Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Vasilievich

He was born in the family of Vasily Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, who at that time served as captain of the Narva regiment , and his wife Evdokia Rodionovna, daughter of the first in Russia stalmeister R.M. Koshelev . Having lost his mother in the fifth year of his life (she died on September 25, 1733, 21 years old), Rimsky-Korsakov was brought up at home on Ostozhenka with his younger brothers and sister Anna (married to Lieutenant-General V.K. Kretov , trapper of the Empress ) His parents rest in the gateway (Korsakovskaya) church of the Conception Monastery , built by his grandfather.

Being enrolled as a minor, in 1740, by the age of 35 he already had the rank of colonel and in 1764 he commanded the Smolensk Infantry Regiment , which at that time was located in Shlisselburg and was on guard duty in the fortress. Rimsky-Korsakov, apparently, did not know anything about the rebellion with the aim of releasing John Antonovich , which was being prepared by his immediate subordinate - Lieutenant Vasily Mirovich . This incident cast a shadow on him in the eyes of the empress, especially when the decree drawn up by Mirovich on behalf of John VI on the name of Rimsky-Korsakov, who was appointed from the colonels to generals and was ordered to immediately take the oath to the Summer Palace, became known.

During the riot, the commander of the regiment Rimsky-Korsakov arrived at the request of the commandant of the fortress Berednikov, along with second major Kudryav. The arrested Mirovich already met his colonel with the words that “maybe he didn’t see the living John Antonovich, he will see the dead now, which he now bows to him not with his body, but with his spirit”. Rimsky-Korsakov, without dignifying the speaker with an answer and without stopping, went straight to the commandant. It was only thanks to the intercession of the numerous and influential Koshelev relatives that Rimsky-Korsakov managed to get out of suspicion in this matter.

Nevertheless, Catherine II could not forget the Shlisselburg “action” and continued to treat Rimsky-Korsakov coldly to the very end. When the rumor spread that John Antonovich was not killed, but fled, the apartment of Colonel Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the first to be searched. For the first time after the outrage of Mirovich, he continued to live in the Shlisselburg fort, and in 1770-1771. took part in the actions of the Russian army in the fields of Moldova and Wallachia, where he received the rank of major general . In 1775, on July 10, he received the rank of lieutenant general, but despite all the influence of his many relatives and the efforts of his ambitious wife, he still failed to achieve the rank of full general .

Having left military service in 1776 and retired due to illness, Rimsky-Korsakov spent the last years of his life in Moscow, living there with his family in his own house on Ostozhenka. He died 52 years old with his family and was buried on May 18, 1781 by Archbishop Platon (Levshin) in the Donskoy Monastery , in the church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos ^[1] .

A.V. Rimsky-Korsakov married in early 1750 Princess Marya Semyonovna Volkonskaya (August 23, 1731 - January 29, 1796), daughter of General-General S.F. Volkonsky . Marya Semyonovna, who survived her husband for almost 15 years, was distinguished by many oddities, stinginess, an ambitious character and a whimsical taste ^[2] . From this marriage children were born:

• Catherine (1755-1836), cavalier lady, wife of the infantry general Ivan Petrovich Arkharov .
• Nicholas (1762-1833), major general (military commissar for military commander, rank of major general did not have), chief krigskomissar, famous grocery store in Moscow ^[3] and a big miser.
• Elizabeth (1766-1841), a crippled child, walked on a crutch; wife of chamberlain Alexander Ilyich Rzhevsky .
• Peter , the grandfather of Pushkin’s friend Pyotr Kaverin , named after him.

• Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Vasilievich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich . Russian portraits of the XVIII and XIX centuries . - Vol. 4, No. 83-84.