Ostrovsky short biography by dates. Brief biography of A.N. Ostrovsky. –1860 years. - pre-reform period

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is a great Russian playwright. His numerous works have made a significant contribution to the formation of the Russian theater. Ostrovsky was a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Youth years of Alexander Ostrovsky

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born in Moscow on Malaya Ordynka on March 31 (April 12, new style), 1823. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, was the son of a priest, and decided to follow in his father's footsteps and became a judicial concoctor, but was able to rise to the title of adviser, which is why in 1839 he received the title of nobleman. Mother Alexandra - Lyubov Ivanovna Savvina - was the daughter of a sexton, died early when the young playwright was only 8 years old. Alexander's family was quite large, but quite well off thanks to the efforts of the head of the family. Much attention was paid to the education of children, most of the classes were carried out at home.

After the death of his wife, Nikolai Fyodorovich decides to marry Baroness Emilia Andreevna von Tessin. The girl was from a noble family of a Swedish nobleman. The woman did not offend the adopted children, but on the contrary was able to surround them with boundless affection and care. The stepmother also contributed to the acquisition of a literate and high-quality education by the children. Alexander spent all his childhood and even a little youth in Zamoskvorechye. His family had a large library in which the children could spend whole days. Alexander enthusiastically read books and finally realized that his vocation was to write. However, Nikolai was against his son's hobby and insisted on the profession of a lawyer. My father was still able to ensure that Alexander entered the 1st Moscow gymnasium in 1835, and in 1840 became one of the students of the law faculty of Moscow University. However, Alexander never completed the full course, as he was able to make an enemy in the teaching staff. He left the university in 1943. The father, however, did not yield to his son and signed him up to serve as a scribe in court. Alexander continued to hold this position until 1851.

Ostrovsky's creativity

Despite the twists and turns of fate, Alexander was never able to give up his passion for writing. He completely immersed himself in creativity, and in 1846 he was able to write more than one scene from the life of merchants. In the same year, he began to develop the plot of the comedy "The Insolvent Debtor". A little later, the name was changed to "Our people - numbered!". During the writing of the play, Alexander was falsely accused of plagiarism by Dmitry Gorev. The well-deserved fame in the world of literature comes to the playwright with the release of the play "Our people - we will be numbered!" The work was published in 1850. Ostrovsky received positive reviews about this work from such great writers as N. V. Gogol and I. A. Goncharov. It is worth considering that new life trials came to the writer with glory. The play was banned by Nicholas I, and Alexander himself was stripped of his post and placed under police supervision. With the coming to power of Alexander II, the work was again allowed to be staged in 1861. Ostrovsky's next play, recognized by the public, was “Don't Get into Your Sleigh”. It was written back in 1852, and was allowed to be staged in January 1854 in the city of St. Petersburg. Beginning in 1853, Ostrovsky's works were staged every season at the Maly and St. Petersburg Alexandria theaters for almost 30 years.

In 1856 Ostrovsky was hired for a permanent job by the Sovremennik magazine. With the approval of the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, Ostrovsky set off on a long journey through the Russian lands. The playwright describes the life of the people in the vastness of Tsarist Russia. He managed to more thoroughly study the Volga and its length to Nizhny Novgorod. In 1859, Count G.A.Kushelev-Bezborodko contributed to the publication of a collection of Ostrovsky's works in two volumes, which was able to receive excellent reviews and approval of Dobrolyubov himself. After that, Ostrovsky began to be called the founder of the "dark kingdom".
The world was able to see the popular work "Thunderstorm" in 1860, for which the writer published an article "A ray of light in the dark kingdom."
Later Ostrovsky begins to study the history of the Time of Troubles. He received his first prize, namely the Uvarov playwright, in 1863. At the same time he was accepted as a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Ostrovsky was able to found a circle called Artistic, which marked the beginning of the career of many prominent Russian artists. Alexander had excellent relations with many writers of that time, such as Turgenev, Saltykov - Shchedrin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and many others.

Ostrovsky was the chairman of the famous society of Russian dramatic writers and composers, which dates back to 1874. He was able to stay in this position until his death. With his assistance, the conditions for the artists were greatly simplified. He was the head since 1885 in the repertoire of the Moscow theaters, as well as the head of the theater school.
Throughout his life, Ostrovsky had financial problems, although his plays brought significant income. In 1883, the Emperor of the Russian Empire Alexander III was able to receive a significant pension for the playwright in the amount of 3 thousand rubles, but this did not improve the material well-being of the writer. Ostrovsky wanted to realize many creative ideas, but his health only worsened from constant hard work. Death overtook the playwright on June 14, 1886. He died on his estate Shchelkovo, was buried beside his father Nikolai. Later, his wife and daughter were buried next to Alexander.

Ostrovsky's personal life

It is known that the writer was carried away by the beautiful actress L. Kositskaya, but the girl categorically rejected the feelings of the playwright. Ostrovsky was also in civil relations with a girl from a simple family - Agafya Ivanovna. Despite the fact that this woman was not educated, she could always listen to the writer and share his experiences and feelings. They were destined to live together for 20 years. Later, Ostrovsky married actress Maria Bakhmetyeva. She was able to give birth to the playwright four sons and two daughters.

The greatest Russian playwright Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born on March 31 (April 12), 1823 in Moscow on Malaya Ordynka.

The beginning of the way

Alexander Nikolaevich's father graduated first from the Kostroma Theological Seminary, then from the Moscow Theological Academy, but in the end he began to work, in modern terms, as a lawyer. In 1839 he received the rank of nobility.

The mother of the future playwright was the daughter of junior church officials, she died when Alexander was not even eight years old.

The family was wealthy and enlightened. A lot of time and money was spent on teaching children. Since childhood, Alexander knew several languages ​​and read a lot. From an early age he felt the desire to write, but his father saw him in the future only as a lawyer.

In 1835 Ostrovsky entered the 1st Moscow gymnasium. After 5 years, he becomes a student of the Faculty of Law at Moscow University. The future profession does not appeal to him, and perhaps that is why the conflict with one of the teachers becomes the reason for leaving the educational institution in 1843.

At the insistence of his father, Ostrovsky served first as a scribe in the Moscow Conscientious Court, then in the Commercial (until 1851).

Observing his father's clients, then following the stories sorted out in court, provided Ostrovsky with the richest material for future creativity.

In 1846, Ostrovsky first thought about writing a comedy.

Creative success

His literary views were formed during his student years under the influence of Belinsky and Gogol - Ostrovsky immediately and irrevocably decides that he will write only in a realistic manner.

In 1847, in collaboration with actor Dmitry Gorev, Ostrovsky wrote the first play "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident". The following year, his family moved to live in the Shchelykovo family estate in the Kostroma province. Alexander Nikolaevich also visits these places and remains under an indelible impression of nature and the Volga expanses for life.

In 1850 Ostrovsky publishes his first big comedy "Our People - Numbered!" in the magazine "Moskvityanin". The play has great success and rave reviews from writers, but it is forbidden to be republished and staged on the basis of a complaint from merchants sent directly to the emperor. The author was dismissed from service and placed under police supervision, which was removed only after Alexander II ascended the throne. The very first play by Ostrovsky revealed the main features of his dramatic works, which were characteristic of all creativity in the future: the ability to show the most complex general Russian problems through personal and family conflict, create memorable characters of all characters and "sound" them with lively colloquial speech.

The position of "unreliable" worsened the already difficult affairs of Ostrovsky. Since 1849, without the blessing of his father and without getting married in a church, he began to live with a simple bourgeois woman, Agafya Ivanovna. The father completely deprived his son of material support, and the financial situation of the young family was difficult.

Ostrovsky begins a permanent collaboration with the Moskvityanin magazine. In 1851 he publishes Poor Bride.

Under the influence of the main ideologist of the magazine A. Grigoriev, Ostrovsky's plays of this period began to sound not so much the motives of denouncing the tyranny of the estate as the idealization of ancient customs and Russian patriarchy (“Don't sit in your sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice” and others). Such sentiments diminish the criticality of Ostrovsky's works.

Nevertheless, Ostrovsky's drama becomes the beginning of a "new world" in all theatrical art. A simple everyday life with "living" characters and spoken language enters the scene. Most of the actors accept Ostrovsky's new plays with enthusiasm, they feel their novelty and vitality. Since 1853, almost every season in the Moscow Maly Theater and the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater for 30 years, new plays by Ostrovsky have appeared.

In the years 1855-1860, the playwright approached the revolutionary democrats. He goes to the journal "Contemporary". The main "event" of Ostrovsky's plays of this period is the drama of a common man opposing the "powerful of this world." At this time, he writes: "Hangover in someone else's feast", "A profitable place", "Thunderstorm" (1860).

In 1856, at the direction of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, the best Russian writers were sent on a business trip around the country with the task of describing industrial production and everyday life in various regions of Russia. Ostrovsky travels by steamer from the upper Volga to Nizhny Novgorod and makes many recordings. They become real encyclopedic notes on the culture and economy of the region. At the same time, Ostrovsky remains an artist of words - many descriptions of nature and everyday life are transferred by him into his works.

In 1859, the first collection of Ostrovsky's works was published in 2 volumes.

Turning to history

House Museum: A.N. Ostrovsky.

In the 60s, Alexander Nikolaevich pays special interest to history and makes acquaintance with the famous historian Kostomarov. At this time, he wrote the psychological drama "Vasilisa Melentieva", the historical chronicles "Tushino", "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" and others.

He does not stop creating everyday comedies and dramas ("Hard Days" -1863, "Abyss" -1865, etc.), as well as satirical plays about the life of the nobility ("Enough simplicity for every wise man" -1868, "Mad Money" -1869 , "Wolves and Sheep", etc.).

In 1863, Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize, awarded for historical works, and was elected a Corresponding Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

The next year pleases him with the birth of his first son, Alexander. In total, Ostrovsky will become the father of six children.

From 1865-1866 (the exact date has not been determined), Alexander Nikolaevich created an Artistic Circle in Moscow, from which many talented theater workers would later graduate. In 1870 (according to other sources - in 1874), the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers was organized in Russia, the head of which the playwright will remain until the end of his life. During this period, the entire flower of the Russian cultural society dwells in Ostrovsky's house. I.S.Turgenev, F.M.Dostoevsky, P.M.Sadovsky, M.N. Ermolova, L.N. Tolstoy and many other outstanding personalities of our time will become his sincere friends and acquaintances.

In 1873, Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky and the young composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky would write the opera The Snow Maiden, amazing in its beauty of syllable and sound, based on folk tales and customs. Both the playwright and the composer will be proud of their creation all their lives.

With the theater - to the end

In the last years of his life, Ostrovsky often refers to women's destinies in his works. He writes comedies, but more - deep socio-psychological dramas about the fate of spiritually gifted women in the world of practicality and self-interest. "Dowry", "The Last Sacrifice", "Talents and Admirers" and other plays are published.

In 1881, a special commission was organized under the directorate of the imperial theaters to create new legislative acts for the operation of theaters throughout the country. Ostrovsky takes an active part in the work of the commission: he writes many "notes", "considerations" and "projects" on the topic of organizing work in theaters. Thanks to him, many changes are being made that significantly improve the pay of the actors.

Since 1883, Ostrovsky has received from Emperor Alexander III the right to an annual pension in the amount of three thousand rubles. In the same year, the last literary masterpiece of Alexander Nikolaevich was released - the play "Guilty Without Guilt" - a classic melodrama, striking by the strength of the characters of its heroes and an impressive plot. It was a new burst of great dramatic talent under the influence of a memorable trip to the Caucasus.

After 2 years, Ostrovsky was appointed head of the repertoire part of Moscow theaters and head of the theater school. The playwright is trying to form a new school of realistic acting in the country, highlighting the most talented actors.

Ostrovsky works with theatrical figures, he has a lot of ideas and plans in his head, he is busy translating foreign (including antique) dramatic literature. But his health fails more and more often. The body is depleted.

On June 2 (14), 1886, in the Shchelykovo estate, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky dies of angina pectoris.

He was buried in the church cemetery near the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki, Kostroma province.

The funeral was carried out with funds provided by Alexander III. The widow and children were given a pension.

Interesting facts about Ostrovsky:

Since childhood, the playwright knew Greek, French and German. Later he learned English, Italian and Spanish.

The play "Thunderstorm" was not immediately missed by the censors. But the empress liked her, and the censor made concessions to the author.

Alexander Ostrovsky
Vasily Perov... Portrait of A.N. Ostrovsky ( 1877 )
Birth name:	Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Moscow , Russian empire
Date of death:
A place of death:	Shchelyko ́ in , Kostroma province , Russian empire
Occupation:	playwright

Alexa ́ ndr Nikola ́ Evich Ostro ́ vsky(March 31 ( April 12th) 1823 - June 2/14 1886 ) - an outstanding Russian playwright, corresponding member Petersburg Academy of Sciences .

Origin

Father of the future playwright, a graduate of the Moscow theological seminary, served in the Moscow City Court. Mother from a family of clergy, died in childbirth when Alexander was seven years old.

Younger brother is a statesman M. N. Ostrovsky .

Childhood and youth

The writer's childhood and adolescence passed in Zamoskvorechye... The father married a second time to the daughter of a Russified Swedish baron, who was not too busy raising children from her husband's first marriage. Ostrovsky was left to himself, as a child he became addicted to reading.

The beginning of literary activity: the choice in favor of drama

V 1840 after graduating from high school, he was enrolled in legal faculty Moscow University but in 1843 left him, not wanting to retake the exam. Then he entered the office of the Moscow Council of the Court, later served in the Commercial Court ( 1845 -1851 ). This experience played a significant role in the work of Ostrovsky.

He entered the literary field in the second half of the 1840s. as follower Gogol tradition creative-oriented natural school... At this time, Ostrovsky created a prosaic essay “ Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky resident", The first comedy(play " Family picture»Was read by the author on February 14 1847 in the professor's circle S. P. Shevyreva and approved by him).

The satirical comedy "Bankrupt" (" Our people - we will be numbered », 1849 ). The plot is based on a false bankruptcy of a merchant Bolshova, the insidiousness and heartlessness of his family members - the daughter of Lipochka and the clerk, and then the son-in-law of Podkhalyuzin, who did not ransom his father's old man from the debt pit, Bolshov's later insight) were based on Ostrovsky's observations on the analysis of family litigation, obtained during his service in a conscientious court. The strengthened skill of Ostrovsky, a new word that sounded on the Russian stage, was reflected, in particular, in the combination of the effectively developing intrigue and bright everyday-descriptive inserts (the speech of the matchmaker, the squabble of the mother and daughter), inhibiting the action, but also making it possible to feel the specifics of the life and customs of the merchant environment. A special role here was played by the unique, at the same time estate, and individual psychological coloration. characters speech .

Ostrovsky - "undoubtedly the first dramatic writer"

"Columbus Zamoskvorechye"

Already in " Bankrupt"A cross-cutting theme of Ostrovsky's dramatic creativity emerged: patriarchal, traditional way of life, as it was preserved in the merchant and philistine environment, and its gradual degeneration and collapse, as well as complex relationships, into which a person enters with a gradually changing way of life. Having created fifty plays over forty years of literary work (some of them co-authored), which have become the repertoire basis of the Russian public, democratic theater, Ostrovsky at different stages of his career presented in different ways the main theme of his work. So, becoming in 1850 an employee known for his soil direction of the journal " Muscovite"(Editor M. P. Pogodin, employees A. A. Grigoriev , T. I. Filippov and others), Ostrovsky, who was a member of the so-called "young editorial board", tried to give the magazine a new direction - to focus on the ideas of national identity and identity, but not the peasantry (unlike the "old" Slavophiles), a patriarchal merchants .

In his subsequent plays “ Don't get in your sleigh », « Poverty is not a vice », « Don't live the way you want » ( 1852 -1855 ) the playwright tried to reflect the poetry of folk life: “In order to have the right to correct the people without offending them, you need to show them that you know good things behind them; This is what I am doing now, combining the lofty with the comic, ”he wrote in the“ Muscovite ”period. At the same time, the playwright got along with the girl Agafya Ivanovna (who had four children from him), which led to a break in relations with his father. According to eyewitnesses, she was a kind, warm-hearted woman, to whom Ostrovsky owed much of his knowledge of Moscow life.

For "Muscovite" plays are characterized by a well-known utopianism in resolving conflicts between generations (in the comedy " Poverty is not a vice », 1854 , a happy accident upsets the marriage imposed by a tyrant father and hateful for his daughter, arranges the marriage of a rich bride - Lyubov Gordeevna- with the poor clerk Mitya). But this feature of Ostrovsky's "Muscovite" dramaturgy does not negate the realistic quality of the works of this circle. Complex, dialectically connecting seemingly opposite qualities is the image Favorite Tortsova, the drunken brother of a tyrant merchant Gordeya Tortsova in the play written much later “ Warm heart » ( 1868 ). Love makes Gordey see his sight, having lost a sober outlook on life because of his own vanity, passion for false values. The play was staged for the first time January 15 1869 year v Maly theater to the benefit Prova Mikhailovich Sadovsky .

V 1855 a playwright dissatisfied with his position in " Muscovites"(Constant conflicts and scanty fees), left the magazine and became close to the editors of the St. Petersburg" Contemporary » ( N. A. Nekrasov considered Ostrovsky "undoubtedly the first dramatic writer"). V 1859 the first collected works of the playwright came out, bringing him both fame and human joy.

"Thunderstorm"

Subsequently, two trends in the coverage of the traditional way of life - critical, accusatory and poetic - were fully manifested and combined in Ostrovsky's tragedy " Thunderstorm » ( 1859 ). The work, written in the genre framework of a social and everyday drama, is simultaneously endowed with the tragic depth and historical significance of the conflict. Clash of two female characters - Katerina Kabanova and her mother-in-law Martha Ignatievna ( Boar) - by its scale far surpasses the conflict between generations, which is traditional for Ostrovsky's theater. The character of the main character (named N. A. Dobrolyubov"A ray of light in the dark kingdom") consists of several dominants: the ability to love, the desire for freedom, a sensitive, vulnerable conscience. Showing the naturalness, inner freedom of Katerina, the playwright simultaneously emphasizes that she is, nevertheless, flesh from flesh patriarchal order .

Living by traditional values, Katerina, having betrayed her husband, surrendering to her love for Boris, takes the path of breaking with these values ​​and is acutely aware of this. The drama of Katerina, who denounced herself in front of everyone and committed suicide, turns out to be endowed with the tragedy of an entire historical order, which is gradually collapsing and is becoming a thing of the past. Seal eschatologism, the feeling of the end also marked the outlook of Marfa Kabanova, the main antagonist of Katerina. At the same time, Ostrovsky's play is deeply imbued with the experience of the "poetry of folk life" ( Apollon Grigoriev), a song-folklore element, a sense of natural beauty (features of the landscape are present in the remarks, they appear in the replicas of the characters).

Late stage of creativity

New heroes

The subsequent large period of the playwright's creativity ( 1861 -1886 ) reveals the proximity of Ostrovsky's searches to the paths of development of the contemporary Russian novel - from “ Golovlevs » M.E.Saltykova-Shchedrina before psychological novels L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky... The theme of “big money”, greed, shameless careerism of the impoverished nobility, combined with a wealth of psychological characteristics of the characters, with the ever-increasing art of plot construction by the playwright, sounds powerful in the comedies of the “post-reform” years. So, the "antihero" of the play " For every wise man, simplicity is enough » ( 1868 ) Egor Glumov in a way resembles Griboyedovsky Molchalina... But this is Molchalin of a new era: Glumov's inventive mind and cynicism for the time being contribute to his dizzying career that had begun. These same qualities, the playwright hints, in the finale of the comedy will not let Glumov disappear even after his exposure. The theme of the redistribution of life benefits, the emergence of a new social and psychological type - the businessman (“ Crazy money », 1869 , Vasilkov), or even a predator-dealer from the nobility (" Wolves and Sheep », 1875 , Berkutov) existed in Ostrovsky's work until the end of his career as a writer. V 1869 Ostrovsky remarried after death Agafia Ivanovna from tuberculosis... From his second marriage, the writer had five children.

"Forest"

Complex genre and composition, saturated with literary allusions, hidden and direct quotes from Russian and foreign classical literature ( Gogol , Cervantes , Shakespeare , Moliere , Schiller) comedy " Forest » ( 1870 ) sums up the first post-reform decade. The play touches on themes developed by the Russian psychological prose- the gradual ruin of the "noble nests", the spiritual decline of their owners, the stratification of the second estate and those moral collisions in which people are involved in new historical and social conditions. In this social, everyday and moral chaos, the bearer of humanity and nobility turns out to be a man of art - a declassified nobleman and provincial actor Neschastlivtsev.

In the genre of drama

In addition to the "popular tragedy" (" Thunderstorm"), Satirical comedy (" Forest"), Ostrovsky at a later stage of his work also creates exemplary works in the genre of psychological drama (" Dowry », 1878 , « Talents and fans », 1881 , « Guilty without guilt », 1884 ). The playwright in these plays expands and psychologically enriches the stage characters. Correlated with traditional stage roles and with commonly used dramatic moves, characters and situations turn out to be capable of changing in an unforeseen way, thereby demonstrating the ambiguity, inconsistency of a person's inner life, the unpredictability of every everyday situation. Paratov is not only a "fatal man", a fatal lover Larisa Ogudalova, but also a man of simple, coarse everyday calculation; Karandyshev- not only a "little man" who tolerates cynical "masters of life", but also a person with immense, painful pride; Larisa is not only a heroine suffering from love, ideally different from her environment, but also influenced by false ideals (“ Dowry"). The character of the playwright is equally psychologically ambiguous. Negina (« Talents and fans"): The young actress not only chooses the path of serving art, preferring it to love and personal happiness, but also agrees to the fate of a kept woman, that is," practically reinforces "her choice. In the fate of a famous artist Kruchinina (« Guilty without guilt") Both the ascent to the theatrical Olympus and the terrible personal drama intertwined. Thus, Ostrovsky follows a path correlated with the paths of his contemporary Russian realistic prose, - ways of ever deeper understanding of the complexity of the inner life of the individual, the paradox of the choice she makes.

Ostrovsky Theater

Monument to Ostrovsky at the Maly Theater in Moscow

It was with Ostrovsky that Russian theater in its modern understanding began: the writer created a theater school and a holistic concept of acting in the theater.

The essence of Ostrovsky's theater is the absence of extreme situations and opposition to the actor's gut. In the plays of Alexander Nikolaevich, ordinary situations are depicted with ordinary people, whose dramas go into everyday life and human psychology.

The main ideas of the theater reform:

• the theater should be built on conventions (there is a 4th wall that separates the audience from the actors);
• invariability of attitude to language: mastery of speech characteristics, expressing almost everything about the heroes;
• stake on the whole troupe, and not on one actor;
• "People go to watch the game, not the play itself - you can read it."

Ostrovsky's theater demanded a new stage aesthetics, new actors. In accordance with this, Ostrovsky creates an acting ensemble, which includes such actors as Martynov , Sergey Vasiliev , Evgeny Samoilov , Prov Sadovsky .

Naturally, the innovations were met by opponents. He was, for example, Shchepkin... Ostrovsky's drama required the actor to be detached from his personality, which M.S.Schepkin did not do. For example, he left the dress rehearsal of "The Thunderstorms" being very dissatisfied with the author of the play.

Ostrovsky's ideas were brought to their logical conclusion Stanislavsky .

Folk myths and national history in Ostrovsky's drama

A special place in Ostrovsky's legacy is occupied by the "spring tale" " Snow Maiden » ( 1873 ). Early 1873 Small theater was closed for renovation. Three troupes of the imperial Moscow theaters, drama, opera and ballet were supposed to perform on stage The Bolshoi Theater, and performances were needed in which all three troupes could be involved. The directorate turned to Ostrovsky with a proposal to write a corresponding play. Music at the personal request of the playwright ordered the 33-year-old P.I. Tchaikovsky, a young professor at the Moscow Conservatory, who has already authored two outstanding symphonies and three operas. "The Snow Maiden" became on his creative path a bridge from the first composer's experiments and brilliant insights to "Swan Lake", "Eugene Onegin". In The Snow Maiden, Ostrovsky's poetic and utopian views on the possibility of harmonious relations between people are clothed in the form of a literary “fairy tale for the theater”, in which images akin to images appear Slavic mythology... V 1881 year on stage Mariinsky theater successful premiere of the opera N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov "Snow Maiden", which the composer called his best work. Alexander Ostrovsky himself appreciated the creation Rimsky-Korsakov: “Music to my„ Snow Maiden"Amazing, I could never have imagined anything more suitable for her and so vividly expressing all the poetry of the Russian pagan cult and this first snow-cold, and then irresistibly passionate heroine of the fairy tale."

Appeals to the playwright and to historical genres - chronicles , tragedies , comedies written on topics Russian history : « Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk » ( 1861 , 2nd edition 1866 ), « Voivode » ( 1864 , 2nd edition 1885 ), « Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky » ( 1866 ) and others. National history provides Ostrovsky with material for creating large, energetic characters, for the widespread use of the heroic principle in drama.

Demise

At the end of his life, Ostrovsky finally achieved material prosperity (he received a life pension of 3 thousand rubles), as well as 1884 took the post of head of the repertoire part of Moscow theaters (the playwright dreamed of serving the theater all his life). But his health was undermined, his strength was depleted. He died at his estate Shchelykovo from a hereditary disease - angina pectoris .

MOU "Lyceum" School of Managers "

"Life and work of A. N. Ostrovsky"

Grade 9B students

Poltorikhina Anastasia.

Novomoskovsk 2010

It is the surname of A. N. Ostrovsky that stands at the origins of the development of the Russian drama theater. His dramas are still very popular to this day due to the extraordinary flavor of his talent as a writer and playwright, who always felt what the secular public expects from him. Therefore, it is interesting to know what kind of person Alexander Ostrovsky was. His books contain a huge creative heritage. Among his most famous works are: "Guilty Without Guilt", "Dowry", "Thunderstorm", "Wolves and Sheep", "Snow Maiden", "Hangover at someone else's feast", "What you go for, you will find", "Your people - we will count "," Mad money ", etc.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. short biography

Alexander Nikolaevich was born in the spring of March 31 (April 12), 1823. He grew up on Malaya Ordynka in Moscow. His father was the son of a priest, and his name was Nikolai Fedorovich. After receiving his seminary education in Kostroma, he went to study at the Moscow Theological Academy. But he did not become a priest, and began to practice as a solicitor in judicial institutions. Over time, he rose to the rank of titular councilor and received a title of nobility.

Ostrovsky's biography (short) says that Ostrovsky's mother, Lyubov Ivanovna, died when he was 7 years old. The family has six children. In the future, their stepmother, Emilia Andreevna von Tesin, who was the daughter of a Swedish nobleman, took care of the family. The Ostrovsky family did not need anything, much attention was paid to the education and upbringing of children.

Childhood

Ostrovsky spent almost all of his childhood in Zamoskvorechye. His father had a large library, the boy started studying Russian literature early and felt a craving for writing, but his father wanted his son to become a lawyer.

From 1835 to 1940, Alexander studied at the Moscow gymnasium. Then he entered Moscow University and began to study law. But a quarrel with the teacher did not allow him to finish the last year of the university. And then his father arranged for him to serve in court. He received his first salary in the amount of 4 rubles, but then it grew to 15 rubles.

Creation

Further biography of Ostrovsky (brief) indicates that fame and popularity of Alexander Ostrovsky as a playwright brought the play "Our People - Numbered!", Published in 1850. This play was approved by I. A. Goncharov and N. V. Gogol. But the Moscow merchants did not like it, and the merchants complained to the emperor. Then, on the personal order of Nicholas I, its author was fired from service and taken under police surveillance, which was removed only under Alexander II. And in 1861 the play again saw the theatrical stage.

In the disgraced period of Ostrovsky, the first play staged in St. Petersburg was called "Do not sit in your sleigh." Ostrovsky's biography (brief) includes information that for 30 years his plays were staged at the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky and Moscow Maly Theaters. In 1856 Ostrovsky began working for the Sovremennik magazine.

Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich. Artworks

In 1859 Ostrovsky, with the support of G.A.Kushelev-Bezborodko, published his first collection of works in two volumes. At this point, the Russian critic Dobrolyubov will note that Ostrovsky is an accurate depiction of the "dark kingdom."

In 1860, after the "Thunderstorm", Dobrolyubov called it "a ray of light in the dark kingdom."

Indeed, Alexander Ostrovsky knew how to captivate with his remarkable talent. "The Thunderstorm" has become one of the most striking works of the playwright, with the writing of which is also associated with his personal drama. The prototype of the main character of the play was the actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, with her he had a close relationship for a long time, although they were both not free people. She was the first to perform this role. Ostrovsky's image of Katerina made him tragic in his own way, as he reflected in it all the suffering and torment of the soul of a Russian woman.

Cradle of talents

In 1863 Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize and became an elected Corresponding Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Later, in 1865, he organized the Artistic Circle, which became the cradle of many talents.

Ostrovsky received such eminent guests as F.M.Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, P.I.Tchaikovsky, M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin, I.S.Turgenev, etc.

In 1874, the writer-playwright founded the Society of Russian Drama Writers and Opera Composers, of which Ostrovsky remained the chairman until his death. He also served on a commission related to the revision of the theater management legislation, which led to new transformations, thanks to which the position of the artists was significantly improved.

In 1881, the Mariinsky Theater hosted a benefit performance of the opera The Snow Maiden by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. Ostrovsky's biography (short) testifies that at these minutes Ostrovsky was unspeakably pleased with the musical arrangement of the great composer.

Last years

In 1885, the playwright took over the repertoire of Moscow theaters and became the head of the theater school. Ostrovsky almost always had money problems, although he collected good fees from the plays, and the pension was appointed by Emperor Alexander III. Ostrovsky had many plans, he literally burned at work, this affected his health and drained his vitality.

On June 2, 1886, he died at his Shchelykovo estate near Kostroma. He was 63 years old. His body was buried next to his father's grave near the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Kostroma province in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki.

The widow, actress Maria Andreevna Bakhmetyeva, three sons and a daughter was appointed by Tsar Alexander III a pension.

His estate in Shchelykovo is now a memorial and natural museum of Ostrovsky.

Conclusion

Ostrovsky created his own theater school with its holistic concept of theatrical production. The main component of his theater was that there were no extreme situations in it, but life situations were depicted that go into everyday life and the psychology of a person of that time, which Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky knew very well. A short biography describes that there were many ideas at Ostrovsky's theater, but new stage aesthetics and new actors were needed to put them into practice. All this was later brought to mind by K. S. Stanislavsky and M. A. Bulgakov.

Ostrovsky's dramas served as the basis for film adaptations of films and television series. Among them are the film "The Marriage of Balzaminov", filmed in 1964 based on the play "What You Go For, You Will Find" directed by K. Voinov, the film "Cruel Romance", filmed in 1984 based on "The Dowry" directed by Eldar Ryazanov. In 2005, Evgeny Ginzburg directed the film "Anna" based on the play "Guilty Without Guilt".

Ostrovsky created an extensive repertoire for the Russian theater stage, which included 47 highly original plays. He worked in collaboration with talented young playwrights, including P. M. Nevezhin and N. Ya. Soloviev. Ostrovsky's drama has become national due to its origins and traditions.

Theater as a serious and popular business
started with us also recently,
began in a real way with Ostrovsky.

A.A. Grigoriev

Childhood and youth

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky (1823–1886) was born in the old merchant and officialdom area - Zamoskvorechye. In Moscow, on Malaya Ordynka, a two-story house is still preserved, in which the future great playwright was born on April 12 (March 31), 1823. Here, in Zamoskvorechye, on Malaya Ordynka, Pyatnitskaya, Zhitnaya streets, he spent his childhood and youth.

The writer's father, Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky, was the son of a priest, but after graduating from the Theological Academy he chose a secular profession - he became a judicial officer. The mother of the future writer, Lyubov Ivanovna, also came from among the clergy. She died when the boy was 8 years old. After 5 years, my father married a second time, this time to a noblewoman. Successfully advancing in the service, Nikolai Fyodorovich received the title of nobility in 1839, and in 1842 he retired and began to practice private law. With the income from clients - mainly wealthy merchants - he acquired several estates and in 1848, retiring from business, moved to the village of Shchelykovo in the Kostroma province and became a landowner.

In 1835, Alexander Nikolayevich entered the 1st Moscow gymnasium, graduated from it in 1840. Even in his gymnasium years, Ostrovsky was attracted by literature and theater. At the behest of his father, the young man entered the law faculty of Moscow University, but the Maly Theater, in which the great Russian actors Shchepkin and Mochalov played, attracts him like a magnet. This was not an empty attraction of a rich fool who sees pleasant entertainment in the theater: for Ostrovsky, the stage became life. These interests forced him to leave the university in the spring of 1843. “From my youth I gave up everything and devoted myself entirely to art,” he later recalled.

His father still hoped that his son would become an official, and appointed him as a scribe to the Moscow conscientious court, which dealt mainly with family property disputes. In 1845, Alexander Nikolayevich was transferred to the office of the Moscow Commercial Court as an official in the "verbal table", i.e. upon receiving oral requests from petitioners.

His father's law practice, life in Zamoskvorechye and service in court, which lasted almost eight years, gave Ostrovsky many subjects for his works.

1847-1851 - early period

Ostrovsky began to write in his student years. His literary views were formed under the influence of Belinsky and Gogol: from the very beginning of his literary career, the young man declared himself an adherent of the realistic school. Ostrovsky's first essays and dramatic sketches were written in Gogol's manner.

In 1847, the Moscow City Leaflet published two scenes from the Comedy The Insolvent Debtor - the first version of the Comedy Our People - Numbered!

In 1849 Ostrovsky finished work on the first big comedy "Our people - we will be numbered!"

The comedy ridiculed the rude and greedy tyrant merchant Samson Silych Bolshov. His tyranny knows no boundaries, as long as he feels solid ground under him - wealth. But greed is ruining him. Wanting to get rich even more, Bolshov, on the advice of the clever and cunning clerk Podkhalyuzin, transfers all his property to his name and declares himself an insolvent debtor. Podkhalyuzin, having married Bolshov's daughter, appropriates the property of his father-in-law and, refusing to pay even a small part of the debts, leaves Bolshov in a debt prison. Lipochka, Bolshov's daughter, who became Podkhalyuzin's wife, does not feel any pity for her father either.

In the play "Our People - Let's Count", the main features of Ostrovsky's drama have already appeared: the ability to show important general Russian problems through family and everyday conflict, to create vivid and recognizable characters of not only the main, but also minor characters. Juicy, lively, folk speech sounds in his plays. And each of them has a difficult, thought-provoking end. Then nothing found in the first experiments will disappear, but new features will only "grow".

The position of the "unreliable" writer complicated the already difficult living conditions of Ostrovsky. In the summer of 1849, against the will of his father and without a church wedding, he married a simple bourgeois woman, Agafya Ivanovna. The angry father refused to provide further financial support to his son. The young family was in dire need. Despite his unsecured position, Ostrovsky refused service in January 1851 and devoted himself entirely to literary activity.

1852-1855 - "Moskvityan period"

The first plays allowed to be staged on stage were "Do not get into your sleigh" and "Poverty is not a vice". Their appearance was the beginning of a revolution in all theatrical art. For the first time on stage, the viewer saw a simple everyday life. This demanded a new style of acting: the truth of life began to supplant pompous declamation and "theatricality" of gestures.

In 1850 Ostrovsky became a member of the so-called "young editorial board" of the Slavophil magazine "Moskvityanin". But relations with editor-in-chief Pogodin are not easy. Despite the enormous work being done, Ostrovsky always remained in debt to the magazine. Pogodin paid sparingly.

1855-1860 - pre-reform period

At this time, the playwright's rapprochement with the revolutionary-democratic camp takes place. Ostrovsky's worldview is finally determined. In 1856 he approached the Sovremennik magazine and became its permanent contributor. He established friendly relations with I.S. Turgenev and L.N. Tolstoy, who collaborated in Sovremennik.

In 1856, together with other Russian writers, Ostrovsky took part in the famous literary and ethnographic expedition organized by the Maritime Ministry to "describe the life, everyday life and crafts of the population living on the shores of seas, lakes and rivers of European Russia." Ostrovsky was instructed to survey the upper reaches of the Volga. He visited Tver, Gorodnya, Torzhok, Ostashkov, Rzhev, etc. All observations were used by Ostrovsky in his works.

1860-1886 - post-reform period

In 1862 Ostrovsky visited Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, France and England.

In 1865 he founded an artistic circle in Moscow. Ostrovsky was one of its leaders. The artistic circle has become a school for talented amateurs - future wonderful Russian artists: O.O. Sadovskaya, M.P. Sadovsky, P.A. Strepetova, M.I. Pisarev and many others. In 1870, on the initiative of the playwright, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers was created in Moscow; from 1874 to the end of his life, Ostrovsky was its permanent chairman.

Having worked for the Russian stage for nearly forty years, Ostrovsky created a whole repertoire - fifty-four plays. "He wrote all of Russian life" - from prehistoric, fairy-tale times ("Snow Maiden"), and events of the past (chronicle "Kozma Zakharyich Minin, Sukhoruk") to topical reality. Ostrovsky's works remain on the stage at the end of the 20th century. His dramas often sound so modern that they make those who recognize themselves on stage angry.

In addition, Ostrovsky penned numerous translations from Cervantes, Shakespeare, Goldoni, etc. His work spans a huge period: from the 40s. - the time of serfdom and up to the mid-80s, marked by the rapid development of capitalism and the growth of the labor movement.

In the last decades of his life, Ostrovsky created a kind of artistic monument to the national theater. In 1872, he wrote a poetic comedy "The Comedian of the 17th Century" about the birth of the first Russian theater at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, father of Peter I. But much more famous are Ostrovsky's plays about contemporary theater - "Talents and Admirers" (1881) and " Guilty without guilt "(18983). Here he showed how tempting and difficult the life of an actress.

In a sense, we can say that Ostrovsky loved the theater as much as he loved Russia: he did not close his eyes to the bad and did not lose sight of the most precious and important.

On June 14, 1886, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky died at his beloved Trans-Volga estate, Shchelykovo, in the Kostroma dense forests, on the hilly banks of small winding rivers.

In connection with the thirty-fifth anniversary of the dramatic activity of A.N. Ostrovsky Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov wrote:

"You donated a whole library of works of art to literature, created your own special world for the stage. You alone completed the building, at the base of which you put the cornerstones Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol. But only after you, we Russians can proudly say:" we have our own Russian, national theater ", it, in all fairness, should be called:" Ostrovsky Theater ".

Literature

Based on materials from the Encyclopedia for Children. Literature Part I, Avanta +, M., 1999