RUSSIAN FRENCHMAN ALEXANDRE DUBUQUE (DUBUC)

The free Record of the TV programme `The Romanticism of Romance: Russian Frenchman Alexandre Dubuque (Dubuc)`, 2012, Channel `Kultura`
http://static.video.yandex.net/lite/igpyshnenko/3h9x245de3.7144%5D

The particpators of the concert:
Nina Shatzkaya, Daria Alexeyevskaya, Vladimir Samsonov, Karina Chepurnova, Leonid Serebryannikov, Nadezhda Gorelova, The Yelena Bulanova Trio, The Relikt Trio;
Vladimir Brodsky (piano), Nikita Boldyrev (guitar).

Presenters (MCs): Maria Maksakova and Svyatoslav Belsa.

Repertory in sequence order:

“Не брани меня, родная” сл. А. Разорёнова Russian Old romance (Ror) `Do not scold me, my dear` (Lyrics by A. Razoryonov) (vocal Nina Shatzkaya)
Мазурка Mazurka by A. DuBuque (piano Vladimir Brodsky)
“Не обмани” сл. Г. Гейне, перевод М. Корнеева (Ror) Don`t deceive me (Lyrics by Heinrich Heine, Trans. M. Korneyev) (vocal Vladimir Samsonov)
“Улица, улица…” (Ror) `Street, street` (Unknown German author, Russian text – Sirotin) (vocal Vladimir Samsonov)
“Певунья-птичка” сл. В. Чуевского (Ror) `The Singing Bird` (Lyrics by V. Chuevsky) (vocal Karina Chepurnova)
“Ночная серенада” сл. В. Гёте, перевод А. Фета. (Ror) The Night Serenade (Lyrics by I.-W. Goethe, Trans. Aphanasiy Phoet) (vocal Karina Chepurnova)
“Не лукавьте” сл. Д. Давыдова (Ror) `You`re liar!`(`Don`t be cunning`) (Lyrics by Denis Davydov) (vocal Karina Chepurnova&Vladimir Samsonov)
“Крамбамбули” `Krambambuli` (A German students` song, unknown Russian trans.)
“Век буду любить” сл. Е. Ростопчиной (Ror) `I will love you forever` (Lyrics by Ye. Rostopchina) (vocal Nadezhda Gorelova)
“Не тверди” сл. П. Муратова (трио “Реликт”) (Ror) `Do not repeat it!` (Lyrics by P. Muratov) (vocal The Relikt Trio)
“Моя душечка” (Ror) `My Sweetheart` (Lyrics by S. Pisarev) (vocal The Relikt Trio)

(`Kultura` (`Culture`) is the Russian public non-commercial – there are no commercials and sensationalism – state-owned channel reviewing events of non-mass culture in Russia and abroad). If I were a billionaire, I would purchase this channel and made it global one, though with commercials and inclusion of vivid, academic reviews of pop culture, I would turn it out into the replica of the CNN specializing exclusively in global culture and its achievements.

ALEXANDRE IVANOVICH DUBUQUE (DUBUC) (1812 – 1898), a contemporary and a friend of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Ostrovsky, was the son of the French aristocrat Jean Charles Louis du Buc de Brimeau who emigrated to Russia after the French Revolution. He was a pianist, composer, writer, and teacher at the Moscow Conservatory (about six years) and also and mostly a music teacher in private.

His manner as a pianist was influenced by the Irish pianist John Field (1782 – 1837) who spent most part of his life in Russia and was known as a Russian Irishman. John Field invented the genre of Nocturne that became widespread in music owing to Dubuque and through Dubuque owing to Frederic Chopin, the greatest Polish pianist and composer. Dubuque`s music also affected Piotr Chaikovsky and Dmitry Balakirev, but the similarity of his style with the style of Chopin was tremendously striking.The video above contains a work composed by Dubuque (Mazurka) that might be easily confused with any typical opus of Chopin. It contains a lot of inimitable Chopin`s music intonations. Does it mean that Chopin should be blamed for plagiarism? Not in the least! Chopin developed this nocturnal style of mild touchez making piano sing to the final grade of perfection, it developed it all the way. As a result this style died with Chopin. Chopin remained a unique figure in musical culture, I would say, he filled in his special niche. We can hardly say that the Polish genius belonged to the mainstream of the classical music of his time. On the other hand, the keys to the personal artistic success had been taken by Chopin from Field and Dubuque (Dubuc). Otherwise, there could have been no Chopin at all. There would have been another Ferenc Liszt, Liszt No 2.
As to Dubuque (Dubuc), he prefered to move in a diffrent direction. In the 1840s and 1850s after he had been inspired by Russian peasant and mountain songs, he invented a unique and perfectly new genre of vocal music. He became a father of the specific Russian style of the romantic sentimental love songs, `cruel` romances, so popular in the XIX century and strongly associated with Russia itself. It is true that his songs, mostly romances, became very popular with Gypsy ensembles. That democratic style is known as a genre of `the city romance` since it was presumably widespread among population of Russian cities who used the most democratic and accessible instrument, the European or Russian Gypsy seven-stringed guitar. Owing to Dubuque Russian old romance as a genre left the Gypsy camps and high life salons and noblemen`s patrimonies for big and small cities. It no longer was a genre of the chamber music, it was being transformed into the popular culture in the positive meaning of this word. Nowdays those romances are regarded as a genre of classical music. By the way, Dubuc made many transcriptions of Schubert’s songs. His romantic songs are very much popular in Russia and abroad and Youtube confirms it a great deal.
The video above includes several excellent romances performed by many excellent ladies and gentlemen – singers. I love all women (trust me), as to gentlemen I prefer Mr. Vladimir Samsonov, a singer of Mariinsky opera theatre (S-Petersburg) [url]www.vladimirsamsonov.ru[/url] You may recognize him by his aristocratic appearance, he is a fair-haired man with black eye-brows. That reminds of Pechorin, a famous hero of the Russian classical novel. `In spite of his light hair, his … eyebrows were black–as much a sign of pedigree in a man as a black mane and tail are in a white horse`. ( See: `A Hero of Our Time`. By Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov).

Dubuque`s romance `Street, street` has been performed by Samsonov in so perfect, irresistible and exact manner that he will be remembered long after this concert. I think it is one of the most succesful and genuine interpretation of that Russian Old romance at least for the time being.

Улица, улица
Раз возвращаюсь домой я к себе
Улица странною кажется мне
Раз возвращаюсь домой я к себе
Улица странною кажется мне

Refrain:
Левая, правая, где сторона?
Улица, улица, ты, брат, пьяна!

И фонари так неясно горят
Смирно на месте никак не стоят
Так и мелькают, туда и сюда
Э, да вы пьяные все, господа

И что за рожи там месяц кривишь?
Глазки прищурил, так странно глядишь
Лишний стаканчик хватил, брат, вина
Стыдно тебе, ведь уж ты старина.

Street,street
Once, as I’m walking back home by myself
My old street seems strange and foreign to me
Once, as I’m walking back home by myself
My old street seems strange and foreign to me

Refrain:
Left side, right side, where are you now?
Street, street, you, my brother, are drunk!

And now those gaslights are suddenly dim
And they won’t stand still for a moment for me
They keep on swaying around to and fro
Hey, I can see you’re all drunk, my sirs

And you, moon, what sort of faces are you making there?
You have screwed up your eyes and give such a strange look
You’ve had one glass of wine too many, brother
Shame on you at your advanced age
(Trans. Lawrence Probes)

There are several variants of text, and Vladimir Samsonov, for example, sings the rare and extended version with a couplet about an encounter of a hero with two policemen whom he bribed to avoid the arrest for squaring off for fistfighting)

THE MISSING VERSE (THE LAST VARIANT OF THE REFRAIN):

Oops! (spitting on fists) (that is an old Russian gesture, a signal of starting a fight)

To vie with you, sirs? I dare not take that chance!
I guess some money with you would be nice!
Left side, right side, where are you now?
Street, street, you, my brother, as a drum`s tight!
(Trans. Andrew Alexandre Owie)

Then, in my humble opinion (IMHO), follows an American singer Lawrence Probes from Golden Fellowship Hall Interlochen, Michigan (Record by Donna Wilson Probes dated back to September 25, 2011) who sings in the excellent Russian language and seems also to be an author of a very good English translation of that romance (see above). I am afraid that it is the only its translation at present day. You must have read it above! Lovely, isn`t it? I agree! The same can be said of his attractive and winning manner of performing the romance.

The young Russian Buryat (Buryat Republic borders on Mongolia) singer from St. Peterburg Mr. Zhargal Maladayev also kindly granted us with a nice interpretation of the romance and his rich vocal makings. He performs the romance to the accompaniment of a band that is partly made up of brass instruments:

The poem from which originates lyrics was first published in 1859 in the Russian literary journal `Arlequin` (The Harlequin) as a translation from the German language. In 1904 the poem was re-published as a `Song of a drunk student` (Soikin Publishing House), in both cases an author wasn`t mentioned. The poem was set to music by A. Dubuc in 1863. Since then the romance has become one of the most popular in Russia and abroad, an evergreen oldie, a golden hit. It was sung by Fyodor Chaliapin, Yuri Morfessi, etc. The author of Russian text, Sirotin, was investigated by a Russian scholar V.S. Zheleznyak. The results of his investigation were published in his book В. С. Железняк «Повесть о Василии Сиротине».

Another famous Russian romance represented in the video from the `Kultura` channel is a romance `You`re liar!` (`Don`t be cunning!`)(vocal Karina Chepurnova&Vladimir Samsonov):

Не лукавьте
Моя душечка, моя ласточка,
Взор суровый свой прогони.
Иль не видишь ты, как измучен я?!
Пожалей меня, не гони!

Refrain:
Не лукавьте, не лукавьте!
Ваша песня не нова.
Ах, оставьте, ах, оставьте!
Все слова, слова, слова…

Моя душечка, моя ласточка,
Я нашел в тебе, что искал.
Пожалей меня, не гони меня,
Как измучен я и устал.

Refrain: …

Ты любовь моя, ты вся жизнь моя,
За тебя весь мир я б отдал.
Верь мне, милая, верь, желанная, –
Никогда я так не страдал.

`You`re liar!` Duet of Karina Chepurnova and Vladimir Samsonov

You`re liar! You`re liar!
You my poor girl, you my little bird,
Turn your eyes on me and forgive.
Don`t you see that I`m getting butterflies,
Spare my feelings, please, it`s my plea!

Refrain:
You`re liar! You`re liar!
I have heard it quite a lot,
Be so kind to me, I`m so tired
Of your words, your words, your words!

You my poor girl, you my little fox,
I am in love with you at first sight!
Don`t drop your eyes! Don`t break my heart!
You`re a fair one, you`re bright!

Refrain:…

You`re my only love, I can swear this,
Could devote to you all my life!
Trust me, love of mine, trust me, my sweetheart,
I am so missing you, I am done!
(Trans. Andrew Alexandre Owie)

NEW JONAH OR MIKE LERMONTOV IN A FISH CALLED WANDA

In a brilliant, excellent, prominent, evergreen et cetera American motion picture created by the outstanding Britishers, Mr. John Cleese and Mr. Charles Crichton, there`s a kicky scene directly related to the Russian classical literature. Archie Leach (actor John Cleese) recites a poem by Mikhail Lermontov called The Prayer and simultaneosly takes off all his clothes. He recites it in an intelligible Russian language and it seems to be one of the best clips from the movie A Fish Called Wanda:

Михаил Лермонтов
Молитва
В минуту жизни трудную
Теснится ль в сердце грусть:
Одну молитву чудную
Твержу я наизусть.

Есть сила благодатная
В созвучьи слов живых,
И дышит непонятная,
Святая прелесть в них.

С души как бремя скатится,
Сомненье далеко —
И верится, и плачется,
И так легко, легко…
1839г.

By the way, A Fish Called Wanda is just one of two motion pictures in the world`s cinema that includes reciting of this poem. Another one is the Russian movie about Lermontov`s life (Lermontov, 1986):

In the Wiki we read that `Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov [mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf] October 15 1814 – July 27 1841), 米哈伊尔 尤列维奇 莱蒙托夫, a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called “the poet of the Caucasus”, became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin’s death in 1837. … His influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry, but also through his prose, which founded the tradition of the Russian psychological novel`. That`s true! Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy must be much obliged to him! There would have been no War and Peace at all! He is a founding father of Tolstoyevsky phenomenon in Russian literature.

Unlike Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky Mike died very young, he was shot dead in a duel in the Caucasus. He died from the hand of his brother-officer.

Duel. Yefim Repin.

Son assassin avec aisance
Visa – et le destin fut là.
Le vide cœur bat en cadence
Et l’arme ne bronchera pas.
…
A-t-il compris quelle sublime
Merveille détruisait sa main?
(Lermontov. Sur la mort du poete. Trans. by Marina Tsvetayeva)
Source: http://www.tania-soleil.com/2011/07/Stihi-Lermontova-na-fr.html

Cold-bloodedly his murderer
Took aim…there was no chance of flight:
His empty heart beat evenly,
The pistol steady in his hand.

Nor in that bloody moment know
“gainst what he’d raised his hand!…

Myths are one thing, reality is quite different one, the truth is an absolutely different thing. What am I about? About Lermontov. He had a very bad temper, when high society he always belonged to was informed about his death, everybody said that it had served him right! Lermontov adored to destroy happy marriages and laughed happily if he was lucky enough to achieve it. He refused to marry Natalia Solomonovna Martynova, the sister of his brother-officer Nikolay Solomonovich Martynov, his close friend who later killed him in a duel.

Nikolay Martynov

The Emperor Nicholas I who had a flat-footed way of saying things just exclaimed: `A cur’s death for a cur!`But the truth is that Mike Lermontov was a real genius!

His family name is Lermontov that sounds strange to a Russian ear, the Russian suffix – ov was added to not Russian name, a Scottish name Lermont! Yes, my dear friends, rihgt you are! His ancestors originated from Scotland! His grandgrandgrandfather George Lermont served as a soldier of fortune in the Polish army in the beginning of the XVII century. George Lermont and all Scottish and Irish mercenaries went over to the former enemy and joined Russian Army. He made a prominent career in Russia and quickly became a senior officer, a Russian nobleman, and took his first country seat of Kuznetzovo from hands of the very Russian Czar Mikhail Fedorovich as a famous Russian war hero and a high blood person. In Russia his name was Yuri, Yuri Lermont. He was killed in action in 1634 in Smolensk. In Scotland one of the earliest ancestors of Lermontov is considered to be the Scottish semi-legendary poet Thomas Learmonth or True Thomas, the author of the Thom The Rhymer (XIII century). The coat of arms of the Lermontovs originates from the XIII century.

On the other hand, there`s another variant of family tree of the Lermontovs. Though the first Russian Lermont was of Scottish origin, he insisted on being related as well to the Spanish nobleman Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma (1552/1553 — 1625), a favourite of Philip III of Spain, and the honors which he enjoyed in Russian court might serve as an indirect evidence of that.
The first famous painting by Mikhail Lermontov was a portrait of Duke Lerma as the Russian poet imagined him. The depicted person reminds of Lermontov himself.

Young Lermontov was so infatuated with Spain that he sent a letter to Madrid, but received a negative answer. His relationship with Duke Lerma was not confirmed. After that Lermontov used to say that one guy of the Lermas escaped from Spain and found shelter in Scotland. He also used to sign his poems and pictures as `M. Lerma`. He wrote many poems dedicated to Spain and a play `The Spaniards`. Composer Mikhail Glinka who later set The Prayer to music was also a crazy lover of Spanish language and culture.

Portrait of real Duke of Lerma by Rubens.

Though Lermontov was always proud of his Scottish and Spanish roots, nevertheless he remained an ardent Russian patriot and even volunteered for rather dangerous war in the Caucasus at a time when many other officers tried to use their connections to avoid this mission. As a painter he never lost any opportunity to depict diverse landscapes of this region.

Tiflis (nowadays Tbilisi, Georgia)

The family language of the Lermontovs was French, the young Lermontov`s teacher of Russian was … Englishman Windson (it`s true-eee!!!). Thank you, dear Englishmen, you are the excellent teachers! It was a generous gift for Russian people and culture! Mr. Windson managed to turn the French boy (by language and culture) into one of the greatest Russian poets writing in perfect Russian. Lermontov wrote only three poems in French,

Si j’en crois mon espérance
Non, si j’en crois mon espérance,
J’attends un meilleur avenir.
Je serai malgré la distance
Près de vous par le souvenir.
Errant sur un autre rivage,
De loin je vous suivrai,
Et sur vous si grondait l’orage,
Rappelez-moi, je reviendrai.

as well as he had only three duels. The third one occured to have been fatal for him. (The leading Russian poet Alexandre Pushkin had had about sixty duels before he was killed!).

As to his poem The Prayer, this remarkable poem was written by the great poet in 1839, I stress it, because there`s another Lermontov`s poem bearing the same title but written a decade earlier. The poem was first published in the Notes of the Fatherland 1839, Vol. VI. No. 11, p. 272. (approved by Censors A. Nikitenko and P. Korsakov). It has got several English translations which I have to provide you with right now to not sound proofless.

Prayer
When faints the heart for sorrow,
In life’s hard, darkened hour,
My spirit breathes a wondrous prayer
Full of love’s inward power.

There is a might inspiring
Each consecrated word,
That speaks the inconceivable
And holy will of God.

The heavy load slips from my heart —
Oppressing doubt takes flight,
The soul believes, the tears break forth —
And all is light, so light!
(Trans. Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi (1863-1943), published 1916)

Prayer
When life`s oppresive hour is mine
And in my heart griefs crowd,
A prayer of wondrous power is mine
That I repeat aloud.

Blest in the strength that flows to me
In concords of sweet sound;
Past reckoning it blows to me
Divine enchantment round.

Doubt, like a burden, leaping then
Far from the spirits flies;
From words of faith and weeping then
How light, how light we rise!
(Trans. C.M. Bowra)
Source: A book of Russian Verse, ed. C.M. Bowra (McMillan, 1943).

The Prayer
For a minute of the direst need,
When life is dull and hard,
There is a simple prayer; it,
I always say by heart.

There is a graceful power
In every simple word
For th’soul it ‘s like a shower
Or blessing of the Lord.

And from my heart, all doubts fly
The burden is rolling down,
I’m able to believe and cry,
My soul is light as down.
(Trans. Gurvich Vladimir, 12 января 2013)

The Prayer
When my life is arduous,
If sadness freezes blood,
I say one prayer marvelous,
I learned it all by heart.

There’s vigor unbelievable
In living words’ accords,
And breathes unfamiliar
And holly charm in words.

A heart becomes not troublesome,
And doubts go awry,
And comes the truth and tears come,
And soul wants to fly.
(Trans. Yevgeny Bonver, November, 2000
Edited by Dmitry Karshtedt, May, 2001)

Prayer
In a trying minute of life
If sadness o’erfills the heart,
One miraculous invocation
By rote, without cease I recite.

There is a beneficent will
In the music of living words,
And there breathes in them
An unknowable, sacred delight.

And the soul will release its burden,
Doubt is far away
And it’s easy to trust, and to cry,
And I feel so light, so light….
(Trans. Ellen Omer, June/July 2009)

Prayer
At life’s most testing moment, when
the grieving heart’s replete,
a prayer that is most potent then
I call up and repeat.

There is a power, suffused with grace,
when living words combine,
a breath beyond the commonplace,
that holds a joy divine.

Like dead-weight slipping from the brain
now fades my unbelief –
I trust again, shed tears again,
and such relief, relief…”
Year written: 1839
(Unknown author, Sources:
peace18.com/archives/265,
www.artmagick.com/poetry/poem.aspx.

Besides there exist several translations into the other foreign languages, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Serbo-Croarian and Montenegrin:

Neu Chapel. Soprano Dayna Mitchell Clarke. With Harpist Erzsébet Gaál.

Gebet
In Stunden der Entmutigung,
wenns gar zu trübe geht,
gibt Trost mir und Ermutigung
ein wundersüß Gebet.

Sein heilig Wort so weihevoll,
so voll von Leben tönt;
es fühlt mein Herz sich reuevoll,
beseligt und versöhnt.

Aus meiner Brust der Zweifel scheu,
wie eine Last entweicht.
Ich wein aufs Neu, ich glaub aufs Neu,
mir wird so leicht, so leicht.
(Trans. Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819-1892))

La oración
En el momento mas duro de la vida, cuando
el corazón doliente está repleto,
una oración que es muy poderosa entonces
recito y repito.

Hay un poder, infundido de gracia,
cuando las palabras vivas combinan,
un aliento mas allá de este lugar,
que tiene dicha divina.

Como una pesa resbalando del cerebro
se desvanece mi incredulidad –
confío de nuevo, limpio las lágrimas de nuevo,
y es un alivio, un alivio…
(Trans. Guanaco)

Když životem zlé chvíle
jdou a kámen v srdce slét,
modlitbu jednu zázračnou
se modlím nazpaměť.

Je v souzvuku slov oživlých
zdroj blahodárných sil,
posvátná krása dýše z nich
tajemně do mých chvil.

Břemeno z duše je totam,
tentam je pochyb mrak —
zas víru mám, dar
slzí mám, a lehko, lehko tak…
(Trans. Josef Hora)

MOLITVA
Kad teški život zasiječe
I kada pritiska tuga
Napamet, čudesna teče
Jedna molitva duga.

Tu snaga, blaga i živa
Leži u suglasjima
I diše neshvatljiva
Sveta divota u njima.

Silno se breme tad ruši
Neko je sumnju mako
I vjera i plač u duši
I posve je lako, lako…
(Trans. Drazen Dragovic,
Source: http://www.ezgeta.com/ljermontov.html)
http://www.madeinmontenegro.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=6386

MOLITVA
U čas života teški,
Kad tuga dušu mori,
Molitvu jednu čudnu
Napamet srce zbori.

Blagodetna je sila
U žive reči zvuku,
U toj lepoti svetoj
Zaboravljam svu muku.

Sa duše breme pada,
Daleko j’ sumnja jako –
I verujem i plačem,
I lako mi je, lako…
(Trans. – U prevodu K. Taranovskog)
Source: http://www.madeinmontenegro.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=6386

Preghiera
Nelle ore di sconforto,
quando tutto va male,
mi consola e mi incoraggia
una dolcissima preghiera.

La sua sacra parola così devota,
così piena di vita risuona;
il mio cuore si sente pentito,
consolato e riconciliato.

Dal mio petto il dubbio timido,
come un peso se ne va.
Io piango di nuovo, io credo di nuovo
E mi sento leggero, leggero.
(Trans. Amelia Maria Imbarrato, 2011)

There was also a text of The Prayer in Esperanto set to music by Russian composer Taneyev (teacher of composers S.V. Rakhmaninov and A.N. Skryabin). The author of the text published in the almanoc “Liro” was Polish poet Leo Belmont (Belmont – Lermont!!!). Though music and lyrics are considered to have been lost, the enthusiasts all the same continue to search for them.

The poem was set to music many times. Better to say, it`s been setting to music, because the quanity of amateur and professional authors does not decrease. In my opinion, on the whole most of them are not comparable with the Lermontov`s masterpiece, they are murky, dull, not sufficently talented, mediocre. Boring! But tastes differ, and many people in the world dare love what I dislike. An amazing thing that I have to put up with! I dare not protest! With the exception of Glinka`s music composed in 1855, I don`t like either music of P. Bulakhov,

В минуту жизни трудную (At the hard moment of life)
Music: П. Булахов (P. Bulakhov)

or that of Ya. Vitols that reminds me of a howling of wolves in the snowy Canadian taiga mixed with popular interptretations of Johann Sebastian Bach`s chorals.

Music: Ya. Vitols

There are also two professional presentations of the Bulakhov`s opus made by Russian operatic lady-singers (Opera in Russia? I`ve never heard of it!). One belongs to Elena Obraztsova (Record of 1980, Russian folk orchestra, Conductor N. Nekrasov) and the other belongs to Valentina Levko (Record of 1976). 

Among performers I only prefer a great Russian opera singer Ivan Semyonocich Kozlovsky, among composers, as I have mentioned above, I prefer the first great Russian composer Mikhail Glinka. (This person, I mean Mr. Kozlovsky, suffered from the severe obsession neurosis and before every going on stage he had a compulsory ritual of throwing a coin upward. Once he did it in presence of Stalin. The coin fell and rolled down up to feet of Stalin, Kozlovsky got startled, but Stalin noticed peacefully, go on, Comrade Kozlovsky, don`t pay attention we are all well aware of your having got little quirks.) You might ask me what it has to do with the Prayer by Lermontov. I`ll have to answer that for Kozlovsky it was `life’s most testing moment` and then he needed the prayer more than ever before or after that. `Lermontov`s `marvelous prayer` reassured him that even `in life`s troubled moments` a `beneficent power` still reigned in the `harmony of living words`. The singer understood that Lermontov`s poem was `a description of the restorative properties of prayer` (see `A Double Garland: Poetry and Art Song in Early Nineteenth-Century Russia`. By Thomas P. Hodge, p. 349)). Unfortunately, many other contemporary creators didn`t understand this and even admitted mocking at the poem and, like Osip Mandelstam, eventually lost their lives (see `Osip Mandelstam and the Modernist Creation of Tradition`. By Clare Cavanagh and `Becoming Mikhail Lermontov: The Ironies of Romantic Individualism in …` By David Powelstock).

Other classical music performers make me desperately yawn, they are sickly-sweet religious, though unlike the first, earlier poem of the same name, The Prayer of 1839 is not religious at all, it is philosophical. The poem was dedicated to the then Lermontov`s love, grand duchess M.A. Shcherbatova, a young widow. Lermontov said that unbearable anguish oppressed his heart, but Masha recommended him the prayer as a remedy. He promised her to write a poem about melancholy and prayer. (The Memoirs of A.O. Smirnova-Rosset). The philosophical idea of the poem is the magical power of word, especially of the Word of God over a person. The poem was not regarded as a religious one by the contemporaries, and very soon it became a song of unhappy love and what is even worse an object for numerous parodies. All of them were forgotten except for The Recommendation by Piotr Vasilyevich Schumacher (1817-1891), the prominent Russian obscene poet.

СОВЕТ
В минуту жизни трудную,
Когда стеснится грудь,
Храни ухватку чудную
И постарайся бзднуть:

‎Есть что-то столь приятное,
‎Как облегчишь живот,
‎Что радость непонятная
‎Вдруг на сердце найдёт.

С души как бремя скатится,
Томленье далеко,
Хохочется, и плачется,
‎И так легко, легко…
(Source: His book «Кислобздёшные и срамные оды» was published in 1883 in Leipzig, Germany, by L.V. Kasprowicz (The Uschmann Printhouse). See also: А.Ранчина, Н.Сапова Русская нецензурная поэзия второй половины XIX века. — М.: «Ладомир», 1994. — pp. 148-153).

Alas, but as the distinctive feature of the present day it has become customary to construe this poem in a a quasi-religious way. The Prayer of 1829 is much more fit for these purposes. Besides, Lermontov, a true Russian Orthdox Church`s parisher, never was a Russian Orthdox Church`s poet. But now many committed groups need him as their ally. That is an anachronism and idiocy! Christian (!) choirs
perfom this poem as a … PSALM!!! Poor King David! He hardly planned sequels! I wonder what is the number of this psalm? I guess what number it is! (See “Псалом-В минуту жизни трудную …” www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzKU9WZ2u9E

But people like various interpretations: `The Prayer exquisite words brought to warm, delicate, poetic life by one of heaven’s angels…Oleg Pogudin!` Or even: `Gorgeous images enhance the contemplative mood! Thank you!` Vox Populi – Vox Dei. So please eat up your Mr. Oleg Pogudin, if you will and visit his official web site http://www.pogudin.ru/ so as he would be pleased too. 

The classical music lovers may also listen to interptretations of the poem made by opera singers Nadezhda Obukhova (excellent mezzo-soprano, the 40s of the XX century) and Boris Shtokolov (an outstanding Russian operatic bass) on http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/22323.

Hungarian, Austrian and German composer of The Prayer by M. Lermontov:
Franz (Ferencz) Liszt (1811-1886) Gebet, S. 331 (1878), published 1879 [voice and piano], Leipzig, Kahnt

German and Austrian Composers of The Prayer by M. Lermontov
Ingeborg Bronsart von Schellendorf, born Ingeborg Lena Starck (1840-1913) Gebet, op. 20 (Sechs Gedichte) no. 6
R. Andersch Gebet, op. 33 no. 3

Russian Composers of The Prayer by M. Lermontov:
Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829-1894) Molitva
Eduard Frantsevich Nápravník (1839-1916) Molitva
Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880-1951) Molitva, op. 61 (Acht Lieder = Vosem’ Pesen) no. 5
Aleksandr Lvovich Gurilyov (1803-1858) Molitva

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857) Molitva

Georgy Ottonovich Dyutsh (1860-1891) Molitva

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky (1813-1869) Molitva
Pyotr Petrovich Bulakhov (1822-1885) Molitva
Oleg Yevgenievich Pogudin (1986) Molitva
Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915) Molitva (in Esperanto)
VLadislav Kirienko. Molitva:

Lettish Composer of The Prayer by M. Lermontov:

Yazeps Vitols (Iosif Ivanovich Vitol`) (26.07.1863 (Valmiera) – 24.04.1948 (Luebeck))
An outstandig composer of Latvia which is, by the way, a country of great music culture and traditions. This author belonged to Russian, German and Lettish culture, graduated from St. Petersburg conservatory, among his teachers were N. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. Liadov, A. Glazunov. Vitols wrote the first symphony in Latvia. This author deserves a special review. Among his pupils were N. Myaskovsky, S. Prokofiev. By the way, I must be the only person who feels the strong Lettish influence in Prokofiev`s music, especially in his `British` opuses like the `Romeo and Juliet`. [/I]

Personally, I prefer sincere, unprofessional interpretations. Just listen to the reciting of an ordinary Russian schoolboy.

Oh, Mr. Lermontov is still alive and kicking while children show interest in his lyric poetry.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON: `RUSSIAN` BRITISHERS

JAMES WALKER (1748 – after 1808) (1758-after 1823)

How much employment is given to the artist and labourer by the vanity, caprice and wealth of individuals`. James Walker

James Walker born in London had served an apprenticeship to Valentine Green (1739-1813), the distinguished mezzotint engraver, before leaving for Russia where he was appointed an Imperial artist engraver at the courts of Catherine II, Paul I and Alexandre I. Mr. Walker spent 1785-1801 in Russia and achieved considerable renown for his engravings of portraits of the Imperial family. [B]On the other hand, he became one of certain foreign artists who focused on the lower strata of Russian society. [/B] In 1802, James Walker was awarded a title of the Academician and Councillor of the Russian Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. After that he had to have four Russian apprentices and a bonus of 30 sazhens (measure of length = 2.34 metres) of firewood and 4 poods (Russian pound of 16.8 kg) of candles. Upon return from Russia Walker wrote a book of 76 `scraps`, as the anecdotes were called, preceded in each case by a reflective `introduction`: `Walker, J. Paramythia, or, mental pastimes: being original anecdotes, historical, desciptive, humourous, and witty: collected chiefly during a long residence at the court of Russia /by the author. London : Lawler and Quick, 1821`. The book that was published anonymously by Walker in 1821, and the numerous Russian grandees figured in the book under discreet initials. From his Paramythia Walker emerges as a democrat, wryly observing the passing show, but full of genuine praise for his patroness. The most famous anecdote, one of those that had saved this book from oblivion, since many other reminiscences tend to be banal, is the story of how Catherine the Great might have had cricketers of her grandsons had it not been for the veto of the Grand Duke Constanine`s German tutor, alarmed by the lethal potential of the bat and ball. (Rosalind Polly Gray,Rosalind Polly Blakesley. Russian Genre Painting in the Nineteenth Century). Catherine the Great, concerned with the education of her grandsons, the future Alexander I and his brother Constantine, and informed about the curricula of English public schools, approached her Court Engraver, an Englishman named James Walker, hailing not from Yorkshire but from a Minor County, Norfolk, and asked about ‘an amusement she had heard talked of, called cricket, enquiring whether it would not be a good exercise for the young princes’. Walker was requested to demonstrate the game to General Sacken, the Grand Dukes’ tutor: “I procured the apparatus, and waited upon his excellency, who viewed them with great attention, and, taking up the bat, exclaimed, ‘Call you this amusement! why, it is the club of Hercules’: then, feeling and weighing the ball in his hand, he pronounced it as dangerous as a four-pounder; and, turning to me, said, ‘No, no, my dear Mr W-, no cricket for their Imperial Highnesses my pupils; it is too much to run the risk of a death-hlow in play.” (A. G. CROSSBy the Neva, By the Aire p. 11) Walker spent 16 or even 18 years in St. Petersburg in Russia. His book of anonymously published anecdotes on Russia (1821) was a kind of an account of the career of James Walker and remains an important addition to the literature on Catherine’s Russia from contemporary English visitors and residents.

A Russian Peasant One Hundred and Eight Years of Age with her Children. Dedicated to Her Imperial Majesty Catherine the Second, Empress and Autocratrix of the All Russias. By her much obliged most devoted & very humble Servant James Walker, Engraver to I.M. London, 1792. The engraving of 617х435 mm is an aquatint print from the Hermitage Museum`s painting by Vigilius Eriksen (1722 -1782), a Danish artist who served in Russia.

JOHN AUGUSTUS ATKINSON (1775 – after 1833)

`The Russian, always a great and powerful nation, but little known to the rest of Europe, till drawn into notice by the creative mind and genius of their great law-giver, Peter the first, have at the present day assumed a weight and importance in its scale, that must necesssarily give an interest to anything, that may tend to elucidate or make better acquainted with their customs and manners`. John Augustus Atkinson

John Augustus Atkinson (1775– after1833) was an English artist engraver and watercolourist. In 1784, aged 9, he went to St. Petersburg to his uncle (according to other information, his stepfather) James Walker, engraver to the Empress Catherine the Great. (Another version: `Atkinson came to St. Petersburg in 1787 as a boy of twelve – with his uncle and father-in-law the engraver James Walker in the service of Catherine II, Empress of Russia- and lived on the banks of Neva for eighteen years`. (Russia: Engages the World, 1453 – 1825 Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, Edward Kasinec).

Retreat of Napoleon Army from Moscow 1812 (700×483).

John Augustus Atkinson subsequently gained the patronage of the Empress and her son, Paul I (reg 1796-1801). He was educated as a painter in the Russian picture galleries. Atkinson`s precocious artistic talent attracted the attention of the Empress herself. Later he was commissioned by Paul I to paint portraits and large genre and historical paintings. His ouput included several paintings on themes from Riussian history (Mamay`s Slaughter, Victory of the Cossacks of the Don over the Tartars and the Baptism of Rus), as well as a series of portraits, a large number of landscape and genre sketches.

Golubtza. Russian folk dance. 1804 Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia.

He returned to England in 1801 and by 1808 was exhibiting as an Associate at the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours, showing such literary and patriotic pictures as Shakespeare’s ‘Seven Ages’. A series of his soft-ground etchings, The Miseries of Human Life, by One of the Wretched (London, BM), was published in London in 1807. He also produced sets of engravings of military costumes, such as A Picturesque Representation of the Naval, Military and Miscellaneous Costumes of Great Britain (London, 1812) and painted numerous watercolours (e.g. HRH The Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia Attended by Marshal Bluecher at the Review in Hyde Park, 20 June 1814, c. 1814; London, N. Army Mus.). In 1815 Josiah Boydell (1752-1817) sent him to the site of the Battle of Waterloo to collaborate with Arthur William Devis on a painting of the event (watercolour study, London, BM). In 1819 the painting was engraved by John Burnet. He painted many battle scenes of the Napoleonic wars including a Battle of Waterloo. That time Atkinson aspired towards recognition as a painter of historical subjects and competed unsuccessfully in a competition sponsored by the British Institution for a military painting to hang in the Royal Military Hospital in Chelsea, London. His last contribution to the Royal Academy exhibition was in 1829.

Panoramic view on S. Petersburg of the Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg, dedicated by permission to his Imperial Majesty Alexander 1st. by his much obliged humble servant J.A. Atkinson / drawn on the spot by J.A. Atkinson, from the observatory of the Academy of Sciences. 1805-1807. Caption: “Plate 4th. Exchange et Warehouse. New Exchange. Fortress of St. Peter et St. Paul”

Upon his return to England after eighteen years in Russia in 1801, James Walker and his stepson, John Augustus Atkinson began a series of prints entitled `A picturesque representation of the manners, customs, and amusements of the Russians: in one hundred coloured plates : with an accurate explanation of each plate in English and French: in three volumes / by John Augustus Atkinson, and James Walker. London : W. Bulmer and Co., 1803-1804.3 v. (published in three volumes on 1 May 1803, 1 February 1804, and 2 July 1804, and reissued in 1812). The series, in which etchings by Atkinson (the work contains 100 sheets engraved in soft laquer with aquatint and very finely colored by hand appeared alongside a text by Walker, was available in Russia, and became one of the first publications to deal directly with Russian everyday life. Abbey notes that Atkinson’s plates “show the spontaneity and spirit possible when the artist is his own engraver… the colouring is skilfully done, in soft washes”. Many of the views depict leisure activities and include the racecourse, swings, boxing, wrestling, toboganning on ice hills, skittles, dancing, the fairground and public festivals. Atkinson`s engravings are quite varied in theme, albeit traditional; theу depict not only games and amusements, but also Russian rituals, urban and village types, and people at work. However, Atkinson behaved first as a talented and poetic artist and only secondarily as an ethnographer and documentary artist; these are highly artistic works distinguished by dynamic composition and unique painterly qualities. Unlike many other foreign artists, he knew Russia as the Russian, this country was not foreign for him. He creates unusually lyrical and warm engravings such as depicting the washing down of horses, a well on a village street, a lively winter bazaar, sledding down enormous ice hills, steam baths, the feast of blessing water on the Neva enbankment. Published in folio, the Atkinson-Walker album was dedicated to Alexandre I, Catherine the Great`s favourite grandson, who ascended the Russian throne in March 1801, but the artist nontheless portray the faces, mores, and lifestyle of the inhabitants of Catherine`s day.

John Augustus Atkinson. Katcheli (The Swings). London, 1803. Hand Painted Oil Painting Reproduction on Canvas

AFTER THE BALL

THE XIX CENTURY. ABBEY OF DOWNTON. THE BALL IS OVER. BUT IT IS TOO EARLY TO LEAVE AND ACCORDING TO CUSTOM GUESTS ARE BEING DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTIES: GENTLEMEN HAVE GONE TO THEIR CARDS, PORTWEIN AND CIGARS. THE LADIES HAVE GATHERED IN CIRCLE FOR DISCUSSING THEIR SECRET AFFAIRS, FINERY, HAIRDOS AND DIAMONDS AND OTHER PARAPHERNALIA.

BOTH PARTIES ARE SPENDING VERY GOOD TIME AND HAVING GOT MUCH FUN. SH-SH! EVERYBODY IS CHATTERING. THE KEY TOPIC OF THIS IDLE CHAT IS THE HANDSOME YOUNG DANDY FROM FRANCE WHO WAS THE BEAU OF THE BALL, CHARMED ALL LADIES, BUT UNWITTINGLY HURT GENTlEMEN`S PRIDE AND TOOK FRENCH LEAVE. THE HASTE OF HIS RETREAT MADE THE GENTLEMEN THINK THAT THE HARD WAY, THE GRIND, THE MORAL LESSON, DUTY AND EVEN MONEY ALL WERE LOSING OUT TO TO THE EASY WAY AND CHARM. WHAT AN AFFRONT TO PUBLIC MORALITY! ALL GENTLEMEN THOUGHT TO THEMSELVES: CASANOVA, S.O.B. BUT THE EXPLANATION WAS QUITE SIMPLE: `THE PUBLISHERS HAD PRAISED HIS NOVEL PRETTY HIGHLY AND IT RATHER WENT TO HIS HEAD`(I hope that you, my dear reader, will forgive me this Hemingwayesque!). Mais revenons à nos moutons, i.e. Let’s get back to the subject:
RIGHT NOW OUR GENTLEMEN ARE EXCHANGING OF QUICK, BITTER AND WITTY COMMENTS ON

THE HUMAN FRAILTY  OF THE  BEAU

THE 1st: Beau of the Ball whom Nature made so groovy … (AGREE! AGREE!)
THE 2nd: Whose wit`s twice taught instead of being once bought! (BUT HE`S YOUNG)
THE 3rd: When being addressed he talks a lot of phooey! (WHY?)
THE 4th: He`s said to have been pretty fond of drugs and bottle. (REALLY!)
THE 5th: Fool on a hill, his suit is but a waste of money. (FIE!)
THE 6th: I`ve heard he is halfday abed, not worth an ace. (WOW!)
THE 7th: His leisure is to prowl night spots to pick up pretty bunnies, (LUCKY!)
THE 8th: Trust me, in dreams on a rich missus he has got a case! (I KNOW LIFE, MISTA!)
THE 9th: He is a pearl of beauty of the imitation jewelry, (SONNY, JUST TELL IT TO MARINES!)
THE 10th: He often places his ass in jeopardy, he is released on bail. (IF TO TRUST THE SUN!)
THE 11th: What if he is a secret lover of the youth who didn`t reach maturity? (HA-HA! WHAT RUBBISH!)
THE 12th: Gee! Let me think! A sexy impotent, or so prematurely
He would have hardly left our cosy little gathering,
Though he`s got two of everyting,
Today!

SOON THE REPARTEE IS BEING TRANSFORMED INTO THE PLAYFUL AND FRIENDLY EXCHANGE OF TEASING REMARKS ON THE FRENCH ON THE WHOLE. THERE IS THE TIME FOR FUNNY STORIES:

BONJOUR, LA TOUR!
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson came to Paris. They`re observing la Tour d`Eiffel.
Holmes : When I was here 25 years ago, they`d already had it there.
Dr. Watson: It looks like they`ve failed to recover the oil so far.

FRENCH FROM BORN
The six-month old baby warns her mom:
-Dear mom, please, be ready to use the second tit, tonight I gonna share my dinner with my colleague.

HOME, SWEET HOME
A French magazine for men declared the winner of the describe-your-morning contest.
The prize went to the gentleman who wrote just one phrase:
I get up, have my breakfast and go home!

FAMILY VALUES
France. Paris. Drugstore.
Man: I gonna have a black condom.
Chemist: Why black, monsieur?
Man: The husband of my ladyfried`s gone!
Chemist: How nice of you! My condolences!

OH, THOSE BLACK EYES!
The French police commissioner is filling in the examination record of a lady-thief.
When he comes to the section EYES he writes:
Black, burning, expressive, full of passion and fervent supplication. One of eyes is absent.

THE RIGHT CLASSIFFICATION
Two French men:
– A good wife has got a husband and a lover.
– Who`s then is the bad wife?
– The bad wife has got only a lover.
– I thought that it was a whore!
– No, the whore is the one who hasn`t got a husband and lover.
– I thought it was a lonely woman.
– No, a lonely woman has got only a husband.

THE LADIES BEHIND THE WALL ARE HEARING THE INCESSANT ROARS OF LAUGHTER:

– Agatha, what do you think our dear hubbies are talking about?
– About the same things we are used to talk too!
– But this is really a-a-a-we-some!

SILVERING SOUND OF LADIES` LAUGHTER! THE END

Non, non, non… Mes amis, it is not a ménage à trois!!! We`re gentlemen, we`re ladies… Besides it has happened beyound the boundaries of the UK and in dreams.

THE VACATION PAY

I dream neither of the next door girls
Nor of the city where I live nor country
In my dreams is only Senegal
Cuz it paid me the most precious bounty.

Just imagine, folks from our testing lab,
Lapping of the waves and plash of oars,
Alligators, coco trees and baobabs
And the wife of the French Ambassador.

Though, frankly, I can`t speak a word of French
Nor can she of English, does it matter?
After groping in the corridor,
In the kitchen we passed on to graters!

Now that I needn`t ladies from the lab,
I gonna come back to Africa, where are
Alligators, coco trees and baobabs
And the wife of the French Ambassador.

Sorry, dear bros and dear sises,
I don`t know what I`m talking of!
All the nights I dream of her hot kisses,
She is featured in that 3D movie of
My wild passion that can burn to ashes,
There is Africa and there`s open door
To the bed in which together lashes
Four my limbs the French Ambassador.