Аннотация: A great person. A note on chapter 3 of the book "Diaghilev: outrunning the time"
A great person. A note on chapter 3 of the book "Diaghilev: outrunning the time"
Who is Sergei Diaghilev? A student? He became a student of necessity ...
It was time for Diaghilev to sent into the past the period when he was considered a "barich."
It is difficult to become a "barin" after the sale of the estate in Penza, and Sergei Diaghilev do not have a special inclination for such a transformation.
Sergei Diaghilev is engaged in the theory of music and composition with a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, composer and musicologist Nikolai Alexandrovich Sokolov, mastering the intricacies of playing the piano.
An expert, patron, marshal of arts was needed - a man who could recognize, appreciate the ability of Sergei Diaghilev and announce the entry of Diaghilev into the field of art - a man similar to V.G. Belinsky, who declared Gogol the head of Russian literature, or like D.V. Grigorovich, who declared Chekhov a talented, potentially high-class writer.
Such recognition and public announcement required of an existence and of actions of a great man.
But who can do this?
'In January 1892 in Moscow, where Diaghilev went with Dima Filosofov, their interlocutor was none other than Leo Tolstoy.' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
A long conversation. During the conversation, questions about Diaghilev's abilities and his prospects in the art world were not addressed. Diaghilev and his companion introduced themselves to Leo Tolstoy as law students, people who want to make a charitable financial contribution to the fight against hunger.
'... The combination of a peasant work suit with some gentlemanly manner of holding on and talking. (...) During the conversation he [Leo Tolstoy] was looking directly into the eyes of the person with whom he was talking. ' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
From the story of Sergei Diaghilev about the conversation with Leo Tolstoy, it can be assumed that Diaghilev was the interesting man for Leo Tolstoy.
The conversation not only took place (the visitors had no guarantees that they would see Leo Tolstoy in person; moreover, they had no hope of a long conversation with the writer). The conversation not only turned out to be relatively long. Leo Tolstoy, for example, unexpectedly raised the question of the relationship between vanity and the desire to do good deeds.
The very fact of a very long conversation and the attention of Leo Tolstoy encouraged Sergei Diaghilev.
After the onset of the illness of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Diaghilev manages to get closer to the composer. But Tchaikovsky died in 1893. Perhaps, during this period, at Sergei Diaghilev a taste for useful super-performances appeared. He managed to present himself in such a way that before the funeral of Tchaikovsky, some people took Diaghilev for a relative of Tchaikovsky and expressed condolences. The performance was useful from the point of view of gaining experience, but it did not give obvious useful results.
Sergei Diaghilev suddenly, under the influence of an impulse, writes a sonata ...
The conversation with Leo Tolstoy took place, it was a useful event...
Tchaikovsky died relatively quickly.
Who else could be classified as great man?
The generally recognized great man was Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
'September 22, 1894, Sergei went straight home to the famous composer' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov shows a restraint in praising, recommends Diaghilev to study, makes an unflattering review [expresses an unflattering opinion].
All this, in a seperate details, is correct, but does not meet the requirements of the moment. With such a pace, it was possible to be a 'barich' for another ten years - and this option was unacceptable for Sergei Diaghilev. The clock was ticking ...
It was necessary to take on himself a responsibility and reputational risks (risks of mistakes, failures, ridicule...) ...
Diaghilev "with a noise threw open the doors of the composer's office. Having flown out into the corridor, Sergei shouted out (with a some an anger, rage) a phrase surprisingly presumptuous (a witness is already appearing here - a footman of the house owner): 'The future will show whom of us a history will consider to be a more greater man!'' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
Diaghilev learns to play the piano, tries to compose operas, perform opera parts, starts painting ...
Again travel - a trip abroad.
'A young traveler does not suffer from excessive modesty. On the contrary, for all his new acquaintances Diaghilev becomes the embodiment of "a real Russian barin." As Alexander Benois later recalled, his friend "stayed in the best hotels, traveled around the city in a closed carriage, dressed elegantly, walked with a monocle that he did not need, and never parted with a cylinder." In addition, he celebrated a purchases of paintings with wonderful dinners in restaurants - and not alone, with the goal of saving, but in the circle of new friends and like-minded people. No wonder that his inheritance was enough for only three years' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
Abroad, Sergei Diaghilev, using the inheritance of a long-dead native mother, received after reaching him adulthood, acquires works of art (the inheritance was enough for 3 years - Diaghilev managed to spend the inheritance with benefit and pleasure until 1914-1917 ...).
Gradually, the home of Sergei Diaghilev is equipped as an expensive salon, filled with elegant furniture and objects of art.
According to people who do not feel the nuances, who are unable to see the future through a magnifying glass, who think stereotypically, schematically, Sergei Diaghilev behaves like a barin.
In fact, he becomes the owner of the salon of figures, persons of art. (This period, he had not yet completed his studies at the university).
'On January 8, 1896, the first publication of Sergei Diaghilev, the article 'Aquarelle Exhibition", appeared in the metropolitan 'News and Exchange Newspaper '. And a few months later, in the summer, he finally graduated from university, having completed a four-year course in six years. He did not become a lawyer, but is it worth regretting this? The purpose of this man was completely different. And now he stood on the threshold of his stellar destiny ... ' (Natalya Chernyshova-Melnik "Diaghilev: outrunning the time").
In 1890, the "period of Bickbarda" ended. In 1896, the period of apprenticeship ended. The great man declared his new quality to the world, found his life path and began to move along it.
June 14, 2020 07:14
Translation from Russian into English: June 14, 2020 13:17.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Великий человек. Заметка о главе 3 книги Н.Д. Чернышовой-Мельник 'Дягилев: опередивший время''.