Ostankino palace click to see
was the winter estate of over 10,000 serfs. Ostankino had beautiful palace gardens
click to see.
The Nikolai Sheremetev family also had a summer estate named Kuskovo
click to see.
The Kuskovo estate had an orangerie
click to see
with lemon trees, olive trees, pomegranates, and pineapples. There also
existed a Sheremetev palace called the "Fountain House" in St. Petersburg
click to see,
and another estate at Kolomna. The Nikolai Sheremetev family owned in total,
more than 200,000 serfs.
The Kuskovo, Ostankino, and Kolomna estates had serf theatres. Indeed,
there were fifty three serf theatres in Russia by 1800. 1
Sheremetev found serfs of special merit and "raised them up": educating
them so that they could serve as chefs, tailors, grooms, carpenters,
stage hands, set builders, seamstresses, hairdressers, gilders (gold or silver
smiths), parquet-makers, sculptors, engravers,
tile stove makers,
upholsterers, window makers, artisans to make musical instruments,
cosmeticians, hair stylists, etc. (over 1,000 serfs to support his serf
theatres), including over two hundred musicians, dancers, singers, actors,
costumiers, and architects for his
serf theatre!
Aristocrats often had two orchestras or even three: a choir, a
horn orchestra
and a symphony orchestra.
Peasant children ages 7 to 16 were selected due to their promising
voices. Boys need not be handsome, but the girls had to be attractive,
as they might serve as actresses, if not as singers. Sheremetev engaged
teachers from France, Germany, and Italy: French choreographers, Italians
to teach singing, Germans to teach the playing of musical instruments.
The children were taught proper
"decorum",
but if the children needed to be punished, they would be fed only bread
and water, coerced into kneeling, flogged, or sent out to tend cows, sent
to work in the kitchen, etc. 2
The children lived in unheated dormatories and were required to dress in
the European style. Singing required the ability to sing in different
languages, thus the Italian teachers also taught languages. Acting (Ballet
d'Action for example) required that the serfs be taught proper hand
gesticulations. 3
If Nikolai Sheremetev was attracted to one of the females (older, no longer
children), and if he left his gloves in their room, it was understood
that he would be spending the night there.
Talented peasant children were then provided with honorable
names (their peasant names might be unbecoming).
4
Honorable names were of precious stones (for women), minerals (for men),
though there were exceptions. Thus Praskovja Kovalyova (originally
named "parasha" or "chamber pot" and Kovalyova is derived from
"blacksmith": her father was a blacksmith, had a hunched back,
and was a drunkard) was renamed Praskovja Zhemchugova,
"Zhemchugova" means "pearl".
5
Thus some of these
exceptionally talented serfs:
Anna Buyanova-Izumrudova: Izumrudova means "emerald".
Tatiana Shlykova Granatova: Granatova means "garnet",
click to see.
Fyokla Biryuzova: Biryuzova means "turquoise".
Praskovja Zhemchugova: Zhemchugova means "pearl".
6
Arina Hrustaleva: Hrustaleva means "crystal".
Avdotya Ametistova: Ametistova means "amethyst".
Arina Sapfirova: Sapfirova means "sapphire".
I. Jakhontova: Jakhontova means "ruby".
Kuz'ma Serdolikov: Serdolikov means "carnelian".
Nicolae Mramorov: Mramorov means "marble".
Andrei Kremenev: Kremenev means "flint".
Roman Korallov: Korallov means "coral".
Vasily Vorobyov: Vorobyov means "sparrow".
Ivan Perspectivny: Perspectivny means "hopeful".
Almazov: Almazov means "diamond".
Pavel Ivanovich Argunov (c. 1768-1806) became an architect. Serf writer Vasily Grigorievich
Voroblevsky translated plays by Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, Molière,
and others. Serf artisan Ivan Andreevich Batov made string instruments
including cellos and guitars, and repaired cembalos and clavichords.
7Stepan Anikeevich Degtyarev
was recruited into Sheremetev's troup of talented children at age seven
as an opera singer. Degtyarev soon became a conductor, studying composition
under Bortniansky, Giuseppe Sarti, and others. Appointed kapellmeister.
8
Praskovya Kovalyova, at an early age, was fluent in French and Italian,
and as a musician played the harp, harpsichord, guitar, and was known
as an accomplished singer, actress and dancer. Nikolai Sheremetev had
a secret marriage with serf Praskovya Kovalyova, which was viewed as
scandalous (similar to Thomas Jefferson living with mulatto Sally Hemings,
in the United States). The Sheremetev theatre at Ostankino had one of
the finest theatres with one of the finest orchestras in Russia:
the Tsar often attended aesthetic events including comic operas,
tragedies, and ballet d'Action. Operas about peasant life performed
at Ostankino included <<Аннет и Любен>>
("Annetta and Luben") and <<Нинетта при дворе>>
("Ninette at the Court") at the Ostankino theatre, as well as Gretry's
"Talking Painting". The premier opening of Ostankino theatre was commemorated
by Nikolay Sheremetev by the opera "Zelmira and Smelon, or the Capture of
Ismail": a propaganda piece by Osip Kozalevsky celebrating the Russian
victory over the Ottoman Black Sea empire. Other works were done by Christoph
Willibald Gluck 9
and Fritz Hilferding. 10
To get an idea of what the costumes looked like, Marianne Kirtsinger (1730 - 1809) created art work of the costumes
used in the Sheremetev serf theatre, click here.
11
The Ostankino theatre had theatre machinery, and in some cases, this
machinery was unique. Machinery included flying machines, wind machines,
rain machines, thunder machines, a machine to lift or lower the
main chandelier, counter-weighted scenery backdrops, machinery to
simultaneously open or shut wings, three large wooden drums below stage
to make the sound of a large army marching, etc. Stage activities were
controlled by serfs on catwalks or "bridges" above the stage. The
"captain's bridge" was twenty-two feet above the stage. A machinist,
using a whistle, signaled twenty-six stagehands. Most of the machinery
was located in a dome above the stage, but some machinery was below the
stage.
Ostankino theatre was a private palace theatre, thus explaining the limited
influence of Humanistic philosophy, and Renaissance and Baroque aesthetics
upon Russian society. Alas! Even current discussions about Ostankino in
Russia hardly mention the linear perspective paintings used in the theatre
by Pietro Gonzaga in St. Petersburg. Gonzaga claimed that optical illusions
are not abstract theories but correspond to "things that are easily perceived
when one looks with a certain degree of attention", thus the stage set should
be designed as a "perceived reality to be grasped with attention in all
changing aspects."
Click here to see.
After the death of N. Sheremetev, the Ostankino theatre ended, the troup was
disbanded. The women had no place in society: too educated and used to the
wealth of a society they could not belong to, viewed as prostitutes, where
could they go? Marry a peasant that was illiterate, not able to appreciate
the finery and educations they had received, their ability in art? Several
committed suicide by drowning in Ostankino ponds - several ponds bear their
names. 12
Conclusion
N. Miliutin wrote a memorial to the Tsar explaining why Russia lost the Crimean War.
The memorial pointed out that an industrial society could never be compatible with
serfdom. Under serfdom, production and consumption are focused upon a small class of
privileged with their estates. Production and consumption limited to such estates
could never create major roads, railroads, banking systems, etc: these are not needed
on estates. Similarly, even with enlightened aristocrats, the support of the arts are
haphazard, serfs still subject to the whims of aristocrats, their whippings, etc.
Even with a few great serf theatres, cultural advance was also not possible under a
system of serfdom. Could a national theatre be possible under such a social structure?
Miliutin's memorial: Either reform or revolution applied even to the arts. See:
Further information may be found in the off page link (in red,
returning by red link):
click here.
1
Moscow had its public Petrovsky serf theatre. In 1797, the Moscow police
listed fifteen serf theatres. At this time in St. Petersburg, more than
twenty-five serf theatres existed, including:
Kniaz (prince) Yusupov at the Moika Palace theatre.
Kniaz N. G. Shkhovskoy's serf theatre,
at Nizhny Novgorod, more than 100 serfs in the troupe. The theatre had 27 boxes, 50 chairs, stalls for 100
people, and an upper gallery for 200 people. Oil lamps were used for lighting.
N. A. Durasova, estate at Ljublino (near Moscow), a second
serf theatre (more than 100 actors and musicians) at Cheremshan,
beyond the Volga.
Radziwill Nyasvizh had a serf theatre (1740-1791) called the
"kamedihauze", and there other theatres in other towns.
click to see
the Radziwill Nyasvizh serf theatre.
The Kolomna estate serf theatre was 100 kilometers from Moscow.
The Sheremetev's liked to hunt there. Cherviakov, Aleksandr;
"The Ostankino Palace-Museum: A guide (Guidebook)", Raduga,
Winnipeg Manitoba, 1985, p. 97.
.
2Graf Nikolay Kamensky
owned 7,000 serfs, with a serf theatre of 250 people.
This count sat in his own box office, selling tickets to those wishing to
experience his theatre troup. Whips were displayed on the stage. If any of
the serf singers, actors or dancers made a mistake, then at the end of an
act, Graf Kamensky went backstage and those in the audience were treated
to hearing screams from the theatre troup. The view of the Russian
aristocrats was that it could be worse: the count might spend his time
dissolutely at hunting with hounds, gambling with cards, and drunkeness.
Descriptions of how serf actors, singers, and musicians were treated,
reminiscent of Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev's "Journey from St.
Petersburg to Moscow", may be found in Smith, Douglas; "The Pearl:
A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great's Russia", Yale Univ.
Press, 2008, pp. 102-108. We might doubt that Catherine the Great cared,
however, as she was quite familiar with Nikolai Karamzin's "Poor Liza".
.
3
Ritzarev, Marina; "Eighteenth-Century Russian Music", Ashgate, 2006, p. 259
.
4
The French Revolution abolished (on paper) the different treatment of people
according to religion or origin that existed under the monarchy; the 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen guaranteed freedom of
religion and free exercise of worship, provided that it did not contradict
public order. Jews were no longer required to live in ghettos, or limited
to the work they did (peddler, old-clothes peddlers, money-lenders, etc.)
Jews had to be registered legally, and were assigned or bought surnames.
Names bought (everything has its price, even under revolution) included
Pearlman, or Goldman, or Silverman, Mannheim or Berlin (city names), etc.
Thus, with freedoms, people treated as second-class are renamed, much
as Praskovja Zhemtchugova (the "pearl") was renamed. Actually, names
constitute a part of sociolinguistics. A ruling class (aristocracy) assigns
names to the ruled that will destroy the psychological independence of the
ruled. Ultimately, destroying the self image of the ruled fails as it succeeds.
Success results in the ruled having little ability to think for itself, yet
produces slaves that are incapable. A class of incompetents isn't all that
useful, while it will be instable. Other names whose meanings may have been lost
(German to English):
Bernstein : Amber
Händler : Trader
Fuhrmann : Wagoner
Koch : Cook
Müller : Miller
Rubin : Ruby
Schneider : Tailor
Weber : Weaver : Portnoy (Russian)
Zucker : Sugar
It is even possible that names could identify work in another way. For
example, Zigonov (Russian, meaning Gypsy) might have been shortened to "gonov",
and "gonov" is an "English" word (used by Henry Mayhew) that
signifies the "racial" attitude that "Gypsies" are "thieves".
.
5
An archivist of the Sheremetev court forged Praskovya Kovalyova's name
to make her appear to be a member of the Polish szlachta as a
boyarina (боярина) so that
the marriage between graf Sheremetev and Praskovya Kovalyova would be
socially acceptable in Russian aristocratic society.
Ritzarev, Marina; "Eighteenth-Century Russian Music", Ashgate, 2006, p. 261
To get an idea of what this meant, the Polish film about the szlachta,
will help appreciate these social views:
"Leper" (Trędowata), 2003, directed by Jerzy Hoffman
.
6
"Pearl" was a common French erotic argot metaphor for a woman's clitoris
during this time period. Rosslyn, Wendy; Tosi, Alessandra; (Eds.),
"Women in Nineteenth-Century Russia: Lives and Culture"
Guiraud, Pierre; "Dictionnaire historique, stylistique, rhétorique,
étymologique, de la littérature érotique", Paris:
Éditions Payot et Rivages, 1993, pp. 42, 490
Richard, Jean-Marc; "Dictionnaire des expressions paillardes et libertines
de la littérature française", Paris: Filipachhi, 1993, p. 188
Le Pennec, Marie-Fran�oise; "Petit glossaire du langage érotique aux
XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle", Paris: Éditions Borderie, 1979, p. 50.
.
There is a great danger in claiming that the relationship between Nicholas
Sheremetev and Praskovia was based upon love, love being the kind of
relationships we find in pulp literature. To be blunt, what evidence exists
of the relationship between Nicholas Sheremetev and Praskovia? Is there
reason to doubt that this was a love relationship, even if we place little
significance in Nicholas Sheremetev having venereal disease? [Smith, Douglas;
"The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great's Russia",
Yale Univ. Press, 2008, p.35]
We know that Nicholas Sheremetev was anxious about his position in Catherine
the Great's court. [Smith, Douglas; "The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden
Love in Catherine the Great's Russia", Yale Univ. Press, 2008, p. 122] We
further know that Catherine the Great had planned to marry her granddaughter
Alexandra to Graf N. Sheremetev and that if such a marriage took place, Graf
Sheremetev would most likely have to take up permanent residence in St.
Petersburg. [Smith, Douglas; "The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in
Catherine the Great's Russia", Yale Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 156, 157]
Thus the question arises that perhaps Sheremetev was anxious that if such an
alliance took place between himself and Catherine the Great, he might become
a target of court jealousy. Perhaps it was far safer to marry Praskovia, and
not get emmeshed in court intrigues? Such an outcome might be more likely
than the wild imaginings of twentieth-century pulp fictions?
.
7
Ritzarev, Marina; "Eighteenth-Century Russian Music", Ashgate,
2006, p. 262
.
8
Degtyarev was paid a very low salary. Attempts to sell his
compositions to earn more to live on were deducted from his annual
salary (Sheremetev had a network of informers watching all his
talented serfs). Sheremetev refused to free Degtyarev, and Degtyarev
was ordered to marry serf Agrefena Kokhanovsky. Upon the death of
Degtyarev, he was finally posthumously emancipated, thereby his widow,
Agrefena Kokhanovsky would lose her serf pension. She had to petition
not to be manumitted else she would have been impoverished.
Ritzarev, Marina; "Eighteenth-Century Russian Music", Ashgate,
2006, pp. 264, 269, 271
.
9
Cherviakov, Aleksandr; "The Ostankino Palace-Museum: A guide (Guidebook)",
Raduga, Winnipeg Manitoba, 1985, p. 97.
Note, both Christoph Willibald Gluck and Fritz Hilverding were involved in
the development of Ballet d'Action.
.
10
Ibid., p. 104.
Note, both Christoph Willibald Gluck and Fritz Hilverding were involved in
the development of Ballet d'Action.
.
11
Ibid., p. 104. Jewels were typically used by actors on stage as a form
of "illumination". The jewels reflected the candle light.
.
12
"The position of household serfs was ambiguous. Since they did not
farm or engage in trade, they relied entirely on their masters to
pay them a salary and provide food and shelter. They lived cut off
from the mass of serfs and were resented by them since the household
serfs were seen as living off their labor just like the master. More
domestics meant fewer serfs sharing the obligations to the lord.
Within the ranks of the household serfs there developed a group that
became known as the serf intelligentsia, to which Praskovia belonged.
This included the musicians, composers, artists, dancers, actors, and
architects trained by their masters to give them aesthetic pleasure."
Smith, Douglas; "The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in
Catherine the Great's Russia", Yale Univ. Press, 2008, p. 90
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