Delvig's works were not represented. Anton Delvig: biography and interesting facts

Anton Antonovich Delvig (6 (17) August 1798, Moscow - 14 (26) January 1831, St. Petersburg) - baron, Russian poet, publisher, friend and classmate of A. S. Pushkin.
Biography
His father served in the Russian service and was married to a Russian. In 1811 Delvig entered the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum; He studied lazily, but began to write poetry early, and already in 1814 they appeared in print, in the “Bulletin of Europe” (“For the capture of Paris” - signed by Russian).
He graduated from the course with the first graduating class of the lyceum, in 1817, and for graduation he wrote the poem “Six Years,” which was published, set to music, and sung repeatedly by lyceum students. He served in the Department of Mining and Salt Affairs, from there he moved to the office of the Ministry of Finance; from 1821 to 1825 he was an assistant librarian (I. A. Krylov) at the Imperial Public Library. Then until his death he served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Addresses in St. Petersburg
10.1825 - 09.1826 - Ebeling house - Millionnaya street, 26;
11.1829 - 01.14.1831 - Tychinkin's house, - Zagorodny Avenue, 1.
Creation
He published his poems in the Russian Museum (1815), Literary News, Well-Intentioned, Competitor of Enlightenment and almanacs of the 1820s.
In 1825, Delvig married S. M. Saltykova, and he began literary evenings, which brought together the poet’s friends: Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Baratynsky, Pletnev, Yazykov. At the same time, he began publishing activities: in 1825-1832. together with O. M. Somov, he published 8 books of the almanac “Northern Flowers”, in 1829-1830 - 2 books of the almanac “Snowdrop”, and from 1830 he began publishing the “Literary Newspaper”, which continued after his death.
A “lazy darling” both at school and in his work, Delvig was just as careless about his muse. He wrote very little. The poet's corpulent figure probably contributed a lot to laziness.
However, he was not free from hobbies; the subject of one of them was S. D. Ponomareva, to whom he dedicated several poems. Delvig's poetry developed in two directions. On the one hand, he strove to be a Hellenic and, in imitation of the ancients, wrote anthological poems, idylls in the style of Theocritus, etc.; on the other hand, he was fond of Russian folk poetry and imitated folk lyrical songs, sometimes not without success. Both here and there, however, he sounds German sentimental good nature and German melancholic thoughtfulness, which joins him to the school of romantics. Delvig's poems are smooth and diligent, but not bold or bright.
He was the closest person to A.S. Pushkin; he highly valued his friend as a poet.

Anton Antonovich Delvig was born in Moscow into a German family of barons from the Baltic states. His father, also Anton Antonovich Delvig, served in the Astrakhan regiment, then became assistant commandant of the Moscow Kremlin. He retired with the rank of major general. Russian mother, Lyubov Matveevna Krasilnikova, was the granddaughter of the scientist-astronomer A.D. Krasilnikova. Delvig Jr. was first educated at home under the care of a private teacher A.D. Borovkov. He managed to interest the boy in literature and got him into reading. Then Anton attended a private boarding school. He showed no inclination towards mathematical sciences.

Lyceum years

In 1811, Anton Delvig entered the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. He was a capable, but very lazy child; he preferred to lie on his bed, wander around Tsarskoye Selo park or read to games and pranks. He read a lot and sometimes haphazardly. He had a lively and vivid imagination and knew how to masterfully fantasize. His stories fascinated the lyceum students. Even his teachers believed his fantasies.

In 1814, at the age of 16, his poems “On the Capture of Paris” were published in the “Bulletin of Europe”. For graduation, he wrote a poem “Six Years,” which his fellow lyceum students accepted with delight. The poem was set to music, the lyceum students learned it and sang it. Pushkin highly appreciated Delvig's talent. He wrote:

In public service

After graduating from the lyceum, he was assigned to serve in the department of mining and salt affairs, and then in the Ministry of Finance. A humanist by nature, Delvig felt uncomfortable in the department and ministry, out of place, so he did his best to achieve a transfer. He corresponded with the director of the Imperial Public Library, Olenin. And only in 1821 he became an assistant librarian there. At that time, the famous fabulist I. A. Krylov served as a librarian. Because Delvig visited Pushkin at Mikhailovsky, he was removed from service in the library under another pretext. Even the intercession of influential friends did not help.

Heart's passion. Marriage

On October 30, 1825, Delvig married nineteen-year-old Sofya Mikhailovna Saltykova. Anton Antonovich's matchmaking was not cloudless. The fact is that before Delvig, Pyotr Kakhovsky wooed Sofya Saltykova, but was refused by the girl’s father. Although Sophia herself was passionate about the young man. This was the same one who was later among those hanged for active participation in the December uprising. Sofya Mikhailovna met Delvig in May 1825. At first, Sofia Mikhailovna’s father agreed to the marriage, but then unexpectedly retracted his word. What the reason was remains unknown. Sofya Mikhailovna herself believed that the whole point was in her father’s hypochondria.

Before marrying Sofya Saltykova, Anton Delvig had another passion of his heart. Her name was Sofya Dmitrievna Ponomareva. She ran a literary salon, where Krylov read his fables, and Gnedich introduced fans of his work to translations of the Illiad. Young writers admired Ponomareva. This fate did not spare Delvig either. He confessed his feelings to her, but was rejected. After failure in love for Ponomareva, this refusal of Saltykov the father led Delvig to despair. He felt that he and Sofia Mikhailovna were spiritually close. Both wore glasses and both were fond of literature. The summer flew by quickly, and the father, apparently noticing that Delvig did not have time to grow cold towards his daughter, agreed to the marriage.

Delvig's literary activity

The Delvig House became a famous literary salon at that time, which was visited by Pushkin, Baratynsky, Yazykov, Zhukovsky, and the publisher Pletnev. During the same period, Delvig began his publishing activity. Over the next 5 years, seven books of the almanac “Northern Flowers” ​​and the almanac “Snowdrop” were published. In 1830, he began publishing the Literary Newspaper, which continued to be published after his death.

Like any talented person, Delvig had admirers, envious people and enemies. Literary enemies did not spare poison, reproaching Delvig for laziness and for standing in the shadow of his talented friends - Baratynsky and Pushkin. He and Baratynsky were reproached for praising each other in poetry. There were other attacks against the “Pushkin circle”. The birth of the Literary Newspaper was a kind of response to the attacks of enemies. In its creation, in addition to Delvig, Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky, Yazykov, Pletnev, Baratynsky took an active part.

Anton Delvig's life was short. There is a version that the conflict with Benckendorf, the head of the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery, over another publication in a literary newspaper, seriously undermined Delvig. Benckendorff threatened Delvig with exile to Siberia, and Delvig understood that after the December uprising this was not an empty threat. He became upset, wandered for a long time around damp, short Petersburg, and this became the cause of his serious illness. The death of Delvig, this lazy genius, as Pushkin called him in one of his works, was taken seriously by the poet. Upon learning of his friend’s death, Pushkin wrote to Pletnev and Khitrovo:

Some believe that Delvig's name was immortalized thanks to his friendship with Pushkin, but this is not so. Delvig himself was an extraordinary personality and a talented poet. It is no coincidence that the director of the lyceum, Engelhardt, commissioned the writing of a farewell hymn not to the recognized genius Pushkin, not to Kuchelbecker, and not to Illichevsky, who also wrote poetry, but to Delvig. Delvig's romance "The Nightingale" to Alyabyev's music is still performed by the best voices in Russia.

) - Russian poet, publisher.

Biography

Anton Antonovich Delvig was born in Moscow, in the family of a major general, who came from an impoverished family of Baltic German barons. The family was so Russified that Delvig did not even know German. Father, Anton Antonovich Delvig (06/17/1773-07/08/1828), - officer, major of the Astrakhan regiment, major general (1816). Mother, Lyubov Matveevna (09/26/1777-1859), was the daughter of state councilor Matvey Andreevich Krasilnikov, director of the Moscow Assignation Bank, and the granddaughter of the Russian scientist-astronomer A.D. Krasilnikov.

Creation

Delvig published his poems in the magazines “Russian Museum” (), “News of Literature”, “Well-Intentioned”, “Competitor of Enlightenment” and various almanacs in the 1820s.

last years of life

Until the end of his life, Delvig served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He died of typhus (“rotten fever”) at the age of 32. He was buried in the necropolis of masters of art of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Addresses in St. Petersburg

Memory

• All-Russian Anton Delvig Prize, since 2012 - the award “For Loyalty to the Word and the Fatherland” named after the first editor of the Literary Gazette Anton Delvig, better known as the “Golden Delvig” (established by the editors of the Literary Gazette).

Write a review of the article "Delvig, Anton Antonovich"

Notes

Literature

• See the article about Delvig by V. Gaevsky in Sovremennik, g. and, g. and.
• Complete works - in the "Library of the North" for July, ed. V. V. Maykova.
• Vatsuro V. E.
• Korovin V. L.// Encyclopedia Around the World
• A. A. Delvig and V. K. Kuchelbecker. Selected / compiled by Viktor Vladimirovich Kunin. - Moscow: Pravda, 1987. - 640 p. - 500,000 copies.

Links

An excerpt characterizing Delvig, Anton Antonovich

At first, Nikolai was serious and even boring. He was tormented by the impending need to intervene in these stupid household matters, for which his mother had called him. In order to get this burden off his shoulders as quickly as possible, on the third day of his arrival, he angrily, without answering the question of where he was going, went with frowned brows to Mitenka’s outbuilding and demanded from him an account of everything. What these accounts of everything were, Nikolai knew even less than Mitenka, who was in fear and bewilderment. The conversation and consideration of Mitenka did not last long. The headman, the elective and the zemstvo, who were waiting in the front wing, with fear and pleasure at first heard how the voice of the young count began to hum and crackle as if ever rising, they heard abusive and terrible words pouring out one after another.
- Robber! Ungrateful creature!... I will chop up the dog... not with daddy... I stole... - etc.
Then these people, with no less pleasure and fear, saw how the young count, all red, with bloodshot eyes, pulled Mitenka out by the collar, with his foot and knee, with great dexterity, at a convenient time, between his words, pushed him in the butt and shouted: “Get out! so that your spirit, you bastard, is not here!”
Mityenka rushed headlong down six steps and ran into a flowerbed. (This flowerbed was a well-known place for saving criminals in Otradnoye. Mitenka himself, arriving drunk from the city, hid in this flowerbed, and many residents of Otradnoye, hiding from Mitenka, knew the saving power of this flowerbed.)
Mitenka's wife and sisters-in-law with frightened faces leaned out into the hallway from the doors of the room where a clean samovar was boiling and the clerk's high bed stood under a quilted blanket sewn from short pieces.
The young count, panting, not paying attention to them, walked past them with decisive steps and went into the house.
The Countess, who immediately learned through the girls about what happened in the outbuilding, on the one hand, calmed down in the sense that now their condition should improve, on the other hand, she was worried about how her son would bear it. She tiptoed to his door several times, listening to him smoke pipe after pipe.
The next day the old count called his son aside and said to him with a timid smile:
– Do you know, you, my soul, got excited in vain! Mitenka told me everything.
“I knew, Nikolai thought, that I would never understand anything here, in this stupid world.”
– You were angry that he did not enter these 700 rubles. After all, he wrote them in transport, but you didn’t look at the other page.
“Daddy, he’s a scoundrel and a thief, I know.” And he did what he did. And if you don’t want to, I won’t tell him anything.
- No, my soul (the count was embarrassed too. He felt that he was a bad manager of his wife’s estate and was guilty before his children, but did not know how to correct this) - No, I ask you to take care of business, I’m old, I...
- No, daddy, you will forgive me if I did something unpleasant to you; I know less than you.
“To hell with them, with these men with money and transport all over the page,” he thought. Even from the corner of six jackpots, I once understood, but from the page of transport, I don’t understand anything,” he said to himself and since then he has not intervened in business anymore. Only one day the Countess called her son to her, told him that she had Anna Mikhailovna’s bill of exchange for two thousand and asked Nikolai what he thought to do with it.
“That’s how it is,” answered Nikolai. – You told me that it depends on me; I don’t like Anna Mikhailovna and I don’t like Boris, but they were friendly with us and poor. So that's how it is! - and he tore the bill, and with this act he made the old countess cry with tears of joy. After this, young Rostov, no longer intervening in any matters, with passionate enthusiasm took up the still new business of hound hunting, which was started on a large scale by the old count.

It was already winter, morning frosts were binding the earth, wetted by autumn rains, the greenery was already flattened and brightly green separated from the stripes of browning, cattle-killed, winter and light yellow spring stubble with red stripes of buckwheat. The peaks and forests, which at the end of August were still green islands between the black fields of winter crops and stubble, became golden and bright red islands among the bright green winter crops. The hare was already half worn out (molted), the fox litters were beginning to disperse, and the young wolves were larger than the dogs. It was the best hunting time. The dogs of the ardent, young hunter of Rostov not only entered the hunting body, but also got beaten up so much that in the general council of hunters it was decided to give the dogs a rest for three days and on September 16 to leave, starting from the oak grove, where there was an untouched wolf brood.
This was the situation on September 14th.
All this day the hunt was at home; It was frosty and bitter, but in the evening it began to cool down and thaw. On September 15, when young Rostov looked out the window in the morning in his dressing gown, he saw a morning that nothing could be better for hunting: as if the sky was melting and descending to the ground without wind. The only movement that was in the air was the quiet movement from top to bottom of microscopic drops of mg or fog descending. Transparent drops hung on the bare branches of the garden and fell on the newly fallen leaves. The soil in the garden, like a poppy, was glossy and wet black, and at a short distance merged with the dull and damp cover of fog. Nikolai stepped out onto the wet, muddy porch: it smelled of withering forest and dogs. The black-spotted, wide-bottomed bitch Milka with large black protruding eyes, seeing her owner, stood up, stretched back and lay down like a hare, then suddenly jumped up and licked him right on the nose and mustache. Another greyhound dog, seeing its owner from the colored path, arched its back, quickly rushed to the porch and, raising its tail, began to rub against Nikolai’s legs.
- Oh goy! - at this time that inimitable hunting call was heard, which combines both the deepest bass and the most subtle tenor; and from around the corner came the arriving and hunting Danilo, a Ukrainian-style, gray-haired, wrinkled hunter with a cropped hair, a bent arapnik in his hand and with that expression of independence and contempt for everything in the world that only hunters have. He took off his Circassian hat in front of the master and looked at him contemptuously. This contempt was not offensive to the master: Nikolai knew that this Danilo, who despised everything and stood above all else, was still his man and hunter.

Baron Anton Antonovich Delvig(August 6, Moscow - January 14, St. Petersburg) - Russian poet, publisher.

Biography

Anton Antonovich Delvig was born in Moscow, in the family of a major general, who came from an impoverished family of Baltic German barons. The family was so Russified that Delvig did not even know German. Father, Anton Antonovich Delvig (06/17/1773-07/08/1828), - officer, major of the Astrakhan regiment, major general (1816). Mother, Lyubov Matveevna (09/26/1777-1859), was the daughter of state councilor Matvey Andreevich Krasilnikov, director of the Moscow Assignation Bank, and the granddaughter of the Russian scientist-astronomer A.D. Krasilnikov.

Creation

Delvig published his poems in the magazines “Russian Museum” (), “News of Literature”, “Well-Intentioned”, “Competitor of Enlightenment” and various almanacs in the 1820s.

last years of life

Until the end of his life, Delvig served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He died of typhus (“rotten fever”) at the age of 32. He was buried in the necropolis of masters of art of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Addresses in St. Petersburg

Memory

• All-Russian Anton Delvig Prize, since 2012 - the award “For Loyalty to the Word and the Fatherland” named after the first editor of the Literary Gazette Anton Delvig, better known as the “Golden Delvig” (established by the editors of the Literary Gazette).

Write a review of the article "Delvig, Anton Antonovich"

Notes

Literature

• See the article about Delvig by V. Gaevsky in Sovremennik, g. and, g. and.
• Complete works - in the "Library of the North" for July, ed. V. V. Maykova.
• Vatsuro V. E.
• Korovin V. L.// Encyclopedia Around the World
• A. A. Delvig and V. K. Kuchelbecker. Selected / compiled by Viktor Vladimirovich Kunin. - Moscow: Pravda, 1987. - 640 p. - 500,000 copies.

Links

An excerpt characterizing Delvig, Anton Antonovich

To my son
My bright-eyed boy!
Joy, my hope!
Don't go, my darling,
do not leave me!
Stand up, stretch out your little hands,
Open your eyes,
You are my dear boy,
My glorious son.
Stand up, look, listen
How the birds sing to us,
Like flowers at dawn
They drink May dew.
Get up and look, my dear,
Death will wait for you!
Do you see? - And on the graves
Sunny May lives on!
Flames with flowers
Even the land of graves...
So why is there so little
Have you, my son, lived?
My bright-eyed boy,
Joy, my hope!
Don't go, my darling,
Do not leave me...
He named him Alexander, choosing this name himself, since his mother was in the hospital and he had no one else to ask. And when the grandmother offered to help bury the baby, the father categorically refused. He did everything himself, from start to finish, although I can’t even imagine how much grief he had to endure, burying his newborn son, and at the same time knowing that his beloved wife was dying in the hospital... But dad is everything endured without a single word of reproach to anyone, only the only thing he prayed for was that his beloved Annushka would return to him, until this terrible blow completely knocked her down, and until night fell on her exhausted brain...
And so my mother returned, and he was completely powerless to help her with anything, and did not know at all how to get her out of this terrible, “dead” state...
The death of little Alexander deeply shocked the entire Seryogin family. It seemed that sunlight would never return to this sad house, and laughter would never sound again... Mom was still “dead.” And although her young body, obeying the laws of nature, began to grow stronger and stronger, her wounded soul, despite all the efforts of her father, was still far away, like a bird that had flown away, and, having plunged deeply into the ocean of pain, was in no hurry to return from there...

But soon, after some six months, good news came to them - mom was pregnant again... Dad was scared at first, but seeing that mom suddenly started to come to life very quickly, he decided to take the risk, and now everyone is with great impatience were expecting a second child... This time they were very careful and tried in every possible way to protect my mother from any unwanted accidents. But, unfortunately, trouble, apparently for some reason, fell in love with this hospitable door... And it knocked again...
Out of fright, knowing the sad story of my mother’s first pregnancy, and fearing that something would go “wrong” again, the doctors decided to perform a “caesarean section” even before contractions began (!). And apparently they did it too early... One way or another, a girl was born who was named Marianna. But, unfortunately, she also managed to live for a very short time - three days later, this fragile, slightly blossoming life, for reasons unknown to anyone, was interrupted...
An eerie impression was created that someone really didn’t want her mother to give birth at all... And although by nature and genetics she was a strong woman absolutely suitable for childbearing, she was already afraid to even think about repeating such a cruel attempt once upon a time at all...
But man is a surprisingly strong creature, and is capable of enduring much more than he himself could ever imagine... Well, pain, even the most terrible, (if it does not immediately break the heart) once apparently dulls, repressed, eternally living in each of us, hope. That’s why, exactly a year later, very easily and without any complications, on an early December morning, another daughter was born to the Seryogin family, and this happy daughter turned out to be me... But... this birth would probably have ended differently happily, if everything continued to happen according to the pre-prepared plan of our “compassionate” doctors... On a cold December morning, mother was taken to the hospital, even before her contractions began, in order, again, “to be sure” that “ “nothing bad” will happen (!!!)... Wildly nervous from “bad premonitions,” dad rushed back and forth along the long hospital corridor, unable to calm down, because he knew that, according to their common agreement, mom was doing this try one last time, and if something happens to the child this time too, it means they will never be destined to see their children... The decision was difficult, but dad preferred to see, if not the children, then at least his beloved “ little star” alive, and not bury his entire family at once, without even really understanding what his family really means...
To my father’s great regret, Dr. Ingelevicius, who was still the chief surgeon there, again came to check on my mother, and it was very, very difficult to avoid his “high” attention... After “carefully” examining my mother, Ingelevicius said that he would come tomorrow at 6 o'clock in the morning, perform another “caesarean section” on mom, to which poor dad almost had a heart attack...
But at about five o’clock in the morning a very pleasant young midwife came to my mother and, much to my mother’s surprise, cheerfully said:
- Well, let’s get ready, now we’ll give birth!
When the frightened mother asked - what about the doctor? The woman, calmly looking into her eyes, affectionately replied that, in her opinion, it was high time for her mother to give birth to live (!) children... And she began to gently and carefully massage her mother’s belly, as if little by little preparing her for a “soon and happy” childbirth ... And so, with the light hand of this wonderful unknown midwife, at about six o’clock in the morning, my mother easily and quickly gave birth to her first living child, who, fortunately, turned out to be me.
- Well, look at this doll, mom! – the midwife cheerfully exclaimed, bringing mother the already washed and clean, small, screaming bundle. And my mother, seeing her little daughter alive and healthy for the first time... fainted with joy...

When exactly at six o'clock in the morning Dr. Ingelevichius entered the room, a wonderful picture appeared before his eyes - a very happy couple was lying on the bed - it was my mother and I, her living newborn daughter... But instead of being happy for such an unexpected happy In the end, for some reason the doctor went into a real rage and, without saying a word, jumped out of the room...
We never found out what really happened with all the “tragically unusual” births of my poor, suffering mother. But one thing was clear for sure - someone really didn’t want at least one mother’s child to be born into this world alive. But apparently the one who so carefully and reliably protected me throughout my entire life, this time decided to prevent the death of the Seryogins’ child, somehow knowing that he would probably be the last in this family...
This is how, “with obstacles,” my amazing and unusual life once began, the appearance of which, even before my birth, fate, already quite complex and unpredictable, had in store for me....
Or maybe it was someone who already knew then that someone would need my life for something, and someone tried very hard so that I would still be born on this earth, despite all the “difficulties” created obstacles"...

As time went. My tenth winter has already completely dominated the yard, covering everything around with a snow-white fluffy cover, as if wanting to show that she is the full-fledged mistress here at the moment.
More and more people went into stores to stock up on New Year's gifts in advance, and even the air already “smelled” the holiday.
Two of my favorite days were approaching - my birthday and New Year, between which there was only a two-week difference, which allowed me to fully enjoy their “celebration”, without any long break...
I hovered around my grandmother all day long, trying to find out what I would get for my “special” day this year?.. But for some reason my grandmother did not give in, although before it had never been very difficult for me to “melt” her silence even before my birthday and find out what kind of “pleasure” I can expect. But this year, for some reason, to all my “hopeless” attempts, my grandmother only smiled mysteriously and answered that it was a “surprise” and that she was absolutely sure that I would really like it. So, no matter how hard I tried, she stood firm and did not give in to any provocations. There was nowhere to go - we had to wait...

Anton Delvig Career: Poet
Birth: Russia" Moscow, 17.8.1798 - 26.1
Anton Delvig is a Russian poet, translator, journalist, critic and publisher. Born on August 17, 1798 in Moscow. Founder of the Literary Newspaper, the first publication entirely devoted to the literary and cultural life of Russia. Creator of the almanac "Northern Flowers". He became famous for his poems in the style of “Russian song” and “Greek idylls.” Author of the famous romance "The Nightingale". Died at the age of 33. Delvig's work has been little studied and practically forgotten.

Flipping through the time-yellowed pages of a one-volume book of Anton Delvig's poetry and letters - a rare publication now - I came across a phrase from the book's commentator (V. E. Vatsuro): "Delvig's work is not easy to understand. It needs a historical perspective, in which only it can be appreciated literary discoveries" I was confused.

She shrugged. Why am I writing about him? Isn't it too far away? Isn’t it excessively unnecessary?: But here, somewhere in the corner of my heart’s memory, other lines surfaced, read a long time ago: “Delvig’s death makes me sad. In addition to his wonderful talent, he had an excellently constructed head and a personality of extraordinary strength. He was the best of us. Our ranks are beginning to thin out.": (Pushkin - E.M. Khitrovo. January 21, 1831) Tears welled up in my eyes. Unsolicited, funny. And I made up my mind. Pushkin did not waste his words. And if he said: “He was the best of us,” then this is truly so.

Let me introduce you to the "best." Friend of Pushkin. Russian poet. The first publisher of the first Russian "Literary Newspaper". Criticism and publicist. Translator and collector of folklore. Just Baron Anton Antonovich Delvig, “whose existence was rich not in romantic adventures, but in wonderful feelings, a bright, pure mind and hopes” (Pushkin - from a letter to P. Pletnev on January 31, 1831)

Anton Antonovich Delvig was born on August 6, 1798 in Moscow. He belonged to the impoverished but ancient noble family of the Delvig barons. His father was an assistant to the local commander of the Moscow Kremlin, in the old days - a parade major. Mother, Lyubov Matveevna, is from a family of Russian nobles, the Krasilnikovs. To the interrogative motive of the questionnaire “how many souls, people, peasants does it own?” - the heir to the baronial title after this death of his father answered sincerely: “I don’t.”

Antosha Delvig received his primary education in a private boarding school and under the guidance of his home teacher A.D. Borovkov, who instilled in him a taste for Russian literature and a disgust for the exact sciences.

In October 1811, Mr. Borovkov brought the plump, clumsy, ruddy Antosha Delvig to St. Petersburg.

From Delvig’s lyceum characteristics:

"Baron Delvig Anton, 14 years old. His abilities are mediocre, as is his diligence, and his progress is extremely slow. Loafing in general is his quality and is very noticeable in everything, but not when he is naughty or frolicking: here he is mocking, a joker, and at times immodest ;he has a marked tendency towards idleness and absent-mindedness. Reading various Russian books without the proper choice, and perhaps a spoiled upbringing, spoiled him, why his morality requires long-term supervision, although in general, his good nature, his diligence and attentiveness are noticeable to exhortations at the beginning of competition in Russian literature and history, ennobles his inclinations." From this terribly valuable, slightly contradictory, characteristic, one can see how high the bar of requirements for lyceum students was and how subtle observations were made by teachers of their developing souls.

There were legends about Delvig's laziness at the Lyceum. He himself maintained his reputation as a lout - lazy, thoughtful and absent-minded:

I am the nobility of labor

I still don’t understand my friend

Being lazy, they say, is a disaster:

And I'm drowning in this trouble.

But was he really lazy? Hardly. Rather, it was a habit of behavior, a pace of life, learned in childhood and turned into a persistent habit. Delvig was in no hurry. He was thinking. I saved up my strength.

It must be stated that his slowness and slowness never showed up in cases where decisiveness and speed of action were required. When talking with Benckendorff about the fate of the Literary Gazette, Delvig behaved so courageously, decisively and tactfully that the general was forced to apologize to him at the end of the conversation. But that was later. In December 1830.

And if laziness were so true, would Anton Antonovich really have managed to do so much in such a short existence?... Hardly.

Delvig's success in studying literature was noted by teachers. Delvtg's imagination knew no bounds. Lyceum students often gathered in the evenings and told their friends various fictitious stories about adventures and heroic deeds. Pushkin later recalled in a brilliantly unfinished article about Delvig: “One day he decided to tell some of his comrades about the campaign of 1807, posing as an eyewitness to the events of that time. His story was so vivid and believable and had such a great effect on the imagination of young listeners that few days a circle of curious people gathered next to him, demanding new details about the campaign. The rumor about this reached our director (V.F. Malinovsky, who died before his time, he was replaced by E.A. Engelhardt), who wanted to hear from Delvig himself the situation about his adventures... Delvig was ashamed to admit to a lie that was as innocent as it was intricate, and decided to come to her rescue, which he did with amazing success, so that none of us doubted the truth of his stories, until he himself admitted to his fiction. "

Further, A. Pushkin noted: “Delvig, who talks about his mysterious visions and imaginary dangers that he would have been exposed to in his father’s wagon train, never in his life lied in any way to justify himself, to avoid a reprimand or punishment.”

Delvig had an excellent knowledge of German poetry and quoted Schiller and Gelti by heart. Together with Kuchelbecker and Pushkin, she memorized the odes and poems of Derzhavin, Zhukovsky and the ancient Horace, which Anton meticulously analyzed in class under the guidance of Professor N. Koshansky.

“His first experiments in poetry,” wrote A. Pushkin, “were imitations of Horace. The odes “To Dion,” “To Lilete,” and “To Doris” were written by him in his fifteenth year and published in the collected works without any changes. They already One can notice an extraordinary sense of harmony and that classical harmony, which he never changed in his life." (Pushkin. Unfinished article about A. Delvig)

In 1814, Delvig sent his first poetic experiments to the publisher of the popular magazine "Bulletin of Europe" Vladimir Izmailov. The poems were published without the name of the author, but “attracted the sympathy of one expert, who, seeing the works of a new, unknown pen, already bearing the stamp of experience and maturity, racked his brains, trying to recognize the secret of the anonymous person...” (Ibid.)

It was to Delvig, knowing about his “friendship with the Muse,” that the boss of the Lyceum, Yegor Antonovich Engelhardt, turned to him with a request to write a farewell song for release.

Delvig brought the request to life. I wrote the anthem of the Lyceum, the one that everyone who had the opportunity to study at this institution in different years knew:

"Six years flew by like a dream,

In the arms of sweet silence.

And the Fatherland’s calling

It thunders to us: march, sons!

Farewell, brothers! Hand in hand!

Let's hug one last time!

Fate for eternal separation,

Perhaps this place brought us closer together!”

(Delvig A.A. Lyceum song)

Upon leaving the Lyceum, Delvig was assigned to serve in the Ministry of Finance. But already in September 1820, he “for hire” entered the Public Library, under the supervision of Ivan Andreevich Krylov, and on October 2, 1821, he was officially approved as an assistant librarian. True, Ivan Andreevich more than once jokingly grumbled at his assistant, who preferred to understand the text of the book rather than cataloging it. Soon the Russian branch of the Public Library was under threat of chaos. In 1823 Delvig left his post. He later served as an official in a variety of departments, but his soul was invariably in his almanac “Northern Flowers”.

Delvig was a member of the Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, which he joined in 1819 and which was attended by members of the Northern Society of the Decembrists - Ryleev, Bestuzhev, Trubetskoy, Yakushkin: Noisy debates about poetry, civil and political freedoms dragged on until midnight. Delvig was the first to bring to a meeting of the “Free Society” and the disgraced E. Boratynsky, with whom he became very close friends at that time (see essay by E. Boratynsky). Delvig had an extraordinary gift for recognizing a writer's gift and helping him in any way possible! He was the first to predict Pushkin's enormous poetic fame, in difficult times he friendly looked after E. Boratynsky, and helped N. M. Yazykov with the printing of poetry.

V. A. Zhukovsky - himself a kind genius of talents - elatedly praised this spiritual ability of Delvig: not to feel envy, to think, to sympathize, to give native attentiveness and a kind, slightly bewildered, myopic smile to everyone who surrounded him...

Delvig himself once wrote the following lines in a response sonnet to N.M. Yazykov:

From my early years I have not burned in vain

I keep it in my soul, thanks to the gods,

I am attracted to sublime singers,

With some kind of partial love.

This partial love was most often expressed in the fact that Delvig valued the poetic gift of his friends more than his own. What’s worse is that critics later said that half of Delvig’s poems were written by Boratynsky, the other half by Pushkin. Delvig's modesty served him very badly...

On May 6, 1820, Delvig escorted A. Pushkin to southern exile in Odessa, and later to Mikhailovskoye. And he continuously wrote to him, encouraging, comforting, cheering, telling him all the latest St. Petersburg news and news from the family of Pushkin’s parents, with whom he was extremely friendly, asking about literary plans: Many of these letters have not survived, have not reached us.

They would be allowed to devote a whole separate study. This is a real literary monument to what is called true friendship, which eluded and is eluding us, predecessors, descendants, there in the depths of centuries, in the shadows of alleys, the dim flame of candles, fireplaces, the creaking of a thin quill pen on white sheets of paper: Here’s a little lines from the surviving letters: “Dear Delvig, I received all your letters and answered almost everything. Yesterday I breathed the life of the Lyceum, glory and gratitude for that to you and my Pushchin: The other day I came across your lovely sonnets - I read them with greed, admiration and gratitude for the inspired remembrance of our friendship: "(Pushkin - A.A. Delvig on November 16, 1823.)

Dear Pushkin, I received your message and Proserpina, and on the day of receipt I thank you for them. “Proserpina” is not verse, but music: it is the song of a bird of paradise, which, listening, you will not see how a thousand years will pass: “In the same letter and business conversations, Delvig addresses Pushkin as a publisher: “Now the lesson is about money. If you want to give away the second edition of "Ruslan", "Prisoner" and, if I may, "The Bakhchisarai Fountain", then send me a power of attorney. Three booksellers ask me about this; You see that I can negotiate between them and sell your handicrafts profitably. The publications will be good. I guarantee it." (Delvig to Pushkin. September 10, 1824.)

Anton Antonovich invariably openly worried and worried about his friend. Already in Mikhailovskoye a letter arrived to Pushkin:

“Great Pushkin, little child! Go as you went, that is, do what you want, but don’t be angry at the measures of people who are already quite frightened! The general point of view exists for you and takes revenge well. I have not seen a single decent person, he , so as not to scold Vorontsov for you, on whom all the big shots fell: None of the Russian writers turned our stony hearts as much as you. What do you lack? A little condescension towards the weak. Don’t tease them for a year or two, God with a purpose! Make the best use of the time of your exile. Having sold the second edition of your works, I will send you money and, if you want, new books. You will find all the magazines. Sister, brother * (* Olga Sergeevna and Lev Sergeevich Pushkin were at Mikhailovsky at that time - author), nature and reading, with them you won’t die of boredom. I’m really going to induce it: "(A. A Delvig - A. Pushkin September 28, 1824)

Anton Antonovich was always planning to visit a friend in Mikhailovskoye, but literary and publishing matters were delayed, and after that illness knocked him off his feet. Delvig arrived in Mikhailovskoye only on April 18-19, 1824. Pushkin was incredibly happy with him. Intimate conversations began, a discussion of the further publication of the almanac "Northern Flowers", a detailed analysis of all literary novelties. The composition of the new collection of poems by Pushkin was clarified. We ate dinner, reminiscing about mutual friends, played billiards, and walked. And in the evenings we went to Trigorskoye, to our neighbors - the Osipov ladies - Wulf for raspberry pie with tea and punch.

The entire Osipov family, Wulf, fell in love with the good-natured, cheerful and clever Delvig, who kept dropping his funny pince-nez on a cord onto the floor and into the grass. Delvig loved to swing Praskovya Aleksandrovna Osipova’s youngest children, Maria and Eupraxia, on swings and affectionately called them “little friends.” And they doted on him in return. Time flew by unnoticed. Already on April 26, 1824, Delvig left Mikhailovskoye for St. Petersburg.

And soon, in response to Praskovya Alexandrovna’s playful reproaches, to her accusations of silence, Delvig said: “Love and happy love are mixed up here. Your acquaintance Delvig is marrying a girl whom he has loved for a long time - the daughter of Saltykov, Pushkin’s co-member in Arzamas* (*The literary community, of which Pushkin was a member during his years of study at the Lyceum - author).

Sofya Mikhailovna Saltykova was only 19 years old at that time. Her mother died, her father, a gentleman of freedom-loving views, a writer and a hospitable man, lived out his centenary in Moscow. Sofya Mikhailovna was smart, charming, adored literature and most of all, Pushkin. She wrote to a friend: “It’s impossible to have more intelligence than Pushkin - I’m going crazy about it. Delvig is a charming young gentleman, very modest, not very handsome; what I like is that he wears glasses. Anton himself talks about glasses Antonovich said ironically: “At the Lyceum I was forbidden to wear glasses, but all the women seemed beautiful to me; how disappointed I was in them after that release."

But in the case of marriage to Saltykova, disappointment would seem to have not occurred. Youth, charm, a dazzlingly demonstrated temperament, a handsome literary taste, natural kindness - all this earned the young Baroness Delvig sincere respect among her husband’s friends: writers, publishers, booksellers who visited their monastery. There were also fans, but that’s what we’re talking about up front....

Sofya Mikhailovna tried to create a relaxed atmosphere of friendly communication and fun in her salon. Musical evenings were often held, and verse songs by Yazykov, Pushkin and Delvig himself were performed. After the young composer Alyabyev wrote music to the words of his poem “The Nightingale,” the whole of Russia began to sing the romance.

Delvig, as a poet, became famous for his “Idylls” - poems in the style of ancient poetry. It was often thought that these were translations of Theocritus, Horace and Virgil: But these were the fruits of Delvig’s own imagination.

Pushkin wrote about his friend’s work: “Delvig’s idylls are amazing for me. What power of imagination must one have in order to be completely transported from the 19th century to the golden hundred-year period and what an extraordinary sense of grace in order to guess Greek poetry through Latin imitations or German translations?” this luxury, this bliss, this charm, more negative than positive, which does not allow anything intense in feelings; subtle, confused in thoughts; superfluous, unnatural in descriptions!

(A.S. Pushkin. Excerpts from letters, thoughts and comments. 1827)

Delvig was also known as a subtly merciless critic, analyzing every literary novelty: a novel, a poem, a story, poems, and especially translations. Sometimes he wrote bitterly: “You rejoice in a good book, like an oasis in the African steppe. Why are there not a lot of books in Russia? It’s more out of laziness to study.”...Isn’t it true, it sounds very modern?

His “Literary Newspaper” often withstood the attacks of Bulgarin’s “Northern Bee”; Delvig was firmly punished for his criticism and violent rejection of Bulgarin’s novel “Ivan Vyzhigin,” which was received with a bang by the undemanding public. A melodramatic, empty-tearful novel about the adventures of a loving hero could not begin to generate a positive response from a person and writer, one who was famous for his delicate, discerning taste and professional view of literature! Delvig could not lie. He wrote:

"Literary Newspaper" is impartial, its publisher has long wanted Mr. F.B.* (* F. Bulgarin - author.) to write a novel; I don’t have the strength to praise “I. Vyzhigin” and “Dmitry the Pretender”!” (A. A. Delvig. Response to criticism of “Northern Bee”.)

Delvig in his newspaper still often published the works of the semi-disgraced Pushkin and the “completely” disgraced Kuchelbecker, withstanding noisy attacks and discontent from the Censorship Committee. Written and oral explanations with censorship and with the chief of gendarmes himself, Count Benckendorff, sometimes dragged on ad infinitum.

The tough literary-magazine battle and worries about the family - in May 1830, Delvig's daughter Elizabeth was born - sometimes perfectly exhausted the poet. He was less and less able to calmly sit down at his desk in order to scribble a few poetic lines. The damp climate of St. Petersburg was not very suitable for Delvig, he caught colds and was often sick, but he did not have the opportunity to go somewhere to rest - publishing worries and a lack of funds interfered. Anton Antonovich experienced very hard separation from his friends who now belong to the “Decembrist tribe”: Pushchin, Kuchelbecker, Bestuzhev, Yakushkin: He tried to come to their rescue with letters, parcels, everything he could. This also caused quiet dissatisfaction with the authorities.

The official cause of Delvig's sudden death is still considered to be a difficult conversation with Count Benckendorff, which took place in November 1830. Benckendorff accused Delvig of disobeying the authorities, publishing illegal things in Literaturnaya Gazeta and threatened with exile to Siberia...

Delvig behaved with such dignity and composure that at the end of the conversation, the count, remembering his noble dignity, was forced to apologize: Delvig serenely left the office. But when he returned home, he soon fell ill with an attack of nervous fever, complicated by pneumonia.

The unofficial reason, but emotionally more understandable, was banal adultery.

According to the memoirs of E.A. Boratynsky, (little known and never published!), the poet, returning home at an inopportune hour, found the baroness in the arms of another admirer.. A stormy scene occurred, Sofia Mikhailovna did not try to justify herself, reproaching her husband for coldness and inattention. The innocent became guilty. The difficult impressions from the conversation with Benckendorff and the family drama led to a severe attack of nervous fever. Everything was complicated by a cold. Delvig spent almost a month and a half in bed. One dark day of relief was followed by two nights of coughing, chills and delirium. Doctors tried to alleviate the patient's suffering, but to no avail.

On January 14, 1831, Anton Delvig passed away: He died without regaining consciousness, whispering the same thing in feverish delirium: “Sonya, why did you do this?!” The elegantly decorated Christmas tree in the house was hastily dismantled. They covered the mirrors with black lace. The candles were lit. In the confusion, someone opened the window sash. A gust of icy wind blew out the candle. For a second everything went dark. And then singing was heard: Sofia Mikhailovna, who had not left her husband’s bedside for the last few days, bursting into tears and stroking his cold hands, tried in a velvety contralto to bring out the first lines of the romance:

"My nightingale, nightingale!

Where are you going, where are you flying?

Where can you sing all night?.."

P.S. A few months after Delvig’s death, Baroness Sofia Mikhailovna Delvig married the brother of the poet Boratynsky, Sergei Abramovich. He was the admirer whom Baron Delvig found in his house at a belated hour. Throughout her entire existence, Sofia Mikhailovna could not hold back her tears when she heard the first bars of “The Nightingale.” In the Boratynskys' house - in the Muranovo estate, that same romance was never performed. Sofia Mikhailovna believed that there was no need to confuse the ghost of a past life with the present. Perhaps she was right...

Anton Makarskiy Anton Makarskiy

Anton Makarsky is a popular Russian singer, theater and film actor. Born on November 26, 1975. Anton Makarsky made his debut as a film actor in...