She is a contemporary and the same age as Pushkin, one of the most famous ballet dancers of her time, prima ballerina Didelot. Her name is found more than once in the works of the great poet. He conceived, but never completed the novel "Two Dancers", in which she, Avdotya Ilyinichna Istomina, was the prototype of one of the heroines. In addition to her talent as a dancer, she possessed amazing charm and beauty and was considered one of the most charming women of St. Petersburg at that time. Naturally, she had a whole crowd of fans, and among them - the most prominent people of the Empire.
Istomina Avdotya Ilyinichna: biography
Evdokia (as she is recorded in the registration books) was born on January 6, 1799 in St. Petersburg. There are several versions about who her parents were, but the most plausible is the one according to which her father was a police bailiff Ilya Istomin, who drank himself and died when the girl was 2-3 years old. The girl's mother, Anisya Istomina, also died soon after, and six-year-old Dunya was left an orphan. Fortunately, the girl was not assigned to an orphanage, but ended up in the Imperial Theater School. She, thanks to herappearance, liked the mentor of the school and she took her to full board. It was here that Istomin Avdotya learned the theatrical craft. Unfortunately, no one was particularly involved in the general education of pupils.
Study
The acting profession at the beginning of the 19th century was not considered prestigious, therefore, as a rule, children from the lower classes or orphans, like the heroine of our story, studied at the school. Subsequently, when she became an outstanding ballerina, many became interested in the question - who was the teacher of the ballerina Avdotya Istomina? Initially, the girl was taught the dance art by the famous ballerina in St. Petersburg Ekaterina Sazonova. It was from her that she learned to be patient, disciplined, persistent and not give up. However, the main teacher of Avdotya Istomina, who taught her dance technique and acting skills, is, of course, the French dancer, choreographer and teacher Charles-Louis Didelot. He was distinguished by ruthlessness towards his pupils, was very demanding and strict, regardless of their gender and age.
Debut
Istomina Avdotya, like most students of the Imperial School, began performing on stage very early. Already at the age of 9, Didlo took her to the production of the ballet Zephyr and Flora, which was shown at the Bolshoi Stone Theater. Of course, she had a very modest role - to be in the retinue of the goddess Flora - the patroness of the plant world. The girl was very impressed by the performance in front of the public, she was fascinated by the image of Flora and began to dream that someday she would be a prima ballerina and would alsolook beautiful.
Entering the St. Petersburg troupe
In 1815, Avdotya Istomina - a ballerina with a diploma from a theater school - entered the service of the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg, the troupe of which was directed by her teacher Shar Didlo. He immediately took his talented student to the production of the play "Acis and Galatea", and the role of the main character. The girl liked the audience after the first performance. At that time there was no strict distinction between theatrical genres, and ballet was considered one of them, and she had to play more than once in drama and vaudeville performances. Soon, the entire Russian high society started talking about the beautiful ballerina.
Characteristic
The first Russian theatrical historian Pimen Nikolaevich Arapov described Istomin as follows: “She was of medium height, very beautiful, slim, with dark luxurious hair and black shiny eyes, long thick eyelashes, giving her face a special character. She had muscular, strong legs, her movements were light and graceful. Given all this, it is not surprising that the ballerina Avdotya Istomina, whose biography is described in this article, was very popular among the aristocratic nobility. They say that Pushkin himself was not indifferent to her and even experienced the pangs of jealousy. The customs of that time allowed noble gentlemen to support poorly secured ballerinas. For some time she was kept by the famous General Orlov, the future Decembrist. Pushkin in a fit of jealousywrote an epigram on it, beginning with these words: "Orlov with Istomina in bed …". He called her Laisa, which had the same meaning as the word "courtress".
Cherche la femme
Her first suitor was the staff captain Vasily Vasilyevich Sheremetev. She enjoyed his courtship, and for about two years they lived as newlyweds. However, as her popularity as a ballet dancer grew, she became more demanding and wayward, and soon quarreled with him and went to live with her closest friend, Maria Azarevicheva. Girlfriends were constantly besieged by secular youth in love with them, as well as admirers of a ballerina of a more respectable age. She was friends with Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov and once accepted the invitation of the playwright and diplomat to visit his friend A. Zavadovsky, with whom he temporarily lived in St. Petersburg. After this visit by Istomin, Avdotya reconciled with Sheremetev and returned to him, but rumors spread about her closeness with Zavadovsky. When her lover demanded an explanation from the ballerina about these gossip, she did not make excuses and admitted that Griboedov's friend molested her in the most rude way during her visit to his house. Sheremetev could not forgive this and challenged Zavadovsky to a duel. At the same time, a close friend of Vasily Vasilyevich, A. I. Yakubovich, considering A. Griboyedov to be the initiator of all this, he himself challenged him to a duel. Thus, two fights were to take place on the same day. So, in November 1817, twocouples. However, the duel between Griboedov and Yakubovich did not come, because Zavadovsky killed Sheremetev, and the second duel had to be postponed for a while. If you remember from history, the duel between the playwright and Yakubovsky nevertheless took place a year later, but already in Tiflis. As a result, Griboyedov was wounded, but not fatally. However, it was the scar from Yakubovich's bullet that later made it possible to identify the body of the diplomat Griboyedov killed by the Persians.
Prima of the Didlo Theater
Istomina Avdotya, who was only 18 years old, having learned about the death of her lover, was terribly worried and felt guilty, but in the theater no one cared about her torment. In 1818, Charles Didelot decided to restore and slightly transform his favorite performance - Zephyr and Flora, the music of which was written by K. A. Kavosa. Avdotya took part in earlier productions of this ballet more than once. And so, now her dream came true, and she had to appear in the image of the beautiful Flora and play the title role. The audience met the new “patron of the plant world” with a bang. It was a real triumph for the ballerina. After that, she shone in almost all the main roles of her teacher: The African Lion, Caliph of Baghdad, Euthymius and Eucharis, Deserter, Liza and Colin, Kora and Alonzo, or the Virgin of the Sun, Roland and Morgan and others.
Avdotya Istomina and Pushkin
In early 1823, the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Kamenny Theater hosted a premiere performance - a ballet based on Pushkin's poem "The Prisoner of the Caucasus",The music for the play was composed by Katarino Cavosa. Istomina was entrusted with the Circassian party. Interestingly, the author of the work, A. S. Pushkin, was exiled from Chisinau at that time. Having learned that this performance was to take place in the capital, he wrote to his brother Leo: “Go to the Prisoner of the Caucasus and tell me about Didlo and my beautiful Circassian Istomina. Once I trailed after her like my prisoner. How much despair was in these lines. Pushkin fell in love with the young Istomina at a very young age. They, as already noted, were peers. He was one of the first to notice her among the extras. But the ballet "Acis and Galatea" touched him so much that he devoted immortal lines to his black-eyed Galatea in the novel "Eugene Onegin". Even if he had not mentioned her very name in them, everyone would have understood that the dancer he was describing was Avdotya Istomina. Pushkin's poems have always been figurative and truthful, especially when they de alt with the description of a woman. He could catch some special gesture or facial expression that was barely perceptible to others.
The heroine of a failed romance
The great poet's interest in Istomina's personality was much deeper than he himself wanted. He kept returning to her, her image in his memory was always bright, wherever he was. Pushkin decided to write a novel about her, and even made sketches. Initially, he planned to call the novel "Russian Pelam". However, he later decided that it would be called "Two Dancers". Alexander Sergeevich wanted to touch on the theme of the tragedy, the culprit of which the dancer unwittingly became the culprit - we are talking aboutduel between Sheremetev and Zavadovsky. The plan of the novel was found in Pushkin's manuscripts. It looked like this:
- Didlo Ballet.
- Zavadovsky.
- Lover.
- Backstage scene.
- Duel.
- A. I. is coming into fashion.
- Kept woman.
- Marriage.
- Despair
- Istomina in the light.
- Rejection.
- Society receptions
- Troubles, etc.
History of pointe shoes
Avdotya Ilyinichna Istomina was a real pioneer in Russian ballet art. She is the first Russian dancer to do pointe shoes. Before that, dancers tried to stand on their big toes, but there were no special ballet shoes at the beginning of the 19th century. It is believed that the Italian Maria Taglioni first appeared on the stage in pointe shoes. It happened on the stage of the London Royal Theater in 1830. However, in Russia this happened a few years earlier, and it was thanks to Didlo and Istomina that this led to a real reform of ballet.
Maturity
Avdotya has served in the Imperial Ballet for over 20 years. Her later roles are Rosalba from Don Carlos, the Italian Susanna in Almaviva and Rosina, Eliza in The Pages of the Duke of Vendôme; Countess Albert in The Sorcerer's Lesson, etc. Over the years, she began to grow fat, and began to get tired often … They began to give her fewer and fewer roles. In 1830, she developed a foot ailment and had to switch to mime parties. Her namesake, Avdotya Panaeva, in her book of memoirs, gave an outstanding ballerinaseveral pages." By the age of 40, Istomina had become a heavyweight, fat woman. She tried to look younger and used a lot of makeup - white and blush. Her hair was not touched by gray, and they were still pitch black. There were rumors that she paints them. "With age, they did not patronize her, but she herself helped young artists, among them was the dramatic actor Godunov. Theater critics considered him mediocre, but Istomina did not share their opinion. He was 21 years younger than her, however, this did not prevent them from getting married. She gave him expensive gifts, diamonds, he proudly sat with her in theater boxes and enjoyed the benefits of a rich life. However, ironically, the young husband soon fell ill with typhus and died. Avdotya, with grief, decided to become a nun, however, it didn’t come to that, and she continued to serve the theater.
Epilogue
The last mention of the ballerina's name on a theater poster was in January 1836, and her last performance took place at the Alexandrinsky Theater on the last day of January of that year. However, after that, she lived another 12 years and died of cholera. The funeral was modest, no one even remembered that she was one of the most outstanding dancers of her time.
