father of literary historian and archaeographer Pavel Vyazemsky. Close friend and constant correspondent of A. S. Pushkin; “their correspondence is a treasury of wit, subtle criticism and good Russian language” (D. P. Mirsky).
Biography.
Descended from the ancient princely family of Vyazemsky; son of the actual privy councilor, Nizhny Novgorod and Penza governor, Prince Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky (1754-1807) and Jenny O’Reilly (in her first marriage, Queen), later known as Princess Evgenia Ivanovna Vyazemskaya (1762-1802). His parents met when Prince Andrei was on a grand tour of Europe, and Jenny was already married to a French army officer, and she needed a divorce. The father and mother of A.I. Vyazemsky were categorically against marriage, but he was adamant and married his chosen one.
In 1828, Vyazemsky made a request to A.I. Turgenev: “Do me a favor, find my relatives in Ireland; my mother’s last name was O’Reilly. She was previously married to a Frenchman and divorced him in order to marry my father, who was then traveling; they met, it seems, in France, and almost in Bordeaux … »
In honor of the birth of Peter, A.I. Vyazemsky on August 9, 1792 purchased the village of Ostafyevo near Moscow for 26 thousand rubles, where in 1800-07. a two-story manor house was built (now the Russian Parnassus Museum). The Vyazemsky estate became one of the centers of cultural life in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century.
Young Vyazemsky.
In his early youth, Pyotr Vyazemsky remained the only heir to a large fortune and took a brilliant position in the highest circles of the capital’s nobility. His half-sister, the illegitimate daughter of A.I. Vyazemsky Ekaterina (who bore the surname Kolyvanova) in 1804 became the second wife of N.M. Karamzin, thanks to which Peter from an early age entered the circle of Moscow writers of the Karamzin circle. After the death of A.I. Vyazemsky, Karamzin was appointed guardian of the young prince, who in one of his poems called him “second father.”
Vyazemsky received an excellent education at home in 1805-06. Studied at the St. Petersburg Jesuit boarding school and the boarding school at the Pedagogical Institute. In 1805 he entered the service in the Boundary Office as a cadet. I started trying the pen early. The first known work of the future poet is the French-language tragedy “Elmira and Fanor” (1802), the first published poem (under the cryptonym K.P.V..ii) is “Message to … to the village” (“Bulletin of Europe”, 1808). He began publishing regularly in 1809, first published under his own name in 1814, and became widely known in Russia as a poet in 1818-19. In his early work he experienced a powerful influence from the leading Russian poets of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. — Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin, Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev, Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, as well as French “light poetry”. Nevertheless, he quickly developed his own style, which amazed his contemporaries with “Voltaire’s sharpness and strength” (A.F. Voeikov) and at the same time evoked associations with a “lively and witty girl” (K.N. Batyushkov).
In his youth, he participated in the Patriotic War with Napoleon, volunteered to join the people’s militia and took part in the Battle of Borodino with the rank of lieutenant. On the battlefield he saved the wounded General A.N. Bakhmetev, for which he received the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree with a bow. According to some researchers, Vyazemsky’s stories about participation in Borodino were used by Leo Tolstoy during the creation of War and Peace.
In 1813-1817 Vyazemsky is one of the most promising young poets in Russia. He actively performs in a variety of genres — from epigrams and friendly messages to fables and satirical couplets, joins the literary society «Arzamas», makes many friendly connections in literary circles, is in constant personal and creative contact with Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov , Vasily Lvovich Pushkin.
Family.
In 1811 he married Princess Vera Fedorovna Gagarina (1790-1886). The marriage turned out to be happy and lasting, the Vyazemskys had eight children:
Andrey (1812-1814)
Valueva, Maria Petrovna (1813-1849), married to P. A. Valuev
Dmitry (1814-1817)
Vyazemskaya, Praskovya Petrovna (1817-1835)
Nicholas (1818-1825)
Vyazemsky, Pavel Petrovich (1820-1888)
Vyazemskaya, Nadezhda Petrovna (1822-1840)
Peter (1823-1826)
Vyazemskaya, Vera Fedorovna — wife
Valueva, Maria Petrovna — eldest daughter
Vyazemskaya, Praskovya Petrovna — middle daughter
Vyazemsky, Pavel Petrovich — son
Warsaw period.
In 1817, friends obtained Vyazemsky’s official transfer to Warsaw as a translator for the imperial commissar in the Kingdom of Poland. There, the prince was present at the opening of the first Sejm, translated the speech of Alexander I, known for his liberal promises, and participated in the drafting of the “State Charter of the Russian Empire” by N. N. Novosiltsev. Carried out the translation into Russian of the French-language draft constitution of P. I. Pechard-Deschamps, its editing and general revision. At first, his work was highly valued: on March 28, 1819, Vyazemsky received the rank of court councilor, and already on October 19 of the same year — the rank of collegiate councilor, equal to colonel, while the usual period of rank was six years. He personally met with Emperor Alexander I several times and discussed with him issues related to the future constitution.
The liberal atmosphere of Warsaw at that time was perceived especially warmly by the easily carried away Vyazemsky, especially since he himself, as a representative of a once influential ancient family, was burdened by the despotism of the autocracy, the rise of the newly created aristocracy and the isolated position in which the old noble nobility found itself. In 1818 in Warsaw he joined the Masonic Lodge of the Northern Shield, but did not take an active part in its activities. Honorary member of Moscow University (since 1818).
His experiences of this period closely coincided with the emerging mood of the Decembrists. In 1820, he joined the Society of Good Landowners and signed a note on the liberation of the peasants, submitted to the emperor by Count M. S. Vorontsov. However, Alexander I’s refusal to carry out large-scale reforms disappointed Vyazemsky. He demonstratively expressed his convictions in widely known poems (“Petersburg”, “Indignation”, “To the Ship”), private letters and conversations. As a result, Vyazemsky was removed from service: on April 10, 1821, while he was on vacation in Russia, he was forbidden to return to Poland. The offended prince resigned, renouncing, among other things, the court rank of chamber cadet. Alexander I expressed displeasure to him, but his resignation was accepted.
1820s.
In 1821-1828. Vyazemsky was in disgrace, under secret surveillance, and lived mainly in Moscow (“a barracks-type tower” in Voznesensky Lane, which belonged to him in 1821-1844) and the Ostafyevo estate near Moscow. From the end of 1827 until the autumn of 1829, with interruptions, Vyazemsky was on the estate of his wife’s parents, the village of Meshcherskoye, Serdobsky district, Saratov province, now Serdobsky district, Penza region. He visited Penza several times, where he received letters from A.S. Pushkin and D.V. Davydov. Not being a supporter of the Decembrists, he perceived the defeat of the uprising on December 14, 1825 as a personal tragedy and sharply condemned the execution of five participants in the uprising, three of whom he knew personally. In 1831 he also condemned Zhukovsky and Pushkin, who published odes to the defeat of the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. However, later he revised many of his assessments: in his old age he spoke about the Decembrists without any sympathy, in 1863 in connection with the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. published a harsh anti-Polish pamphlet.
In Vyazemsky’s work in the 1820s, poetry noticeably faded into the background — he became interested in journalism, worked in the most popular Russian magazine “Moscow Telegraph”, wrote sharp critical articles and reviews, translated Benjamin Constant’s novel “Adolphe” and “Crimean Sonnets” into Russian his close friend Adam Mickiewicz, planned to write a novel. It was then that Vyazemsky’s name was among the top five most popular poets in Russia, he was repeatedly called “the wittiest Russian writer,” his poems became folk songs (“The troika rushes, the troika gallops…”), quotes became proverbs (“And he is in a hurry to live, and he is in a hurry to feel.” , “leavened patriotism”, “Grandfather Krylov”).
By the 1820s refers to the beginning of Vyazemsky’s friendship with Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. They met in Tsarskoe Selo in 1816 and maintained a close relationship until Pushkin’s death (although in recent years they grew somewhat distant and saw each other less often than before). Pushkin highly valued Vyazemsky’s work, especially his magazine prose, approved and supported all his endeavors, dedicated several poems and the third edition of the poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” to him, and repeatedly included quotes from Vyazemsky as epigraphs to his works (“Eugene Onegin”, “The Station Agent” ; only because of a quarrel with Fyodor Tolstoy, Pushkin removed the epigraph from Vyazemsky to “The Prisoner of the Caucasus”), repeatedly quoted Vyazemsky in his work, and introduced him as a character in “Eugene Onegin.” According to E.F. Rosen, Pushkin introduced an unspoken ban on criticizing Vyazemsky in his presence.
In turn, Vyazemsky spoke with admiration of Pushkin’s work, dedicated his translation of the novel “Adolph” (1831) to him, acted as the publisher of the poem “The Bakhchisarai Fountain”, and experienced a strong and beneficial influence of Pushkin’s stylistics (some of Vyazemsky’s poems — for example, “Waterfall” (1825 ) and “It seemed to me: now I can serve…” (1828) — were corrected by Pushkin personally). However, Vyazemsky was hardly aware of the significance of the figure of Pushkin for Russian culture. So, discussing in his old age on the topic of Russian geniuses, Vyazemsky came to the conclusion that there were only three of them — Peter I, Lomonosov and Suvorov, while Pushkin was “a high, original talent”, no more.
The prince’s journalistic activities and his independent position aroused the displeasure of the government. In 1827, a real campaign of persecution was launched against Vyazemsky — he was accused of “depraved behavior” and a bad influence on young people. Throughout 1828-29. the prince tried to defend his good name, turned to Nicholas I with a “Note on Prince Vyazemsky, compiled by himself,” in which he openly explained his position, and at one time even planned to emigrate. But in the end, Vyazemsky was still forced to leave the Moscow Telegraph, ask for forgiveness from the emperor, and after that he was hired as an official of special assignments under the Minister of Finance. In connection with entering the service in April 1830, he moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and in April 1832 he moved his family to the capital.
1830s.
Vyazemsky’s further service was also connected with the Ministry of Finance: vice-director of the department of foreign trade (1833-1846), manager of the Main Loan Bank (1846-1853), member of the council under the Minister of Finance (1853-1855). The prince gradually rose in rank: state councilor (1833), actual state councilor (1839), received awards — the Order of St. Anne, 2nd degree with crown (1837), Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st degree (1848), was repeatedly awarded with cash payments and rent. However, he himself regarded his service with irony bordering on disgust, and considered himself completely incapable of financial activity. At times he continued to behave defiantly: for example, from 1831, having the court rank of chamberlain, in 1838-1849. the prince pointedly did not appear at court ceremonies in the Winter Palace.
Nevertheless, Vyazemsky’s career in the Ministry of Finance was very fruitful: he wrote several articles of an economic nature, participated in the development of the Russian-English treaty of 1843, founded the library of the foreign trade department and repeatedly managed the department in the absence of the director, was the organizer of the Second All-Russian Industrial art exhibition (Moscow, 1831). In fact, for 13 years, Russian foreign trade policy was under the jurisdiction of Vyazemsky, and he did not head the department for a purely formal reason: since the structure of the department included the Border Guard Corps, only a military man could be the director of the department.
In the 1830s, a period of personal tragedies began for Vyazemsky: the death of children, numerous friends, among whom Pushkin occupied a special position. Under the influence of these tragedies, the poet’s work becomes more and more melancholic to the point of gloom, poetry-memories predominate in it, and in the early 1840s religious motifs begin to appear. At the same time, official recognition of his literary merits came — membership in the Russian Academy (December 2, 1839) and the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences (October 19, 1841)
Vyazemsky gradually retreated from active literary activity. In 1831, 1833 and 1836 he still planned to publish his own magazines and almanacs, actively participated in Pushkin’s journal Sovremennik (back in 1827, Vyazemsky came up with the name of the magazine and developed its concept, which he communicated to Pushkin), but with the death of Pushkin, the prince’s activity as a critic and journalist practically disappeared to no.
1840s and first half of the 1850s.
In parallel with the internal evolution from liberalism and free-thinking to conservatism and deep religiosity, Vyazemsky gradually ceased to be perceived as a fashionable and relevant writer; to a new generation of readers his work seems outdated; critics, including Vissarion Belinsky, speak of him with disdain, and sometimes with outright mockery. Of Vyazemsky’s critical works of this time, “Languages. — Gogol» and «A Look at Our Literature in the Decade After the Death of Pushkin» (both 1847), in which he sharply condemned the new generation of Russian literature. Of the writers at this time, Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, Pyotr Aleksandrovich Pletnev were closest to him. During foreign travels in 1835 and 1838-1839. Vyazemsky also became friends with many European writers; His closest relationship was with Stendhal, whose work the prince highly valued; he was also friends with Adam Mickiewicz, Charles de Sainte-Beuve, and repeatedly communicated with Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Hugo, Alfred de Musset, and Alessandro Manzoni. Since the 1840s. Vyazemsky actively promoted Russian literature abroad and achieved noticeable success in this.
In 1848, Vyazemsky’s work written back in 1827-1830 saw the light of day. biography of the Russian playwright Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin — the first Russian biography of the writer. Even in the manuscript, it received an enthusiastic assessment from Pushkin (“the book is perhaps the most wonderful since books have been written here”). However, after lying in manuscript for 18 years, the biography was too late to reach the reader; moreover, it was published in a tiny edition of 600 copies.
In March 1848, Vyazemsky tried to attract the attention of Nicholas I with a note on censorship, in which he proposed radically reforming Russian censorship and entrusting its leadership to an honest and educated person. Following this note, the so-called Buturlinsky Committee was created in Russia, but this did not in any way affect the official position of the prince himself. In 1850, after the death of his seventh child, his 36-year-old daughter Mary, he undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to the Holy Sepulcher, and from the early 1850s he was treated for a severe attack of nervous illness in Europe.
Pyotr Andreevich reacted to the Crimean War with a cycle of vivid patriotic poems, which were widely published in Russia and were translated into several European languages, and with a book of political journalism written in French, “Letters of a Russian veteran of 1812 on the Eastern Question, published by Prince Ostafevsky” (1854-55 ), which was published in Belgium, Switzerland and Prussia (Russian translation was made in 1883 by Pyotr Ivanovich Bartenev).
Second half of the 1850s — 1870s.
After the accession of Alexander II, who always treated the prince with great respect and sympathy, Vyazemsky returned from Switzerland to Russia on June 22, 1855 and received the post of Comrade Minister of Public Education under Minister Abraham Sergeevich Norov, and in December 1856-March 1858 he simultaneously headed the Main censorship department, led the preparation of censorship reform. At the end of the 1850s. he enjoyed considerable influence at court, was one of the favorite close associates of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, dedicated many poems to her and other members of the ruling house (including in 1868 he wrote poems for the birth of the future Emperor Nicholas II). On August 31, 1855 he became a Privy Councilor, on December 25, 1855 — a senator, on March 3, 1861 — Chamberlain of the Court of His Imperial Majesty, on October 28, 1866 — a member of the State Council and Chief of the Court of His Imperial Majesty. In 1861, the 50th anniversary of the poet’s literary activity was solemnly celebrated in St. Petersburg.
Vyazemsky’s active career ended in March 1858, when he left the Main Directorate of Censorship, declaring that he preferred to fight censorship as a writer, and not as its chief. The prince’s activities as head of Russian censorship evoked polar assessments — he heard praise from older writers, and rude abuse from “revolutionary democrats”, including Alexander Herzen. Vyazemsky retained influence at court, and in 1869 he was appointed to the Person of Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, in this honorable position he remained until the end of his life.
Back in the late 1810s. Vyazemsky began to suffer from a nervous illness, which worsened over time (modern researcher L.A. Yuferev diagnoses the prince with “recurrent depressive disorder”). The illness was accompanied by severe bouts of depression and painful insomnia, for which Vyazemsky was unsuccessfully treated with chloral hydrate; these images became one of the main ones in the poet’s later lyrics. Since the late 1850s. lived mainly in Europe (Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland). He dedicated many poems to European cities — Venice, Berlin, Vicenza, Verona, Geneva, Florence, Dresden, Prague, Carlsbad, Nice, Vevey, etc. He also regularly visited Russia, mainly in Moscow, St. Petersburg and its palace suburbs.
In 1866 he became the founder and first chairman of the Russian Historical Society (re-elected chairman on March 22, 1871). In July-August 1867, in the empress’s retinue, he made a long trip to Crimea and Moldova, after which he wrote a large cycle of poems “Crimean Photographs of 1867 » He regularly published excerpts from his notebooks, which he kept intermittently since the 1810s, and memoir articles in the Russian Archive magazine, including the sharply polemical “Memories of 1812,” directed against the distortion of history in “War and Peace.” » Lev Tolstoy. Vyazemsky spoke mostly negatively about Russian literature of the 1850-1870s — for example, he was outraged by the works of Alexander Ostrovsky and Nikolai Nekrasov. With reservations, he accepted the works of Ivan Turgenev, Alexei Pisemsky, Ivan Goncharov, Alexei Tolstoy, Apollo Maikov.
During the 1850-1870s. Vyazemsky continued to write numerous poems in different genres: from political pamphlets and epigrams to dedication poems to deceased friends and court odes. At the beginning of October 1862, Vyazemsky’s first and only lifetime collection, “On the Road and at Home,” was published in Moscow in a circulation of 1,186 copies, which included 289 poems and had very modest success: about 500 books were sold in two years. In the 1850s-1860s he actively published in the Russian press, but starting from the 1870s he practically stopped publishing. In his later lyric poetry, he developed the early themes and motifs of his own poetry, tried to modernize the aesthetics of classical Russian poetry of the 19th century, and adapt it to the requirements of modern times. Since the 1850s. was influenced by one of his closest younger friends, Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev; poets dedicated a number of poems to each other.
Nevertheless, contemporaries did not appreciate Vyazemsky’s later work — his poems became the subject of numerous parodies (including Vasily Kurochkin and Dmitry Minaev), ridicule and were perceived by many as hopelessly archaic. Vyazemsky’s last major publication in Russia (20 poems) took place in April 1874.
From 1873 he lived mainly on the waters in Homburg, where he worked on preparing the 12-volume Complete Works and “postscripts” to old articles. The old prince’s physical and mental condition gradually deteriorated. On November 10, 1878, he died at the age of 87 “from senile weakness” at the Beausejour hotel in one of his favorite European resorts — Baden-Baden, to which the prince dedicated many poems, including “If I die in a foreign land , it’s better here, in view of his family’s graves…” (2 of his close friends, a daughter, a grandson, and later his wife died in the same city). The body of the deceased was transported to Russia. On November 13, 1878, after a memorial service in the Kazan Cathedral, a funeral took place at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra of St. Petersburg. The funeral was attended by a few representatives of the capital’s intelligentsia — Tertiy Ivanovich Filippov, Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky, Yakov Karlovich Grot, Mikhail Ivanovich Sukhomlinov. The poet’s death passed almost unnoticed in his homeland.
The poet’s son, Pavel Petrovich Vyazemsky (1820-1888), became a famous historian, grandson, Pyotr Pavlovich (1854-1931), participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78, rose to the rank of major general, subsequently emigrated, died in Mentone. On it, this branch of the family of princes Vyazemsky died out. The poet’s granddaughter Countess Ekaterina Pavlovna Sheremeteva (1849-1929) — maid of honor, philanthropist, historian; great-grandson, Count Pavel Sergeevich Sheremetev (1871-1943) — curator of the Ostafevsky Museum after the revolution.
Evaluation by descendants.
Despite the enormous contribution made by Vyazemsky to the development of Russian literature of the 19th century, and in many ways the uniqueness of his figure (Vyazemsky is the only example of when a poet, who had gone through a 70-year creative journey, published a single book of poetry, and in the 70s summer age), for a long time it was not considered as an independent and major phenomenon. Already in the 1840s. his poetry was no longer perceived by critics as relevant, and at the end of the 19th century. Vyazemsky was practically forgotten. Nevertheless, it was at that time (1878-1896) that the first and currently last Complete Works of Vyazemsky was published in a circulation of 650 copies in the format of 12 volumes. From a formal point of view, it is not complete, since it does not include the poet’s correspondence, some of his articles and poems. Many works in the collection were published in a censored form.
A great contribution to Vyazemsky’s “discovery” was made in the 1920s. Soviet literary critics Lidia Yakovlevna Ginzburg and Vera Stepanovna Nechaeva. However, during the Soviet era, Vyazemsky was perceived as nothing more than a “poet of Pushkin’s era” or “Pushkin’s circle.” The early years of the poet’s work were brought to the fore, his “revolutionism,” “fight against God,” and friendship with the Decembrists were emphasized in every possible way, while his later years were viewed as of little value due to their “reactionary nature.” Vyazemsky’s official and religious poems have not been republished; his notebooks have not yet been published in full.
The first book dedicated to Vyazemsky was published in 1961 in Vienna — the doctoral dissertation of the Austrian Slavist Günter Vytzhens (still not translated into Russian). This is a fairly objective attempt to consider all aspects of Vyazemsky’s work. In 1964, a book by the prominent Italian Slavist Nina Mikhailovna Kaukhchishvili, “Italy in the life and work of P. A. Vyazemsky,” was published in Milan, which is still the most complete study of the Italian period in the poet’s life. In 1969, a monograph by Maxim Isaakovich Gillelson “P. A. Vyazemsky. Life and Work» is the first attempt in the USSR to consider Vyazemsky as an independent figure. The advantages of the book included a solid scientific base, the disadvantages were the author’s weak attention to the last thirty years of his hero’s life (one small chapter is devoted to them in the book) and the traditional castigation of the “late” Vyazemsky for “reactionism” and “monarchism.”
Since the 1980s. the perception of Vyazemsky in the history of Russian literature is changing. He begins to be seen as a major self-sufficient poet who had a powerful influence both on his era and on subsequent periods of Russian literature (for example, Joseph Brodsky called Vyazemsky one of his main teachers). The end of the 20th — the beginning of the 21st centuries. was marked by the publication of several books about Vyazemsky in Russia — V. G. Perelmuter, D. P. Ivinsky, P. V. Akulshin. In 2004, the first complete biography of Vyazemsky, written by Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Bondarenko, was published in the “Life of Remarkable People” series (2nd edition, updated in 2014). Based on materials from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, it received positive reviews from critics and this moment is the most complete biography of the poet. Unlike previous studies, the book pays due attention to the late period of Vyazemsky’s work.
However, many aspects of Vyazemsky’s work remain insufficiently studied to this day, and a number of his poems, articles and most of his correspondence have never been published.
