Ballerina Istomin Avdotya Ilinichna: biography, activities and interesting facts

She is a contemporary and the same age as Pushkin, one of the most famous ballet dancers of her time, the prima ballerina of the Didlo ballet. Her name is found more than once in the works of the great poet. They were conceived, but the novel "Two Dancers", in which the prototype of one of the heroines was exactly the one - Avdotya Ilinichna Istomina, was not completed. In addition to the talent of the dancer, she possessed amazing charm and beauty and was considered one of the most charming women of Petersburg of that time. Naturally, she had whole crowds of fans, among them the most eminent people of the Empire.

Istomina Avdotya Ilinichna: biography

Evdokia (as it is written in the book of registrations) was born on January 6, 1799 in St. Petersburg. About who her parents were, there are several versions, but the most plausible is the one according to which her father was the police officer Ilya Istomin, who drank and died when the girl was 2-3 years old. The girl's mother, Anisya Istomin, also died shortly, and six-year-old Dunya remained an orphan. Fortunately, the girl was not identified in the orphanage, but fell into the Imperial Theater School. She, thanks to her appearance, liked the instructor of the school and she took her to a full board. It was here that Istomina Avdotya comprehended the theatrical craft. Unfortunately, no one particularly engaged in the general education of pupils.

Study

Actor's profession in the early 19 th century was not ranked prestigious, so the school, as a rule, children from the lower classes or orphans, like the heroine of our narrative, studied. Later, when she became an outstanding ballerina, many became interested in the question - who was the teacher of the ballerina Avdotya Istomina? Originally, the dancing art was taught to the girl by the famous in St. Petersburg ballerina Ekaterina Sazonova. It was she who learned to be patient, disciplined, resistant and not give up. However, the main teacher Avdotya Istomina, who taught her the technique of dance and acting, is, of course, a French dancer, choreographer and teacher, Charles-Louis Didlo. He was notorious for his pupils, he was very demanding and strict, regardless of their gender and age.

Debut

Istodmina Avdotya, like most of the students of the Imperial School, started performing on stage very early. Already at the age of 9, Didllo took her into staging the ballet "Zephyr and Flora", which was shown at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theater. Of course, she had a very modest role - to be in the entourage of the goddess Flora - patroness of the plant world. The girl was very impressed with the performance before the audience, she was fascinated by Flora's image and began to dream that once she would be a prima ballerina and would also look beautiful.

Entering the Petersburg troupe

In 1815, Avdotya Istomina, a ballerina with a diploma of graduating from a theater school, joined the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg, the troupe of which was directed by her teacher Shard Didlo. He immediately took his talented student to stage the play "Acis and Galatea", and for the role of the main character. The girl liked the audience after the first performance. At that time there was no strict distinction between theatrical genres, and the ballet was considered one of them, and she often had to play both dramatic and vaudeville performances. Soon all the Russian high society started talking about the beautiful ballerina.

Characteristic

The first Russian theatrical historian Pimen Nikolayevich Arapov, as described by Istomin: "She was of medium height, very beautiful, slender, with dark luxurious hair and black shining eyes, long thick eyelashes giving her physiognomy a special character. She had muscular, strong legs, her movements were light and graceful. " Given all this, it is not surprising that the ballerina Avdotya Istomin, whose biography is described in this article, enjoyed great popularity among aristocratic nobility. They say that Pushkin himself was not indifferent to her, and even experienced the torments of jealousy. The mores of that time allowed high-born gentlemen to keep little-provided ballerinas. For a time, she was kept by the famous General Orlov, the future Decembrist. Pushkin in a fit of jealousy wrote an epigram on him, beginning with these words: "Orlov with Istomin in bed ...". He called her Laisa, which had the same meaning as the word "courtesan".

Cherche la femme

Its first boyfriend was the staff captain Vasily Vasilyevich Sheremetev. She liked his courtship, and for about two years they lived as newlyweds. However, with her growing popularity as a ballet dancer, she became more demanding and willful, and soon quarreled with him and moved to live with her closest friend Maria Azarevicheva. The girlfriends were constantly besieged by the secular youth in love with them, as well as the admirers of the ballerina of a more respectable age. She was friends with Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov and once accepted the invitation of a playwright and diplomat to visit his friend A. Zavadovsky, whom he temporarily lived in Petersburg. After this visit, Istomin Avdotya reconciled with Sheremetev and returned to him, but in the light of rumors spread about her closeness to Zavadovsky. When the beloved demanded explanations from the ballerina about these gossips, she did not make excuses and admitted that Griboyedov's friend molested her in the most rude manner during her visit to his house. This Sheremetev could not forgive and called Zavadovsky for a duel. At the same time, a close friend of Vasily Vasilievich, A.I. Yakubovich, considering the initiator of all this A. Griboyedov, he himself summoned him to a duel. Thus, on the same day there were to be two fights. So, in November 1817, two pairs were to fight at Volkov Field in St. Petersburg. However, before the duel Griboyedov and Yakubovich time did not come, because Zavadovsky killed Sheremetev, and the second duel had to be postponed for a while. If you remember from the story, the duel between the playwright and Yakubovsky took place in a year, but in Tiflis. As a result, Griboyedov was wounded, but not fatal. However, it was the scar from Yakubovich's bullet that allowed him to identify the body of the diplomat Griboedov, who had been killed by the Persians.

Prima of the Didelo Theater

Istomin Avdotya, who was only 18 years old, having learned of the death of her lover, was terribly worried and felt guilty, but nobody was concerned about her torment in the theater. In 1818 Charles Didlo decided to restore and slightly transform his favorite performance - "Zephyr and Flora", the music of which was written by KA Kavos. Avdotya more than once took part in the earlier productions of this ballet. And now, her dream came true, and she had to appear in the image of the beautiful Flora and play the title role. The audience met a new "patroness of the plant world" to cheer. It was a real triumph for the ballerina. After that she shone almost in all the main roles of her teacher: "African Lion", "Caliph Bagdad", "Evtimiy and Evkharis", "Deserter", "Liza and Kolen", "Cora and Alonzo, or the Maiden of the Sun", "Roland And Morgan "and others.

Avdotya Istomina and Pushkin

At the beginning of 1823, the premiere performance took place at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theater in St. Petersburg - a ballet based on Pushkin's poem "The Prisoner of the Caucasus", music for the play was written by Katarino Kavos. The party of Cherkeshenka was entrusted with the story. It is interesting that the author of the work, AS Pushkin, at that time was exiled by Chisinau. Learning that this performance was to take place in the capital, he wrote to his brother Leo: "Go to the" Caucasian prisoner "and tell me about Didlo and my beautiful Cherkeshenka-Istomina. I once trailed after her, like my prisoner. " How much despair was in these lines. Pushkin fell in love with the young Istomin as a young man. They, as already mentioned, were peers. He was one of the first to notice her among the extras. But the ballet "Acis and Galatea" so touched him that he dedicated his immortal lines to the novel "Eugene Onegin" with his black-eyed Galatee. Even if he did not mention the very name in them, everyone would understand that the dancer described by him is Avdotya Istomin. Pushkin's poems have always been imaginative and truthful, especially when they touched upon the description of a woman. He could catch some special gesture or facial expressions that were barely perceptible to others.

The heroine of the frustrated novel

The interest of the great poet in the personality of Istomin was much deeper than what he himself wanted. He kept coming back to her, her image in his memory was always bright, wherever he was. Pushkin conceived the idea of writing a novel about her, and even sketched it. Initially, he planned to call the novel "Russian Pelam". However, later he decided that he would be called "Two Dancers." Alexander Sergeevich wanted to mention in it the theme of the tragedy, whose culprit was involuntarily the dancer-it was a duel between Sheremetev and Zavadovsky. In Pushkin's manuscripts a novel plan was found. It looked like this:

• Ballet of Didlo.
• Zavadovsky.
• Lover.
• Behind the scenes.
• Duel.
• AI comes into fashion.
• Contained.
• Marriage.
• Despair
• Istomin in the light.
• Rejection.
• Secular receptions
• Trouble, etc.

History of Pointe

Avdotya Ilinichna Istomina was a true pioneer in Russian ballet art. She is the first Russian dancer who has risen on pointe. Before that, the dancers were trying to get on their toes, but there was no special ballet shoes in the early 19th century. It is believed that in pointe shoes for the first time appeared on the scene the Italian Maria Taglioni. This happened on the stage of the London Royal Theater in 1830. However, in Russia this happened several years earlier, thanks to Didlo and Istomina, this led to a real ballet reform.

Maturity

Avdotya served in the Imperial Ballet for more than 20 years. Her later roles include Rosalba from Don Carlos, Italian Susanna "Almaviva and Rosina", Eliza in "The Papers of the Duke of Vendôme"; Countess Albert in The Sorceress's Lesson, etc. Over the years, she began to grow heavy, and became often tired ... She began to give less and less roles. In 1830 she developed a leg disease and she had to switch to mimic parties. Her namesake Avdotya Panayeva in her book of memoirs gave the outstanding ballerina several pages. "Istomina, at the age of 40, became a heavy, fat woman. He tried to be young and used a lot of makeup - white and blush. Her hair did not touch the gray, and they were still black as pitch. There were rumors that she painted them. "With age, she was not patronized, but she herself helped young artists, among them there was the dramatic actor Godunov.Theatrical critics considered him incompetent, but Istomin did not share their opinions.He was 21 years younger than her, But she did not stop marrying them, she gave him expensive gifts, diamonds, he proudly sat with her in the theater boxes and enjoyed the benefits of a rich life. However, ironically, the young husband soon fell ill with typhus and died. "Avdotya decided to go to nuns with sorrow , However before this about not doschlo, and she continued to serve as a theater.

Epilogue

The last mention of the ballerina's name on the playbill was in January 1836, and her last play took place at the Alexandrian Theater on the last day of January of the same year. However, after that, she lived for another 12 years and died of cholera. The funeral was modest, no one even remembered that she was one of the most distinguished dancers of her time.