Poor bride

In the summer of 1850, Ostrovsky informed Pogodin about his literary pursuits. Among the started was the “Poor Bride”. On October 31, 1850, Ostrovsky read an excerpt from this play at Pogodin. At the end of March 1851, the playwright, counting on the soon completion of the play, turned to Pogodin with a request to publish “The Poor Bride” in “ Vedomosti ”.

All of April was spent in hard work on The Poor Bride. In May, Ostrovsky wrote to Pogodin: “I was hoping to surprise you, that is, send 2 acts of my comedy, but now the circumstances have changed and I will finish them only by Saturday.” The play was completed in the summer of 1851, but the author continued to make additions and amendments to it.

On November 3, the playwright informed Pogodin that “the comedy was gone for days, because I heard Pisemsky's comedy (“ Hypochondriac ”) and found it necessary to tint my own so as not to blush for it” ^[1] .

In December, Ostrovsky passed the play into censorship and on January 1, 1852 received permission for its separate publication. But even after that, work on the play did not stop. The playwright introduced new changes to it: “Tomorrow, that is, on Thursday, I will give you the bride,” he informed Pogodin in a letter dated January 30, 1852.

On February 19, 1852, censorship was obtained for publishing the play in the Moskvityan magazine, in the fourth issue of which it appeared. While preparing the first collection of his works in the publication of Kushelev-Bezborodko , Ostrovsky introduces a number of additional changes to The Poor Bride. Having taken into account the critical remarks made in the magazines Sovremennik and Patriotic Notes , the playwright cuts down individual scenes, eliminates unsuccessful expressions, refines the characteristics of images, and enhances the coloring of the characters' language. The new edition of the play was published in the collected works of Ostrovsky published by Kushelev-Bezborodko in 1859 .

• Anna Petrovna Nezabudkina , the widow of a poor official.
• Marya Andreyevna , her daughter.
• Vladimir Vasilyevich Merich ,
• Ivan Ivanovich Milashin , young people who know Nezabudkina.
• Plato Markovich Dobrotvorsky , an old solicitor .
• Maxim Dorofeevich Benevolensky , official.
• Arina Egorovna Khorkova , widow, bourgeois.
• Mikhailo Horkov , her son, a former student.
• Karpovna , matchmaker (merchants) in a handkerchief.
• Pankratievna , matchmaker (by nobility) in a bonnet.
• Daria , the maid of the Nezabudkin.
• Dobrotvorsky boy.
• Dunya
• Pasha , young girls.

Waiter and different persons who are in the fifth action to watch the wedding.

Anna Petrovna, the widow of a poor official, has a daughter, Marya Andreyevna, a bride. Mother in every possible way tries to attach her; in this matter, an old friend of her husband helps her, a certain Mr. Dobrotvorsky. Marya Andreevna is looked after by young people: Milashin and Merich; she is in love with Merich; someone Khorkov is in love with her; Khorkov’s mother, also a widow, bourgeois, is very busy about her son. Meanwhile, Mr. Dobrotvorsky recommends Mr. Benevolensky, an official; this official can very much help Anna Petrovna in a lawsuit threatening her entire condition; he falls in love with Marya Andreevna and offers her his hand. The widow agrees and begins, together with Dobrotvorsky, to convince Marya Andreevna, who before that had just had the first declaration of love with Merich, kiss her as soon as possible.

The grandson of Apollo Grigoriev V.A. Grigoriev wrote in unpublished memoirs:

Z. F. Korsh, by the way, was portrayed by A. N. Ostrovsky in the drama "Poor Bride" in the person of the main character, Marya Andreevna. Apparently, the author wanted to show partly to the subject of his passion the impending fate, outlining the hopeless position of the poor girl in the conditions of the then Russian life. The characters in the drama are largely written off from life. In addition to Marya Andreevna, the author himself is depicted in Khorkov, and T.I. Filippov in Milashin. Benevolensky, Dobrotvorsky, Merich - all these are living people from among those whom Ostrovsky met in the Korsh family, partly in other places. In fact, there was no such marriage as in drama. Z. F. died a girl in the early 80s.

- V.A. Grigoriev, cited by: Lakshin V. Ya. "Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky"

The aforementioned Zinaida Fedorovna Korsh came from a well-known, respected Ostrovsky family. Her brother Eugene was the editor of the Moscow Gazette, brother Valentin of the St. Petersburg Gazette, and her sister Lydia was the wife of Apollo Grigoriev.

Sergei Maximov in his memoirs about Ostrovsky writes:

We are talking about Zinaida Fedorovna Korsh, daughter of a professor at the Moscow Medical and Surgical Academy. Prof. Korsh, who died early, left a widow with two sons and five daughters, of which Zinaida is the youngest. Ostrovsky was familiar with the Korsch brothers at the gymnasium, and in the second half of the forties he visited their house. In addition to the poem “I dreamed about a big hall”, directly addressed to Z. F. Korsch, Ostrovsky also dedicated an acrostic to her, “Why the Poet’s Gift Was Not Given to Me” (see the memoirs of S. V. Maximov, p. 108). It is possible that Z. F. Korsh served as the prototype for the image of Marya Andreevna in “The Poor Bride”: the Korsh family, like the Nezabudkins, lived on the retirement of their father, the widow of prof. Korsha was looking for wealthy suitors for her daughters.

- Maksimov S.V. "Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky (According to my recollections)"

March 20, 1852 (after the appearance of “The Poor Bride” in The Moskvityan), Alexei Pisemsky wrote to the playwright: “I read your comedy with frantic pleasure and find that it’s not only inferior to“ Our people - we’ll be counted “, but even higher, because that her comic is more subtle, sincere - the withdrawn faces are so alive that I dream in a dream ” ^[2] .

Turgenev , pointing out the shortcomings of the comedy, however, found that "the general flavor of it is true," and the second act is "beautiful from beginning to end." “Ostrovsky began unusually, and the reader expects something extraordinary from him. With all that, we wholeheartedly welcome the comedy of Mr. Ostrovsky ” ^[3] . In 1879 , reprinting the article, Turgenev, referring to his criticisms, said that his assessment of "one of the best works of the playwright" was incorrect.

In a letter to V. P. Botkin , Turgenev wrote: “... I must say that the play is very cleverly conceived and could be touching ... - but alas! for comedy - some wonderful intentions have little value ... In any case, “The Poor Bride”, despite her failure, is a work worthy of respect ”; and in the next letter he adds that in the reading at Countess Sologub (Samarina) she (the play) was barely mediocre success.

Chernyshevsky believed that, in comparison with the play “ Our People - Let's Count ”, the idea of ​​“Poor Bride”, without the dignity of novelty, belongs to “too close a circle of private life,” but the comedy as a whole, in his opinion, is “very good” ^[4] .

Dobrolyubov gave his characterization of the play in 1859 . He described the hopeless situation of the “poor bride”, Marya Andreevna: “And because of what does the unfortunate girl suffer all these insults? What keeps her in this pool? "..." It is clear that: she is a poor bride, she has nowhere to go, nothing to do but wait or look for a profitable groom. Marriage is her position, job, career, purpose of life. Just as a day laborer is looking for work, an official is looking for jobs, a beggar is looking for alms, so a girl should look for her fiance ... Modern liberals laugh at this; but it would be interesting to know what, in fact, will become for us a girl who has not married? ” In “The Poor Bride” Dobrolyubov found a “definitive answer” to the burning question of modern Ostrovsky reality - “why in our family a woman is in such a slavish position and why tyranny is especially heavy on her”.

Permission for the theatrical production of “The Poor Bride” was received only on September 15, 1852. This resolution was greatly facilitated by the fact that the censor Gedershtern presented the play in his review with an ordinary love-drama. Dramatic censorship completely erased the roles of Dunya and Pasha from the play. The prohibition to play these roles was lifted by dramatic censorship only on October 3, 1861.

“Poor Bride” was first staged at the Moscow Maly Theater on August 20, 1853. Roles were performed by: Nezabudkina - Saburova, Maria Andreevna - E. N. Vasiliev , Merich - Cherkasov , Milashina - S. V. Vasiliev , Dobrotvorsky - Shumsky , Benevolensky - P. M. Sadovsky , Khorkova - Poltavtsev , Khorkova - Akimova .

The first performance of “The Poor Bride” on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater took place on October 12, 1853, at the benefit of the artist Chitau. Roles were performed by: Nezabudkina - Gromova , Marya Andreevna - Chitau , Mericha - 1st Smirnov, Milashina - Burdin , Dobrotvorsky - Prusakov , Benevolensky - Martynov , Khorkova - Linskaya , Khorkova - Stepanov.

For performance at the folk theaters, “The Poor Bride” was only allowed on May 3, 1893, but with the withdrawal of the roles of Dunya and Pasha. The most remarkable performers of the main roles of the play were: P. M. Sadovsky - Benevolensky, S. Vasilyev - Milashin, Shuisky and Varlamov - Dobrotvorsky, Dalmatov - Merich.

Vivid stage images were created by artists E.N. Vasilyeva , Chitau and Strepetova as Marya Andreevna, Sadovskaya as Nezabudkina, Strelskaya and Linskaya as Khorkova.

• Text of the play