Muzil, Nikolay Ignatievich

He came from a family of Russified German-speaking Czechs. Grandfather of Nikolai Ignatievich, a native of Germany, was also an actor and appeared in the role of a comedian-resonator. Father, Ignatius Muzil , a merchant of the 3rd guild, was awarded the title "Personal Honorary Citizen of the City of Moscow" (since 1846) for the free transfer of land in the Moscow County, for the construction of the Moscow-Orel Railway ^[2] .

Born in Chesmen near Moscow. He studied at the 1st Moscow gymnasium , where he participated in the production of amateur performances under the guidance of A. A. Grigoriev ; he did not graduate from the gymnasium, because he was forced to move to Ekaterinoslav , where he worked as a telegrapher. Returning from Yekaterinoslav in 1861, he fulfilled a long-awaited dream - he entered the scene.

He started in the amateur theater group of the Secretaryov , where he was a frequent partner of Modest Pisarev . ^[3]

In 1865 he made his debut in the Maly Theater . In 1866 he was enrolled in the troupe and served in the Small until the end of his life. A characteristic and comedian, Musil sought to deeply reveal the inner essence of the depicted images and the thoroughness of their decoration. A subtle realist artist, who possessed keen observation, he introduced into the roles he played many characteristic everyday details, spied upon in reality itself.

He died in 1906. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery .

• Wife - Varvara Petrovna Musil-Borozdina , actress of the Maly Theater.
• Daughter - Varvara Ryzhova , People's Artist of the USSR, actress of the Maly Theater.
• Daughter - Nadezhda Muzil-Borozdina , actress Korsch Theater in Moscow, Suvorinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.
• Daughter - Elena Nikolaevna Muzil - “Muzil 2nd” , actress of the Maly Theater.
• Son - Nikolai Nikolayevich Muzil - “Muzil 2nd” , artist of the Maly Theater.
• Grandson - Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhov , People's Artist of the USSR, actor of the Maly Theater.
• Granddaughter - Tatiana Nikolaevna Ryzhova , actress of the Maly Theater.

• Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters ( 1903 )
• awarded the ring from the Viceroy in the Caucasus, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich ( 1868 )

• Musil entered the imperial Maly Theater, yielding to the entreaties of the public, subject to the guidance of the theater that he would not receive salary for the performances. At the same time, the artist went on stage almost daily and contributed to the fees that the troupe did. In order to secure his financial situation with something, Musil arranged musical and literary evenings, which the audience eagerly attended. After some time, when Muzil had already received a small salary, the Moscow theater audience on the day of the next benefit performance offered a gift to the artist - an inexpensive silver cup in which the tickets of an internal state loan were placed. With this gift, the public replenished the meager salary, for which the artist managed to support a large family. Such gifts were given by the Musil public each year until he received decent content from the theater. We can safely say that the Moscow public contained in the imperial theater a talented and beloved artist at their own expense.
• For staging Ostrovsky’s play “The Truth is Good, But Happiness is Better”, when the Maly Theater management refused to erect a garden gazebo on the stage, Musil paid for its order and production from his own means: according to the playwright, the gazebo was an important stage decision and its absence made staging impossible performance. The play was a success, and when it entered the permanent repertoire and was already played several times with the marked gazebo, already included in the inventory of the Maly Theater, Musil asked that the cost of the gazebo be returned to him. This request was refused to the artist and he was reprimanded by the management for daring to make an expense that was not “allowed”.

• In the artistic environment of that time, Ostrovsky was accused of addiction to his friends - Musil played in all twenty plays of the author, ten of which were benefit performances of Musil. This was a mutual benefit: the artist got the opportunity to play in the play, even if not the main roles ^[4] , which Musil did not bother at all, and the playwright could count on a reward from the beneficiary for the fact that his play was presented for the benefit, which was held for framework of the repertoire of the theater. They said that Burdin and Musil went to Shchelykovo for plays for benefit performance, accused Ostrovsky of being addicted to his friends. Not done, obviously, and without addiction. What else can explain the appointment of the role of the handsome Okoyomov in the play "Handsome Man" MP Sadovsky, whose external data were completely unsuitable for this image?

• He died in 1906 from cancer. The Vagankovskoye cemetery was considered the most acceptable for the burial of the body of a famous artist, but Musil was a Lutheran in his lifetime and the clergy of Vagankovo ​​was against the burial, since the cemetery was considered Orthodox. Only the Metropolitan could give permission, but in such cases he usually refused. However, the Moscow public has achieved that permission was obtained and the Metropolitan willingly went to the request for burial in the famous "acting" necropolis.
• He lived in Moscow: in the 1860s on Mytnaya Street; in the early 1870s in Gagarinsky Lane, 35; until the mid-1880s in Krivoarbatsky Lane, 12 (the house was not preserved); and the last years of life - at Sadovo-Karetnaya, 9 (the house was not preserved).

The performer of roles in the works of A. N. Ostrovsky , Muzil for the first time on the stage of the Maly Theater played 20 roles in the author’s plays: Gavril (“Hot Heart”, 1869), Peter (“Forest”, 1871), Shmaga (“Guilty Without Guilt”, 1884) and others. Ostrovsky, who greatly appreciated Musil for his knowledge of Russian life, the simplicity and sincerity of the game, gave him 10 of his new plays for benefices: “There wasn’t a penny and suddenly an altyn” (Elesia, 1872), “Late Love” (Dormidont, 1873), “ The truth is good, but happiness is better ”(Plato, 1876),“ The Last Victim ”(Salai Saltanych, 1877),“ Dowry ”(Robinson, 1878),“ Slaves ”(Miron Ipatych, 1880) and others. Contemporaries considered Musil to play the role of Narokov (“Talents and Fans”, 1881) as a masterpiece of acting skills.

The art of Musil was highly appreciated by K. S. Stanislavsky , who, referring to him in his diaries, points to the features and techniques of acting. The play “What You Go For, You Will Find” (“The Balzaminov's Marriage”) A. N. Ostrovsky , Stanislavsky could see on the stage of the Maly Theater on February 3, 1885, when Konstantin Sergeyevich was 22 years old. The replica of Balzaminov, cited by Stanislavsky in his diary in describing the game of Musil, is not in the text of Ostrovsky. Apparently, Stanislavsky wrote it down inaccurately, from memory, or there was verbal improvisation in the game of Musil. In this performance, besides Musil - Balzaminov, Stanislavsky saw Akimov, Rykalov, Sadovskaya, Medvedev, Fedotov.

From the diary of Stanislavsky (February 6, 1885).

I saw Ostrovsky's The Marriage of Balzaminov in the Maly Theater with Musil in the title role. I will note a small detail, which the named artist brightened up one sluggish place in the play. In the first act, there is a scene where Balzaminov’s mother and the matchmaker are filled with a stream of reproaches at the young fiancé (Muzil), and the last one, who got used to such family scenes, remains cold at first for the women’s speeches and, running a hand in his pocket, walks around the room, catching flies on the walls. Muzil very amusingly and truthfully aiming at an imaginary fly and, having missed, for a long time watched the insect flying away. When he managed to catch, he beat the fly on the floor with special pleasure, and it all came out very nicely for him, since there was not the slightest exaggeration. However, the scolding of the two women became stronger, so Balsamov was forced to make some objections, gradually turning into rude answers, but despite this, he soon calms down to the fact that he again takes to catching flies and, having caught one, he holds her in fist and tries to catch her with two fingers to strip her wings. “Mommy, and mummy, here’s what you do ... you sew me a goal ... y ... y ... (the fly flies out of his fist, and Balzaminov watches her, saying to ... y ... in a kind of surprised tone, then ... as if disappointedly ends almost piano) u ... ubusha ... a new frock coat "and so on.

Why not repeat the described details when the opportunity arises, even if only in the role of some dunce of officials.

From the book of S.G. Kara-Murza “Maly Theater. Sketches and impressions ”(Moscow, 1924).

What were the advantages and disadvantages of Musil? His stage flaw should include a certain hoarse voice, which incidentally turned out to be quite suitable for his roles, such as: the role of a cook from the “Fruits of Enlightenment”, Shmag, the holy fool, Jerome, etc. In addition, he there was a habit of stretching speech, especially noticeable in recent years, which discouraged the impression of the game. Among the advantages of the musical performance of Musil, it is necessary to attribute the extraordinary clarity and clarity of the game, an almost scrupulous processing of trifles, and a distinct minting of details. This property of the artist is caused by the absence of hotness and impulse in him; there was no flight of inspiration in him, and therefore he built the power of his art in a careful drawing of an image, in color and virtuosity, completeness of execution. It seems to me that the Czech origin of the artist affected this dimension and petty thoughtfulness of each step. He perceived, studied and reproduced the role, as the Czechs-Latinists taught us to read and translate Cornelius Nepos with a photographic proximity to the original, and not only to the spirit, but also to the letter of the text. NI played on the stage, as the Czech woman Wanda Landowska played the harpsichords up to pedantry precisely, but without inspiration, as if she were embroidering on hoops. This does not exclude the fact that, with all the delicacy of the finish, and the jewelery of the processing, the game of Musil was full of sincerity and sincerity of tone, for he had a great ability to perform stage character and psychological sketches. N.I.'s success on stage rested on the technical perfection of the game, redeeming the shortcomings of direct artistic creativity.

Theater Roles

• Lyuben ( Georges Dandin by Moliere , 1866)
• Mitrofan and Kuteikin (“Thin”, 1866, 1882)
• The 1st Peasant and the Palace Cook (“Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky” by A.N. Ostrovsky, 1867)
• Sbregon ( Mister de Pursignacs by Moliere, 1867)
• Gavrila ("Hot Heart", 1869)
• Peter (The Forest, 1871)
• Elesya ("There was not a penny, but suddenly Altyn", 1872)
• Dormidont (Late Love, 1873)
• Plato ("Truth is good, but happiness is better", 1876)
• Salai Saltanich (The Last Sacrifice, 1877)
• Robinson (The Dowryless, 1878)
• Miron Ipatych ("Slaves", 1880)
• Holy fool ("Boris Godunov", 1880)
• Narokov (Talents and Fans, 1881)
• Zagoretsky and Tugouhovsky (“Woe from Wit”, 1882, 1902)
• Dobchinsky (The Examiner, 1883)
• Shmaga (Guilty Without Guilt, 1884)
• Zhevakin (The Marriage, 1889)
• Major Ford (Windsor Pranks, Shakespeare, 1890)
• Chugunov (Wolves and Sheep, 1893)
• Mitrich (The Power of Darkness, 1895)

• Musil, Nikolai Ignatievich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 extra.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Ostrovsky, A. N. Full Coll. cit. T. 16. - M., 1953. 1 S. 33, 146, 151, 163-165, 185;
• Kara-Murza S. G. Maly Theater. Essays and impressions. 1891-1924. - M., 1924. 1 S. 147-158;
• Yuriev Y. Zapiski. 1872-1893. - L.-M., 1939. - S. 32, 98, 116, 128, 136, 138, 139;
• Yablochkina A. 75 years in the theater. - M., I960. - S. 219—222.
• Muzalevsky M. "Honored Artists of the Imperial Theaters". - M., 2008.

• Essay by S. G. Kara-Murza from the book “Maly Theater. Essays and impressions " on the site of the Maly Theater
• From the book of V. A. Nelidov “Theater Moscow. Forty Years of Moscow Theaters ”(Moscow:“ Materik ”, 2002) on the website of the Maly Theater
• NIKOLAI IGNATIEVICH MUSIL on the website of the Maly Theater
• Musil, Nikolai Ignatievich // Theater Encyclopedia.